Fabric and Paper Art Quilts by Terri Stegmiller

She Dreams in Color (Fabric Art Quilt)

Terri Stegmiller is one busy lady. Not only is she the assistant publisher of Fibre & Stitch, an online mixed media zine, but she lives with her husband and FIVE cats: Abby, Zoey, Junie, Patty and Lucy. (Two are indoor cats, the other three prefer the outdoors.) Her son left the nest within the last couple of years. They live outside the city limits in North Dakota, on a 10-acre plot where she tends to her flower gardens every chance she gets. Oh, did I mention she also creates art quilts? Yes, she does, and she does it beautifully as you can see for yourself. "I think I'm possessed with art. When I'm not in the studio working on something, then my mind is working, thinking, or dreaming about new ideas. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I love and with the technologies of today I can connect with other like-minded artists." Terri has worked with one type of craft or another for most of her life, and only started quilting around 1994. And, she considers herself blessed as her husband is very supportive of her love for creating art.

Blue-Mers (Paper Art Quilt)

She began with traditional quilts in larger sizes for beds. "I decided these took too long and my interest in them faded, so I started creating wall-sized quilts. When the traditional patterns became boring for me, I starting paying more attention to art quilting and would spend many hours on the Internet looking at the great art that a lot of quilters were creating. I knew that was the direction I wanted to go. I wanted to create my own designs and not follow any rules." Her favorite subjects or themes are flowers, cats, and the female face. "I like fun and whimsy in my quilts, therefore the subject matter isn’t created to resemble real life. I enjoy working in a small format and art quilts are perfect for me. My quilts rarely reach sizes over 36 inches tall or wide."

Winter Wonderland (Fabric Art Quilt)

Most of her quilts, whether paper quilts or textile quilts, are made in the typical manner as most quilts—three layers making up the quilt sandwich. "I like to use up scraps as much as possible when creating my quilts, but I don’t make it a rule. The techniques I use when quilting vary, but the technique I use most is fused, raw-edge appliqué, which is then free-motion quilted. I love texture and some of my pieces are heavily quilted with more surface texture and interest added with other mediums, such as paint. I love lots of color and most of my quilts reflect this." Terri also teaches online classes, like this one HERE. You can visit her blog HERE to learn more about her craft. And, her website HERE and her Etsy site HERE.

Images used with permission from Terri Stegmiller.