Margaret Duncan Storti

Glen Allen, VA

Tidewater Sunset https://www.instagram.com/ findingmywaythroughfiber

Swampy areas are common along my walks: this place is neither land nor water. It is an inbetween place, a place where some might think it looks dead or scary, while to others it is fascinating and full of life. I remember walking through the woods with my mom, and she would tell me to look closely because fairies live in there. I still find myself looking closely because you never know what kind of treasures you might discover. Through the lens of a camera, I transform my images and experiences into fabric and stitch. I bring a little bit of nature home with me every day.

I love the look of rice paper with strands of fiber running through it, I thought it would be perfect for the water areas of my swamp quilt. I made a stencil for the reflections of the trees in the water and airbrushed using fabric paint. For the trees and the debris, I placed small pieces of fabric or yarns on top of a layer of cheesecloth and then placed between two layers of Super Solvy. I stitched through the layers to hold the pieces together and soaked them in water to dissolve the Solvy. Materials include: commercial and hand-dyed fabrics; rice paper; cheesecloth; assorted yarns; fabric paint; Sulky Super Solvy; cotton and polyester thread; cotton batting.

Pamela G. Swearingin: I have always had an artistic passion, and when I discovered art quilting a whole new world opened up. I have a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Design which included many architectural classes that I find helpful with quilt construction and design. During my married life we relocated to several Midwest states with our three children. When I eventually ended up in Kentucky, I became a manager of a bakery and explored the world of cake decorating. I have tried many forms of art: painting, printmaking, felting, photography, and my new form art quilts. I have recently started entering quilt and art shows and I have a few pieces published in artquilting magazine challenges. I currently live in Sunset Beach, NC.

“Quiet Spirit” represents the beauty of nature. Although most of my art quilts express an affirmation or quotation, this one speaks silently of the details in my daily landscape. Ecoprinted fabric has been a passion of mine for a few years. The serendipity of the results brings me joy and fosters my curiosity. The leaves are all locally sourced in my Virginia neighborhood: included are walnut leaves, crape myrtle, and sage. The dogwood at the top of the quilt sits majestically in my backyard. It started as a contour drawing before I created it with scrap eco-print fabric using raw-edge appliqué. Free-motion stitching lets me play a bit and brings out the detail of the individual components. My quilts all include one of my sketchbook watercolor portraits. This young lady looks to me to be searching. The quilt serves as a reminder for me to slow down and appreciate the beauty in my everyday life.

The portrait is out of my sketchbook and transferred using a fabric pen and painted with various textile paints, while slowly adding detail with Inktense pencils. The cotton fabric is eco-print scraps of walnut, sage, and crape-myrtle leaves, which I free-motioned to the quilt base. Dogwood petals at the top are created with eco-printed fabric and raw-edge appliqué. Around the edges are embroidery-quilted details. The back of the quilt is formed with pieces from my vintage quilt collection. Materials include: cotton eco-printed fabric; batting; textile paint (Jacquard); Inktense pencils; embroidery floss; vintage quilt pieces for back fabric.

Naomi Swyers resides in Richmond, VA, where she works daily in a tiny home studio. After a long career as an elementary and middle-school art teacher, she is now trying to express her thoughts with textiles. She works and experiments with various media in her art journals and on fabric. A love for watercolor portraiture has developed into painting on fabric. Passionate about making a difference, her work includes many affirmations. Her art quilts and multimedia work have been in multiple juried exhibitions as well as solo shows. To learn more, follow along on Instagram (@findingmywaythrough fiber) She welcomes email and commission inquiries at nswyers00@gmail.com.

Naomi Swyers Richmond, VA

Quiet Spirit https://www.karintauber.com

In 1774, Thomas Jefferson purchased sixty-four acres of land, including the 215-foot high Natural Bridge, for twenty shillings from King George III of Great Britain. The natural arch, a limestone gorge carved out by Cedar Creek, has been a State Park since 2016.

Hand appliqué; free-motion machine quilting. Materials include: batik and commercial cotton fabrics; Hobbs Tuscany silk and half-layer wool batting; variegated cotton and polyester threads; Tsukinenko inks.

Karin Täuber’s international background inspires her quilting and helps her create. She comes from a very traditional quilting background, but with a lifelong love for photography, children’s books, and different art media. Karin specializes in quilts that tell a story: thoughtful, mystical, heartbreaking, or tongue-in-cheek. Creating art hasn’t been boring since the fairies moved into her studio!