Logo is a stylized outline of a common loon with wings outstretched, hand stitched in white thread on a black background. The needle is still threaded, showing the work to be still in progress.

Common Loon Quilts

 Quilted Art & Artful Quilts

Beauty. Is quilt-making an art or a craft? If I sew bits of fabric together, what determines whether I have created something functional or something “artistic” (as if beauty wasn’t functional?) If I put the assembled bits of fabric on my bed is it a craft? If I hang the same assembled bits of fabric on the wall over my sofa, does that make it art? I’m interested in hanging things on the wall that bring comfort, and in sleeping surrounded by beauty. Come break some rules with me.

Sustainability. Our great-great-grandmothers made quilts out of what was available—often scraps left over from new clothes they made, or salvaged from clothes outgrown and outworn. Nothing was wasted. For every item I make from new fabric, I create one or more out of scraps. I strive to repurpose fabric more than I buy new.

  Accessibility. Repurposing fabric is also my act of resistance against modern quilt-making as a pastime of the privileged. Quilting can be an expensive activity if you let it. But you don’t need an expensive machine and a fancy sewing studio stocked with bolts of high-end fabric to make something beautiful. Art belongs to everyone