Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
I saw college as a time to explore. Eventually, I created a major exploring humanity. Gender Studies.
Divorced and working as a secretary, I decided a Reference Librarian made a better, happier living.
Then the economy crashed, and I couldn't get a job. I lived on credit, and took a quilting class.
Then I went bankrupt, got really sick, found work in a real library, and stayed sick for years.
Eventually, I lost my job and asked: "What have I always wanted to do that I can do from my bed?"
So I sat in my bed, thought about and started piecing together a story quilt.
Then I made a couple more. And people wanted to buy them. A friend asked to sell them in her store.
Education
High School
Career
Fiber Artist
I create healing stories out of fabric, and then I quilt them and write the story.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Art
Education
Communicating / Sharing Stories
Day to Day
Every day I wake up, and I don't know if I'll be able to create or write that day. Many days I am busy managing my illness. On good days, I grab an idea-- a theme-- and I sit down with my fabrics and spend a couple of hours cutting out shapes for that theme. Then I start placing them on the "page," and filling in the empty spots. This process of filling the page might take two hours, it might take ten hours. I usually do it all in one go. Another day, I'll sit down and sew it all in place.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for professionals
Take a weekend workshop on a topic you find interesting, but never let yourself pursue before because it wasn't "really work." A friend paid for me to join her at a quilting workshop in 2007. I learned that you don't have to get the corners perfect to tell a story with fabric. And I learned to use a theme in pulling fabrics together for a piece. And it was okay that mine didn't look anything like what the "real quilters" were making. It was my first story quilt.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
