The more closely I watch birds, the more fascinated I have become with trying to capture their colors and textures using fabric and stitchery. I have developed a design and sewing technique for "capturing the moment" in cloth and quilting stitches.

Dimensional flowers lend beauty and texture to a piece of fiber art, but they are not easily accomplished. When I saw Barb Forrister's demonstration of how to make realistic looking flowers with a combination of machine embroidery and surface design techniques, however, I was intrigued and wanted to share the process with you.

Last year when Pantone announced its Color of the Year—Tangerine Tango—I was a fan. I like cheerful, sunny colors, and this one hit the spot for me. I could see using it in different modes, from fabric to embroidery, to surface design techniques.

How did you learn to quilt? In my family, the women passed down needlecraft techniques like sewing, embroidery, knitting, and quilting.

Hand sewing and machine stitching can happily coexist on the same fiber art piece. Personally, I love to add hand stitching to my sewing projects, even if the bulk of the stitching is done by machine.

Did you ever have one of those quilts that was almost finished, but just needed a little something? A little sparkle, a little more texture, a little oomph to catch the eye? Chances are, what the quilt needed was some embellishment.

One of the differences between art quilting and traditional quilting as that in art quilting, thread is almost always part of the design. The choice of thread in machine embroidery, in particular, can affect the look of the quilt.

Have you ever looked at a heavily stitched or textured textile and thought, "That would make a great pattern for printing?" Lace, embroidery, even free-motion stitching can all be inked up (or painted) for monoprinting and surface design.