Profile

I enjoy teaching classes that relate to color, the art process, and integrating embroidery with mixed media work.  My teaching approach is to encourage students to move gently forward from where they are, growing both skills and confidence.  I teach the importance of self-encouragement.

I earned the Master Craftsman in Color from the Embroiderers' Guild of America (EGA) in 2005 and currently serve as Chairman of the Color Program.  I juried into EGA's Fiber Forum in 2006 and again in 2009.  I'm a Life Member of EGA, past president, newsletter editor and VP Programs for Golden Needles Chapter in Concord, NC.  I serve as bylaws chairman for Lake Norman Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild for which I was founding president.  Working as a volunteer leader in numerous capacities for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, I developed an interest in landscape embroidery through hiking and outdoor Scouting activities.  

My grandmother taught me to stitch when I was nine.  My early work was huck embroidery, counted cross stitch, crochet, hardanger, and beading.  In the early 1980's, I discovered the Embroiderers' Guild of America, Inc (EGA) and the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG).  Silk and metal thread embroidery, needlepoint, open canvaswork, Casalguidi embroidery, quilting and many other classes followed.  My first teaching experience was a hardanger embroidery class in 1987.  In 1999, I took Mary Shipp's ANG Cybercourse  "Color for Needlework" and began a journey into color and design  which continues today.