My mother had the patience of a saint. Or maybe she just really wanted to sew! When I was five she would sit me on her lap and let me push the knee pedal to start and stop. When I was 21 and my mom died, the same skirts and dresses we sewed together were discovered in the back of her closet, inspiring me to make a quilt in her memory. We also dyed cloth together, my mom and me, standing over steaming pots of RIT dye. Now I am spending my days concocting color and creating quilts. I can’t help but think mom would approve.

Carol began quilting in 1976, making a quilt from her mother’s old clothing in memory of her mom. From this simple beginning, she saw the creative possibilities of fabric as a medium, and began to create her own designs. Carol began dyeing fabric in 1988 when she couldn’t find the colors she needed to bring the ‘vision’ of a quilt to life. With her hand-dyed fabric she was able to create the quilt “Covenant” which subsequently won Best of Show at the 1989 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. Since then, dyeing and surface design processes have become an enduring interest for her.

Carol’s quilts have been exhibited nationally and internationally since 1985 in such venues as Visions and AQS shows, and have received numerous awards, including Best of Show at the 1989 International Quilt Festival, Best Use of Color at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Exhibition 2000, and Best Innovative at Quilts =Art = Quilts 2001.

Carol is in demand as a teacher of color, fabric dyeing, and machine quilting techniques at guilds and conferences throughout the United States. She has taught her color mixing techniques at ProChemical & Dye in Massachusetts and Nancy Crow’s Timber Frame Barn in Ohio and is writing a book about these ideas. She lives in Geneva, New York with her husband, two sons, three boats, and a fabric stash.