My quilts are usually poignantly colorful. That’s what made creating a black and white work for this quilt challenge so complicated for me. I discovered as I worked that there are lots of black and white shades. Just as there are values and hues of purples and blues, so too are there variations in blacks and whites.

My cat, Stripes, was not black and white. The challenge of creating her likeness using shades that were not hers, totally from printed black and white cotton fabrics seemed to be impossible at first. But I discovered that I could play with the density of the patterns and they worked just like values do. The more dense the pattern, the darker the fabric appears. By mixing these different values of blacks and whites and by paying attention to the pattern design direction, I slowly composed fur patches, which I raw edge appliquéd on a black background. The piece is more effective if viewed from a distance. Every time I come into my studio I see Stripes looking back at me from my design wall.

Techniques: Raw edge appliqué, free motion quilting, hand sewn binding

Materials: Cotton fabric, tulle, cotton and polyester thread, 80/20 cotton/poly batting

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