Highlights from 2025 part 1

Connection with Fabric (SAQA Virtual Gallery)

SAQA virtual gallery Connection with Fabric

In our daily lives we are surrounded by fabric. Many of these fabrics are mass-produced and bypass the more traditional ways of working with cloth. Old world handicrafts, such as weaving, hand-dyeing and hand embroidery are being lost.

Countries around the world have a rich history of textiles, from the kimonos in Japan to batiks in Bali and mud cloth in Africa. Many fabrics are unique depending on the history, techniques and cultures of a region. Drawing from the textile history and materials of a region, artists have transcended time and place through the creation of a new artwork.

My coat Synapsis was selected.

You can see the entire Gallery here SAQA Gallery Connection with Fabric

Our Group Talkten exhibited with Mancuso Quilt shows, USA

TalkTen is composed of a group of 13 International female textile artists who share a passion for design, art quilts and creativity. The group first started during the Covid period, so that the artists could share and inspire each other while in isolation. As a group, they decide upon a design challenge and the women build art quilts as a response to the prompt

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2025

February 27 – March 2, 2025, at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza (PNQE) 2025

September 11–14, 2025, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. 

We exhibited two of our collections: Health on our Minds and In the Pink.

“Health on Our Mind” features art quilts that reflect an ever-present concern for older women. These 18” x 18” quilts explore themes of healing, medical processes, and the intricate tapestry of the human body.

“In the Pink” is a challenge in which each member created an 18” x 18” abstract quilt using cut-up pieces of an old pink rayon bedcover mailed to every member. At least 50% of each quilt’s material had to be pink. 

You are always on my Mind

Cracks in the Surface

 

Highlights from 2024 part 2

Off the Wall (SAQA Virtual Gallery)

Art quilters have taken the traditional form of a quilt and moved it to the wall.  Artists were asked to explore pushing the form off the wall into three dimensions. Create art that can stand on its own, hang from the ceiling or has added dimension on the wall.

My coat A Pride of Peacocks was selected.

detail A Pride of Peacocks

A Pride of Peacocks, back

You can see the gallery here Off the Wall

Highlights from 2024 part 1

Exhibition Coats and Quilts at the Patchwork&Quiltdagen 2024, Rijswijk, the Netherlands.
Patchwork&Quiltdagen 2024

Human Being Human
An Exhibition curated by Flox den Hartog.
June 29-July 7 2024, the Netherlands

I had two pieces in the exhibition, my coat Seam*Stress and my quilt It's not Fair.

Seam*Stress

Seam*Stress

Cutting, cutting, cutting.
Scissors on fire.
Stitching, stitching, stitching.
Gears are grinding.
The clock is ticking.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
Time is running out.
Time is up…

It's not Fair

                                                    

When we look at human rights there is a lot of unfairness in the Fashion industry.
We love buying new clothes and marvel at how cheap they are.
But when we look closer to where they come from and where they end up when we don’t want them anymore, we should think twice.
Is it really worth it?
From the violation of human rights of the fashion workers to the violation of human rights in the countries where our unwanted fashion waste ends up.

It’s not Fair!

Carrefour European de Patchwork 2024, France

I had a small piece in the EQA exhibition: Imagine a Bird

My bobbin was part of The patCHquilt «Round Bobbin Invitational Challenge

patCHquilt celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2024. To mark this event, they launched a very special challenge.

“The patCHquilt «Round Bobbin Invitational Challenge» invites members of all European guilds to participate and celebrate our anniversary with us. Given the many events taking place in Europe, it is time to work together on a common project. We plan to host the entire unjuried collection von Bobbins at several European quilt shows and then make them into a European traveling exhibition.”

Each participant received an identical 12 cm wooden spool and a list of 35 themes to create small works using thread, embroidery, mixed media and textile techniques.

The creative challenge brought together over 500 participants from 16 European countries, who created over 15.000 miniature textile blocks

 

my bobbin

West-Oestliche Inspiration in Textil

August 31- November 3 2024, Germany

                                                   

Snowflakes   Shawl

The embroideries of ZARIFA made me think of Snowflakes.
I decided to make this shawl. The woolen fabric represents the snow.
I started with Zarifa’s embroideries and I added lots of snowflakes with fabric paint and stencils, machine embroidery and free-machine embroidery.

Sacred Threads Travel Exhibition (ongoing)

My quilt Whispers on the Wind debuted at Houston Quilt Festival in November 2024 in the special Sacred Threads exhibition. It is still travelling.
see: Sacred Threads

Whispers on the Wind, detail

A gentle breeze can bring us seeds that grow into beautiful wildflowers or a bird’s feather suddenly floating across our path.
It brings us messages from the spirit world and will tell about prophecy and insight.
Listen to the whispers on the wind.

Whispers on the Wind

BRNO Patchwork Meeting 2026

April 24-26 2026, Velethry Brno, Pavillion A1

The BRNO Patchwork Meeting is the largest international Textile and creative exhibition in  Eastern Europe.

Visitors eagerly waiting at the door

The venue for the quilt show was the beautiful A1 pavillion, where I had my own gallery. at the back : Dreamcoats.

The organisation provided me with  ample wall-space and 6 mannequins for my exhibition.

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I had made a plan in advance how I wanted to hang the pieces on the wall, so we started with those. Then we had to clothe the mannequins, which sounds easier than it was.

Forest of friends

It's a jungle out there.

A Pride of Peacocks

The Snake Pit

The Beekeeper

UnderWonderWorld

Seam*Stress

We met lots of old and new friends. It was nice to see young children and teenagers visiting the show too.

It was great to see the bobbins were there as well.

I was one of the judges for the Quilt Competition 50 shades. There were lots of beautiful pieces entered. Here are the winning quilts.

3rd prize Silence after the game by Monika Malinova  

2nd prize Shadow Guardian by Sylvia Ignatowska

1st prize Winter Morning by Maryte Collard

This year’s edition featured an exceptionally strong international presence. The global SAQA collection titled “Blue” and the traditional French EPM collection drew significant attention. Lovers of classic patchwork were captivated by the 10th-anniversary works of the Polish guild and the creations of the Patchfanynky club, this year’s “Star of Czech Classics.”

 The guest country was Denmark, featuring a selection of the best works by local artists. Galleries from Germany, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Switzerland, and the Netherlands were also present. Notable highlights included the “Dream Cloaks” collection by Dutch textile designer Marijke van Welzen and the Swiss guild’s “Round Robin” project.

Czech designers were also well represented—Jana Dohnalová, Jana Haklová, Zuzana Dolínková, and Andrea Landovská presented their galleries. Club projects were brought by the Bohemia Patchwork Club Prague and the 1st Moravian Patchwork Club with their “Birds” collection. The younger generation also returned to the exhibition in the form of a gallery by students from the Secondary School of Design in Lysá nad Labem.