The Quilted Jardin Contact

Fabric Artist History
In a small house surrounded by pines in upstate New York, my cat Niles wanders among the "jardin" (Spanish for garden). I live in the house that we put on the property years ago for my parents. This is a place of roots and growth, ideal for my ever-expanding perennial gardens of flowers and fabric to materialize.

This fabric art business, The Quilted Jardin, is woven from the generations of my family. The threads of my skill and love for sewing reach back to my mother who sewed all my clothes as I grew up and taught me how to sew... and beyond to my grandmother, a seamstress in New York City in the early 1900’s. The transformation from a Chicago-bred girl to a country woman parallels my father’s journey from a “barrio” in Puerto Rico to the big cities of Washington DC and Chicago and then to upstate New York after his second grandchild, Ryan, was born. After years of sewing quilts, stuffed animals, and snowmen for my children Jenica and Ryan, family, and friends, I found myself with that “twitch to sew,” looking for something new. This time it was images of landscapes, those glorious places that lingered in my memory and imagination. My children encouraged me to sell them. I soon had Ryan and his friend, Kara, collecting sea shells on their college spring break. Jenica designed my logo and soon we had put the family "stamp of approval” on the name. The Quilted Jardin was in blossom.

One day Jeni emailed me several photos of a hike in the North Cascades mountains with her graduate school program. These called out to be transformed into fabric. The results were beyond my wildest imagination. I was painting with material and threads, combining my daughter’s photographs with my fabric wallhangings. These custom designed quilted landscapes became my next passion.

As Jenica and Ryan grew up here in the country, they discovered their adventurous spirits and love of nature. When each left for college, they honed their love of travel. I received photos of the mountains of Washington State and Argentinian Andes, the beaches of Hawaii, the hills of Ecuador, and the jungle of Guatemala. Kara joined the "crew of photographers," adding images of Costa Rica and the Badlands to the photo gallery. It is from these images that I began to design these photo re-creation quilts.

My journey as a fabric artist has gone from quilted landscape wallhangings to framed custom quilted pictures. The first pictoral fabric quilt of my cat led me to create custom made pet portraits that can be matted, hung as wallhangings, or made into pillows. I've enjoyed getting to know these pets whether it has been for those animals with boundful energy or those who have passed away.

In my professional life, I have worked with youth, HIV-positive individuals and their families, and children in foster care. My perennial garden serves as a retreat; sewing has a calming, therapuetic effect on me.

May your purchase from The Quilted Jardin bring you serenity each time you view it.