Design Concept & Process:

Jacuzzi Jazz #2 is my second quilt inspired by a spiraling fractal. My hand-drawn, pencil-and-ink design was scanned into the computer and colored in Corel Draw.
Original pencil and ink sketch	Sketch: colored in Corel Draw
I designed a custom, light-to-dark, colored rectangle for each of the pointed petal shapes, which gradate from deep purple, through the warm half of the color wheel on one side and through the cool colors on the other side. The colored rectangles were printed by Spoonflower, and the shapes were cut from the custom fabric.

3 yard piece of custom printed fabric from Spoonflower.
The entire design was drawn on freezer paper and cut up to make templates for cutting the fabric.
Bud shapes were pieced and appliqued in contrasting colors, using fabrics from my Gradations collection for Benartex. The patterned background fabrics are from my “Color Flow” collection (based on one of my hand painted fabrics) and they also gradate through the spectrum, beginning with the same green in opposite corners. The spirals strands that separate the two sides of the design alternate between black and gray, and the grays get lighter as they spin toward the center. The separations between the black and gray templates radiate from the ends of the pointed petal shapes.
Caryl painting on the computer screen. The glove is to prevent accidental paint spots when my hand rests against the screen to steady the stylus.	painted center template

When the shapes got too small to piece, I scanned the center of my freezer-paper pattern and digitally painted the center on the touch screen of my Microsoft Surface Design Studio computer. The center was then printed on two 8½” x 11” printer sheets with a color laser printer. I added black ink to further define the lines between the pointed petal shapes.

The free-motion, machine quilting was done with dozens of different colors of polyester and acrylic threads. The bud shapes are quilted in feather patterns. The larger petal shapes are quilted in flowing patterns, interspersed with spirals to echo the overall spiral theme. In the background fabrics, a feather pattern surrounds each bud shape followed by a meander pattern, filling the remaining space. In the black and gray spiral, I quilted an overall zig-zag pattern.

The back of the quilt is a one-of-a-kind, dye-painted fabric. The binding is solid black.

Exhibitions:

• Photos Pixels & Pizzazz, (solo exhibition) Latimer Center for Quilts and Textiles, Tillamook, OR, May 3-June 27, 2021
• International Quilt Festival, Judged Show, Houston, TX, October 27-31, 2021
• Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton Roads Convention Center, Hampton, VA, February 24-27, 2022 (First Place: Innovative)

Publications

• Art Quilt Quarterly, SAQA artist portfolio, Issue #24, 2021, p. 53
• Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, 2023 show postcard