Artist of The Week - Cheryl Arkison

Cheryl Arkison's quilts seem to tell a wonderful woven story.  Her blog, Naptime Quilter, will keep you reading and longing for one of her beautiful handcrafted quilts. The first quilt that caught my eye is this colorful and unique bookshelf quilt that she made for an old book club friend to welcome her new baby girl.

Nadine's Bookshelf

As an avid reader and an artist, I find this quilt the best of both worlds!

Cheryl is from Calgary, Alberta Canada where she lives with her husband and her two little girls.  She left her desk job in the environmental field to be a stay-at-home mom with a part-time creative career.  I asked Cheryl to tell me a little about her process and what inspires her wonderful quilts, and this is what she said;

"Most projects start with an inspiration.  That could be anything from a word, a pile of crayons in my hand, nature, a specific fabric, the carpet in a hotel ballroom... Anything, really.  And you never know what it will be. I've got notebooks filled with doodles and sketches.  About 5% actually make it to quilt stage. And it may take years for it to happen. If I've had a concept in my head for a while and it keeps pushing forward at the expense of all others I often give in and go for it.

After inspiration always comes the fabric pull. Arguably, this is one of the most enjoyable parts of quilting. There are no mistakes here and new possibilities can emerge."

Cheryl works with quilting cotton fabric only and as you can see by looking at this next quilt, she really makes the fabric work for her.  This quilt was designed and crafted for her neighbors as a Gratitude gift.  To read more about the story behind this beautiful quilt, stop by her blog and read the Fall Quilt Festival post.

In closing, Cheryl says it best with a tag that she puts on all of her quilts that says "Wash Gently, Love Generously".  I hope you enjoyed meeting Cheryl and discovering a little bit more about the world of quilting.  Thanks for reading.
Stacie