Hello Art Lovers

I am so excited to share with you this month that I have been selected as the Artist in Residence at the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado! It will be 2 weeks for me to be immersed in both the landscape as well as the ancient cultures. Did you know that CANM has the highest number (over 8000) of archeological sites in the US?

My plans include hiking, studying the artifacts at the museum, nature journaling, sewing, and block carving. I will be making a piece of artwork when I get home that will be donated to the monument.

I will also be giving a free workshop to anyone visiting the monument on March 14. Participants will design a simple block printing stamp from something that inspired them from their visit to the monument. They will make cards and a patch to sew onto a pack.

I have pieces in two 4 Common Corners exhibitions coming up. One at the Salt Lake City Community Center and the other at Ground Floor Artists in Surprise, AZ. If you are in the area I hope you will stop in to see the shows.

Since I am home, I have been working on two new art Quilts. The first is my latest National Park quilt of Acadia National Park. My posters often combine images of interesting things seen in the park. For this one I feature the historical Bates Cairns seen only in Acadia and the Bass Harbor Head Light Station. You have to climb down the cliff to get a good view! This is ready for the screen-printed lettering and then quilting.

The other in progress piece is for a 4 Common Corners call for entry called Vantage Point. Don’t you think it would be interesting to be inside the flower looking up at the bee as he approaches? This is glued and pinned and ready to be stitched together.

I have also been able to do some printing of some of the blocks I carved on the past RV trip. Using good quality printing ink (Caligo Safe Wash) made all the difference in the quality of the print. Here are a couple of them and they and others are available in the shop on my website.

I watched a video online by Sarah Whrol on how to convert an old knuckle buster credit card machine into a small printing press. Of course, I had thrown mine away after years of using it at the arts and crafts fairs. I bought one on eBay and converted it and if works great. Check out my blog to learn more about it.

A new pattern of Mount Rainier National Park is available for download.

Our RV trip in 2020 to Mount Rainier found us hiking in spectacular weather with wildflowers blooming in abundance. We saw so many big marmots! One of my photos is the inspiration for this pattern.

I will be teaching Design from Photo to Imagination at the Pacific Northwest Art School September 10 - 12, 2026. Join me and learn my Turned Edge Machine Piecing technique and how I construct the beautiful gradation sky with a technique I call Fussy Piecing!

Registration is now open.

Look what some of my students from my classes designed and constructed!

Check out my teaching calendar for 2026 here. I might be giving a class in your area.

Don’t forget that I have on demand classes available on Skillshare (use my link for a free month).

Please check out these classes on Creative Spark. Design from Photo to Imagination, Procreate for Art Quilters, and Turned Edge Machine Piecing.

Next month watch for some of the art work I create during my residency. I also plan to blog about what I am doing so I hope you will follow along. Follow my Process.

Thank you for following my artistic journey. See you next month.