Inspired by my love of nature, specifically Eucalyptus trees and their blossoms.

I live in San Diego, California, USA and the eucalyptus tree is quite prevalent in my area. There are many types of eucalyptus trees, some with long thin leaves with shades of blue, green, red and purple. Other varieties sprout lovely pods, and soon those pods open to brilliant pink silky floss. As I walk in my neighborhood, I often bring home a leaf, blossom or pod to draw in my sketchbook.

In my sketchbook, I do what I can ‘designs from life’ where I will draw and paint the subject as realistically as I can in the time I have. Then, inspired by the shapes I’ve just drawn, I let my imagination take over and I created simple graphic designs, from the elements I’ve drawn. I can use these graphic designs to create a hand carved stamp, a rubbing, a stencil or a silkscreen.

These surface design elements often find their wait into my quilts.

Eucalyptus Blooms was one of those quilts. I drew the eucalyptus designs, with my free motion sewing machine. I printed with thermofax screens of the blossom. I stenciled with the design I’d created based on my sketchbook. And lastly, I ‘built’ a 3 dimensional eucalyptus blossom from lutradur and ‘strings’ of fabric, machine zig-zag stitched into cords.

Featured in Cas Holmes book "Stitch Stories, personal places, spaces and traces in textile art."