
Pieces of Me – Solo Exhibition at Studio 111
May 14th, 2022
San Antonio, Texas
I found piecing quilts to be a place of solace for me in my quiet despair of living with mental illness and the damage caused to my connections with my children and the people I love. It became a place for me to lay my tears and feel the pain through the torture of so many pieces and time and effort in a sort of penance to the pain I still feel even today. I turn the darkness into these quilts so my kids can wrap themselves with and energy of all the love I have for them. Alchemy, I heard it described one day for the process turning the negative into love and that’s what I wish to leave behind for them. This is the history of my family in textiles like all the women before me. This is the love I have for all my children and all the pieces of my heart I have sewn back together for them as an act of love and healing so they can have me whole and not in pieces. This is why my quilts are not for sale, instead they are the anthropology of my lineage as all quilts are and should be revered as. Women’s lives have all but been erased in history but the quilts remain as a testament to our presence and role here no matter who tries to erase our history. This exhibition is my pain turned into the art of loving someone so much, you heal yourself so you can still be here as long as you can for them.



I was invited to be interviewed for A Quilter’s Life Podcast (below)
Quilt Name: Balance
This quilt is for my son who is a libra and who I use to refer as “My little man in Blue.” It is a 2 sided quilt with the front representing balance and the back chaos. The construction of the quilt took a year to complete and has about 4000 pieces of fabric sewn together. This is also a study in triangles and color value was used to bring the 3D pattern to life.
Quilt top and quilting done by machine.



Quilt Name: Love
This quilt is represents turning my darkness into love through geometry and the colors of the rainbow. True black is made of all the colors of the rainbow so even black can be a rainbow in darkness. This quilt was made for my youngest daughter to remind her that love is exists even in darkness. This quilt has 2500 triangles and took 8 months to complete.
Quilt top and quilting done by machine.



Quilt Cloak of Protest
This cloak was made for cold camping in my dj adventures and in protest of the trend designers have of cutting up quilts for fast fashion. The only history that has survived of women is on our quilts since history prefers to favor the lives of men and cutting up these quilts bought at estate sales because they are “just going to waste” is like cutting up anthropology for fast fashion. It takes so long to make these quilts that they are being destroyed faster than they are being made anymore. This tedious work is dying due to a generation raised on instant gratification so please, save our quilts. This garment was made with the construction of a quilt including the stitching to quilt it and its construction was that of a quilt made in the shape of a cloak in order to encourage pieces being made with the idea of a quit in mind instead of destroying a quilt with a garment in mind.





Glamour Quilt
This quilt was inspired by my daughter’s art of fashion and style. Each block I adorned with lace, ribbons and chose the fabrics to make each dress its own unique style. Coupled with the fabrics that bring together a look feminine and lovely just like my beautiful daughter. I made the back flannel to make sure she felt extra comfort while wrapped in her mommy hug of fabric.
Quilt top and quilting done by machine.




Greyscale Quilt (work in progress)
This quilt block has 451 pieces and is being sewing by hand with the plan to also quilt it by hand. Already several months into the process and will probably takes years to complete but this is my drug of choice to check out and concentrate my frustrations onto fabric instead of the ones I love. The greyscale is highlighted by the value system which is influenced by the color and patterns of chosen.



Sister’s Qui.t
Amde this quilt for my sister Cynthia in Miami so I experimented with thinner batting and backing for a quilt that would be proper for warmer weather.



Quilt Name: Depression
The original name for this pattern in history of quilting is depression quilt. I found out after I began to piece it together. It is a study in color value and the one that started my fascination with triangles. The secondary pattern was made through the placement of patterns in a way to highlight the shape desired.
Quilt top and quilting done by machine.

Amish Inspired Quilt
This was a challenge that opened my world up in so many ways. There are 35 pieces to each block which overwhelmed me but my professor taught me to never think of how long a quilt will take me to complete, just to commit to going back even if for just a single stitch and even if it had been months or even years since I had touched it. With my ADHD, this was extremely hard for me to fathom before I really understood how my brained functioned. This quilt took me 7 years to make since I had such a difficult time focusing but I promised myself to keep going back. The day I finished it, I was living in a homeless shelter for women with mental illnesses and it was cathartic to realize that I could finish when I was feeling like the biggest loser of my life. I realized after experiencing that day, that art saves lives.
Quilt top sewn by machine, quilting done by hand.

Quilt Name: The Temptation of Christ
This quilt was made because this faith destroyed my family. Then my dog chewed holes in it the day I finished it and it seemed fitting. I know he felt the disdain I did as I made it knowing these ideologies were used against me to demonize me and in turn punish me and banish me for being me.



