I have lived in the quiet rural setting of the Cobequid Mountains in northern Nova Scotia since 1984. Our home, off the beaten track is surrounded by nature’s bounty and offers an inspiring backdrop for quilt making and fibre art. I quilt nine months of the year, willingly yielding to my vegetable, fruit and flower gardens in the summer months.

In the beginning, I worked mostly with traditional patterns before turning my attention to original designs. I am inspired by the infinite possibilities of pattern-play, in which colour and design can bring to life the workings of nature’s own geometric genius. These themes shape my later work, most notably in the intricate exploration of Golden Spiral in which the magnificent – and mathematical – beauty of spirals is celebrated. In all my pieces, I strive to capture multiple layers of image and meaning (and perhaps you’ll find more of your own!) often missed in our daily, harried lives. Behind the soaring and majestic Canada goose in Ascending, whirls a simple propeller spinning our age-old dreams of flight and our longing to be airborne. In Balmoral Grist Mill, the dazzling summer colours and verdant woodlands surround the grist mill - overlaid is a ghost image of a granite millstone, the very heart of the historic mill.

I am drawn to the interactions of nature, light, shadow, and colour, which I attempt to transpose into my work using fabrics and motifs that I create and fabric that I collect from around the world. Interwoven into any given piece, you might find fabrics literally from Timbucktu and other far-flung corners of Africa, from the Far East and from Canada.

Each piece comes from a place of personal meaning and perspective on the world around us. In the Meadow Series, I aim to re-create the interplay of light, gossamer-winged insects set in tangled foliage. In An Ode to the Maple Leaf, it felt as though I examined autumn leaves for the first time as I stitched the minute details of autumn leaves in the many manifest colours of a Canadian sugar maple. Guardian Mayflies was born of a yearning that we recognize how vitally important it is that we protect our beleaguered Planet Earth. For me quilting is creating work that ranges from the playful to the considered as well as thought-provoking. Through quilting, I continue to learn about who I am and what we are all capable of creating and sharing in this world.