After channeling her artistic muse to painting, jewelry making and architectural photography for many years, Sheila plunged into abstract quilt-making in 2010. Guided by no plan, no sketch and no agenda, but fed by intuition and inspired by nature’s palette, she speeds into journeys of revelation and surprise in her quilt studio. Her live intensity is apparent in the colors, lines and shapes of her improvisational textile works.
“Whether I’m painting, drawing or piecing a studio quilt, moving head first into the unknown fuels my creativity,” Sheila said. “I relish all the surprising discoveries along the way as the journey starts to reveal itself to me.”
Since embarking on her fiber art adventure, Sheila has won awards at major quilt shows, including: IQA World of Beauty in Houston, AQS Show in Paducah and Road to California. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.
Sheila is also a passionate teacher and has shared her process in workshops around the world. She says, “Another wonderful change quilting brought into my life was the opportunity to teach. It is a privilege for me to witness what my students accomplish in 2-5 days! I am honored to hold the space and guide them as they discover the freedom, joy, and for some, the slight discomfort that comes from not knowing the outcome of their creations”.
Sheila currently resides in Ventura, California.
Workshop: The Infinite Possibilities of Strip Piecing
Strip Piecing is a wonderful way to approach improv quilt design, but you can do a lot more with this approach than you may have thought!
When I first started making quilts as art, this is the way I began to make parts that I could assemble in a variety of ways… I enjoyed just focusing on each part individually, and then putting it all together.
Strip Piecing is a great approach for those new to improv, or for those of you who are seasoned art quilters. It offers another way of developing a composition – and when it comes to what you can do with these parts, the possibilities are truly endless.
You may choose to work in a more structured way, and by cutting up and re-configuring your parts, you can create blocks. These blocks are easier to assemble because you won’t have “engineer.” However, if you want to create a more complex piece, that is absolutely an option.
In this workshop, we will be focusing on color, value, scale, composition, line and much more.
And strip piecing isn’t just about straight seams! We will discuss that as well, and how to bring an organic feeling into your creation.
I’ll also be taking you step by step through my though process when I am working in this way, with visual examples.