This week we welcome featured artist is award winning quilter Deborah Watson. The first time I met Deborah we had an instant connection through quilting. We both lived in Asia as expats and discovered a passion for quilting! Different counties and different times…but all the same…it was a serendipitous discovery!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Deborah to photograph her Sweethearts and Silver Jubilee quilts for a competition. This is what Deborah had to say about her work and artistic journey. I think you will be inspired by her perseverance making her first quilt!

My journey with quilting and “playing” with fabric began 35 years ago.  With the piecing of my first quilt (a Drunkard’s Path design) I discovered I was hooked!  Being new to the art of quilting, I did not have any of the standard tools used in the industry.  Therefore, the pieces of this quilt were all cut using scissors (no rotary cutter) and the ¼” seam allowance was drawn on each piece (978 pieces) by hand with a pencil.  The quilt top was constructed by hand (no sewing machine) and took 10 months complete.

Garden of Flowers – Needle-turn Applique – 51” x 51”           Ribbon Twist – 58” x 58”                                Puzzled – 36” x 46”

Although I was passionate about the art, work and family obligations didn’t allow much time for quilting over the next 17 years. It wasn’t until 2002 when my husband and I moved to Singapore that I was able to immerse myself in my passion.  I purchased my first sewing machine…a Bernina….and got serious about quilting. In doing so, I evolved more fully into one of those strange artists who cut lovely large pieces of fabric into tiny pieces just to sew them together into larger pieces again.  A non-quilter might ask “why”, but anyone who loves working with fabric knows the joy that comes from that exercise. 

Masks from the Past – 32” x 32”                                   Kaleidoscope – 49” x 67”                            Sew Chevy – 64” x 71”

I spent the next three years developing my skills in the various techniques of the entire quilt construction process (traditional piecing, curved piecing, paper piecing, needle-turn applique, raw edge applique, quilting the quilt on a domestic machine, and binding). From 2002-2005 I completed ten quilts, numerous wall hangings, table runners, and other small quilted projects.

After moving back to the United States in 2005, I decided to add a longarm quilting machine to my many tools of the trade, which has allowed me to expand my creativity. My skills have developed to include quilts of original design using traditional blocks, modern quilts, scrappy quilts, art quilts, and wholecloth quilts.

Wholecloth – 55” x 55”                                                  Sweethearts – 40” x 50”                             Silver Jubilee – 65” x 65”

I have received numerous awards at local, regional, and national quilt shows.  My work was juried into the prestigious American Quilter’s Society quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky in 2011 and again in 2017. Most recently my Kaleidoscope quilt took 1st place in its category at the 2019 NW Quilting Expo show in Portland, OR.  My work is also on display at the Camas Gallery, in Camas, Washington on an on-going basis.

 You can find more of Deborah’s work here.