I began quilting back in 1980, right after a high school home economics class introduced me to the sewing machine and the parameters of a good fabric puzzle. Having also excelled in geometry, I took to quilting quite naturally as an artistic expression. I was able to create around a dozen or so quilts throughout the 80's and into the early 90's. But as it sometimes is the case, life got in the way with other adventures and demands and I stopped quilting for 25 years.

 

I  explored many different artistic outlets after quilting. I worked in television production, excelled in video editing, learned to become an animator, became a Photoshop master, put my color theory training to test as a color consultant for a Northwest paint company, transitioned into a graphic artist, and continued my life-long love for time lapse photography that's been with me ever since I made my first animated film at 14.

 

In 2017, during a cold, dark winter day in Port Townsend, I half-heartedly picked up some fabric from a woefully neglected pile stored away in my studio. I sat down at my new sewing machine (a gift),  that had been sitting there for months, and found myself suddenly inspired.  A spark in me had been lit once more. I realized that my sewing/quilting skills had never disappeared, and returned with a vengeance!  I was able to pump out four very beautiful and substantial quilts during the remainder of that year.

 

But it was a baby quilt that left me a bit frustrated with something I hadn't been planning or thinking about. I wanted to present it to my niece and her new baby with some documentation of how the whole quilt came together. But in the end, I felt I didn't document the process enough.  I had just learned a new quilting technique (Trapunto) and didn't think the few pictures I took really conveyed the way it all happened.  I was just about to start the next baby quilt for another niece, when a friend asked me "Have you ever thought of combining your love for quilt making with your passion for time lapse photography?"

 

DUH!

 

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. It seemed like a natural extension for me.  So, I took the idea . . . and RAN WITH IT!  The end result was constructing the quilt, "Dream Weaver",  while at the same time, creating a time lapse project along with it. I set up three cameras to capture that session’s progress.  And when I was done sewing I’d move over to my computer and edit the day’s worth of footage at night.  Essentially, each project grew at the same rate. It was a BLAST!  I had SO MUCH FUN doing this!!!

 

So, I’ve decided that I’m going to do this with each and every quilt I make from now on .

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And thus, "Quilting in the Fast Lane" was born.