PANSY QUILT

This is the largest quilt I've made so far, 93"x 105". I did it by hand and machine for daughter Melanie and her family. Detail shots are also shown.

HUSBAND FRANK, 2005

Frank's portrait, 11"x14", was done in cloth from a drawing I did of him. It has hand and machine stitching. Any of the posts on my blog can be viewed closer by clicking directly on the pictures.

AMISH

The solid colors and straight lines in this wall hanging, 47"x53", remind me of Amish designs except for the contrasting 3 dimentional heart; that I made from floral fabric. The Amish didn't use printed fabrics. I call it `Syncopated Serendipity'. It is all hand quilted.

WHITE QUILT WITH HEARTS

This quilt shown with detail shots is all hand quilted. It took me about 6 months to do. Machine quilting goes much faster. It measures 70"x94".

TRADITIONAL QUILTS

Yes, I have done traditional quilts as well as my own designs. In 1984 while living in Kentucky, I learned to quilt doing piecing, applique and hand quilting. I met many nice friends by joining traditional quilt groups there. Kentucky has a rich heritage of quilting that goes back many generations. I feel I absorbed some of their techniques of good craftmanship while living there for 8 years.

OHIO STAR

Frank and I left our home state of Rhode Island the day after we were married because he received a scholarship to study for his masters degree at Ohio University. We lived in different cities in Ohio for 11 years. After leaving Ohio I made this quilt for Frank. It is a traditional pattern called Ohio Star. I thought the symbolism of him and the Ohio star was appropriate. The quilt measures 67"x88" and I machine quilted it.

FLYING GEESE

Another traditional pattern. When 2 of our daughters left for college, I made each of them a flying geese quilt for their dorm beds with thoughts of them flying off to new opportunities. The pictured quilt is double bed size and machine quilted by me.

JACKETS

When we lived in Illinois I was juried into the 'Illinois Artisans Program' and sold this jacket thru their store in the State of Illinois Building in downtown Chicago. Background for the jacket is my mother's crochet work.

This jacket was made in a class taught by Carol Collett on constructing a quilted jacket from a sweat shirt. Using her techniques and my original design and fabric I made this jacket that I call 'Indian Prayer Jacket'.

This jacket I call, 'Wedding Jacket'. I made it for when Frank and I renewed our wedding vows in 2003, even though I didn't wear it for the ceremony. It was too hot here in Arizona; 110 degrees in the shade. It is a symbol of our renewal. Incorporated into the jacket is some of my mother's crochet work.

GARDEN JACKET

My 'Green Garden Jacket' was designed with all things green and ecological in mind. Maybe together we can all save the planet. Front and back views are shown.

YELLOW

Yellow is a difficult color to work with because of it's overpowering brightness. Every few years I challenge myself to do a yellow quilt. This wall hanging was done for daughter, Amy, with words taken from her wedding ceremony; which I wrote into the arms of the cross that also have some of my mother's crochet work. It measures 24"x24".

I made this large quilt, 87"x87" for daughter Jessica. The detail shot shows a block with my mother's crochet work incorporated into it. It is hand and machine quilted. The title of the quilt is, 'Flowers for Jessica'.

Another yellow quilt. I designed and made this in 1987 for daughter, Amy. It measures 62"x90" and on the reverse side signed it, 'For Amy whose heart is sunshine'. The quilt has hand applique and hand quilting.

CRAZY QUILT-MODERN

Here is my modern version of a traditional 'crazy quilt' with haphazard patches, but mine is minus the embroidery crazy quilts have. My quilt is shown full view and detail. It measures 65"x90" and I call it 'Scrappy Yellow'.

DETAILS

Is it all about the details? The previous few pictures are close-ups of some of my larger quilts. They give the work a different perspective.

QUILTED JACKET

My jacket pictured here front and back is the first quilted jacket I made. I used a pattern by Barbara Bell Doriss and changed it to make it more of what I wanted. The other quilted pieces on the blog are my own designs and are image copyrighted except where noted.

Internet Showing of my Quilt

The Phoenix New Times Blog has a picture of my quilt(13 Flowers for My Mother) as an ad for the Chandler Show I'm in Nov.7 thru Dec.31,2008. Click on the link to view it. http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/

HOTS 4 ANDY WARHOL

Andy Warhol is one of my favorite artists. In making this quilted wall hanging I was influenced by his great use of color and repetition. It measures 36"X36" and I call it, '7X7 for Andy Warhol'.

ENIGMA

This is the front side of my 'Enigma' quilt. It was made in 1988 for a day bed. I designed and made this for daughter, Melanie.

ENIGMA

This is the back of the previous quilt and is one of the favorite quilts that I've made. It's all hand quilted and actually fits on a bed. Day bed, that is. It measures 88"X64" and can be used either side. It's called 'Love Enigma'.

CEREUS CACTUS

Here in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona there is a cactus that blooms beautiful flowers in the Springtime after the sun goes down. It is called Cereus Cactus. As a challenge for the Maverick's Quilt group, that I belong to in the Phoenix area, we had to use botanicals as a theme and I had purple, blue and green as my colors of fabric to use. My quilted wall hanging measures 23"X33" and is titled 'Night Blooming Cereus Cactus'.

DIAMOND CUT

This quilt I made for husband Frank's office when he did accounting work for a diamond cutting company. It is all hand quilted, measures 34"x34" and the title is 'Diamond Cut'. It was juried into an Art Quilt show at Arizona State University in 2007 thru the Arizona Designer Craftsmen group.

Newspaper & Web Acknowledgement

My '13 Lotus Flowers For My Mother' quilt has been featured in The San Tan Sun Newspaper and on a website advertising the Art Quilts XIII Show.

Here are the links to both:

http://www.showup.com/event/detail/440181293

http://publishing.yudu.com/Library/Auhc9/SanTanSun11108Neighb/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dclaire%2Bgimber%26aq%3Df%26oq%3D

Juried Art Quilts Show

Recently I was juried into the Art Quilts XIII show at The Chandler Center for the Performing Arts in Arizona. The show runs Nov.7 thru Dec.31,2008. Here is a picture of my quilt. The title is 13 Lotus Flowers For My Mother. It is one in a series of three quilts that I have done as a tribute to my mother and her crochet work, which I have incorporated into the bottom right hand side of this piece. The work is 40" x 48".

I was thirteen when she died. There are references to religious symbols in the quilts, because I remember my mother as being very religious.

Here are the two other quilts in the series: 13 Flowers For My Mother, which is 24" x 24".

13 Roses For My Mother, which is 36" x 36".