One day in 1993 I walked into a quilt shop because my tennis partner was not going to be able to play tennis on Wednesdays for 6 whole weeks! She had signed up for a class in quilting. "What's a quilt?" I asked and she said to go to the quilt shop and find out. I did and I was hooked!

My first quilting class was with Blanche Young, the funniest woman and nicest lady ever, and at the end of that class I took my sixty-eight 1/8th of a yard pieces of cloth home and made a queen-sized quilt top in 7 days WHILE teaching high school English! I loved everything about the process including washing and ironing the fabric! However, I have a university degree in teaching both art and English, so I quickly lost interest in following patterns and making PERFECTLY straight 1/4" seams. That's when I met Mary Lou Weidman who said, "Terry, you can make anything you want to in cloth. Just applique it!" She didn't know it, but her words were the magic that I needed.

Now ideas come to me nearly everyday for new works. But I've made a pledge to treat every piece of my work like it might be the last one I do. I try for the same attention to detail in every facet of a piece, from the designing to the cutting to the sewing, the quilting, the binding (I love binding!) and even to drawing the label. It's a time-consuming work philosophy, but when I'm finished with a piece of my art, I don't look back with any regrets. I've learned from the piece, and it was the very best I could do at that time. It's a happy way to work, and I hope that comes across clearly in my work... I hope it is joyous!

Just about my favorite thing to do in the whole world is to teach. I was so proud to win the honor of being the "Secondary Teacher of the Year" in my very large cosmopolitan school district. And I still love teaching school, but teaching quilting is such a joy, too . Seeing people come into class almost as scared and anxious as I was that first time, and knowing that they DO have art ability and they WILL learn to create original new work is the most exciting thing to me. I LOVE seeing people discover their own in-born talent! Best of all is having students come back and show me their finished work, work that has won prizes in competition or won raves from their family and friends. Yes, I do love teaching!

My second favorite thing is to give talks about my quilts, telling the truth about the triumphs and the disasters that have happened in each of my pieces and revealing the crazy ideas that came to me to fix each problem. What a privilege it's been to teach and talk at so many guilds and conferences in California and the Midwest! It's also been a wonderful experience to teach at so many varied quilt shops up and down California and in the Midwest, too. My work is included in 7 books. I've written a few magazine articles about my work and even been featured on "Simply Quilts. " I was the lead judge for the Hoffman Challenge a few years ago, and I've loved all the judging opportunities that have come my way. But face-to-face teaching and talking is the most fun to me.

Enjoy my work. Each piece is born from intense looking, especially at the small things that most people ignore or unintentionally squash under their feet. Nearly all the answers are right in front of our eyes and right outside our doors in Nature. Don't just look straight ahead all the time. Look UP and look DOWN... way DOWN at the little things that surround you. That's where inspiration actually comes from... well, at least for me.