Category: Bargello

• (Are You?) Proud To Be An American

  

  

  

  This quilt continues a series exploring the use of bargello to communicate changing data over time–in this case, statistics from the FBI documenting hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals between 1991-2022. Each vertical strip represents one year with the width calculated based on the number of hate crimes committed. The bargello strips move up or down based on whether there were more or fewer crimes than the previous year.

  Materials: commercial cotton fabric; machine pieced patchwork; custom computerized longarm quilting
  
  71″ x 74″
  
  This quilt appeared in the following exhibitions:

  • Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2024
  • CitraCuse at the Gear Factory 2024
  • Great Wisconsin Quilt Show 2024
  • Pride Annual Juried Exhibit at the Arlington (TX) Museum of Art 2025
  • New York State Fair 2025
  • 39th annual International Materials: Hard + Soft Contemporary Craft & Digital Art Competition and Exhibition 2026

  2024.02.02

• Systolic/Diastolic

  

  

  This multiptych continues a series exploring the use of bargello to communicate changing data–in this case, my yearly blood pressure and hemoglobin counts at every Red Cross blood and platelet donation since I began donating in March 2020. Each panel is one year; the vertical movement is based on the systolic measurement and the width of each strip is based on the diastolic measurement. Custom digital quilting designs indicate whether the donation was blood or platelets, my hemoglobin count, and whether or not the count met the minimum level for donation.
  
  Commercial cotton ombre fabric, machine pieced patchwork, personal health data, custom digital longarm quilting
  
  60″ x 40″
  
  2023
  

  This quilt appeared in the following exhibitions:

  • Quilts Unlimited, View Arts Center 2023
  • AQS Paducah 2024
  • Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza 2024
  • Made In New York, Schweinfurth Art Center 2025
  • International Quilt Festival (Houston, TX) Judged Show 2025

  2023.09.10

• Indistinguishable

  

  

  Indistinguishable, my first foray into bargello, is a complex-looking work that was actually quite easy to create with simple mathematical and construction techniques. Yet the digital quilting–a complex dance of programming, graphic design, layout, and alignment–is usually assumed to be as easy as pushing a button. Arthur C. Clarke’s famous third law reminds us to revel in the magic of quilts while also explicitly acknowledging the incredible technological prowess required to create them.
  
  56″x82″
  
  Commercial cotton fabric, cotton and polyester batting, machine pieced patchwork, trapunto, custom digital longarm quilting
  
  This quilt appeared in the following exhibitions:

  • Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza 2023
  • International Quilt Festival 2025, Houston (TX)
  • Note: This quilt was juried into AQS Paducah 2025 but was withdrawn due to the organization’s censorship activities. See https://www.saqa.com/about/news/message-saqa-board-color-context-red-exhibition for more information.

  2023.08.12

• Magenta Muerta

  

  

   This piece was made in response to the 2023 Pantone color of the year. I found the choice of “Viva Magenta,” a color intended to “promote a joyous and optimistic celebration” and “encourage experimentation and self-expression without restraint” to be in poor taste given the ongoing global pandemic. The bargello design is informed by CDC data of weekly deaths from COVID-19 between January-May 2023 (when the emergency declaration for COVID–and thus mandatory data reporting–ended).
  
  
  42″x56″
  Commercial cotton solids, cotton thread, pearl cotton, cotton batting, public health data, machine pieced patchwork, custom hand-guided and computerized longarm quilting; hand embroidery
  
  This piece is available for sale
  

  This quilt appeared in the following exhibitions:

  • Asheville Quilt Show 2023
  • Fiber Arts Fiesta 2024
  • String Theory at The Cultural Center of Cape Cod (MA) 2024
  • And Still It Remains: A Long COVID Exhibition, Artworks Loveland (CO) 2025
  • Schweinfurth Art Center Member Show 2025
  • Creative Resistance: The Art of Protest, First Presbyterian Gallery, Fort Wayne, Indiana 2026

  2023.07.31

• New Year’s Resolutions

  

  

  This quilt begins a series exploring the use of bargello to communicate changing data–in this case, my weight everyday in the month of January.
  
  38″x75″
  
  Commercial cotton ombre fabric, personal health data, machine pieced patchwork; custom digital longarm quilting
  
  This quilt appeared in the following exhibitions:

  • World of Quilts XLII 2023
  • AQS Grand Rapids 2023
  • Fiber Arts Fiesta 2024
    • 3rd Place, Abstract
  • International Quilt and Fiber Arts Festival 2024
  • Earlville Annual Quilt Show 2025

  2023.03.24