“Phases”

 
“Phases”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026
5.5" x 47"

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, cotton thread. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

 

 

 

“Rhytidome”

 

“Rhytidome” Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026 41" x 47.5" White fabric, colored fabric squares, glue, cotton batting, cotton thread, cotton backing fabric. Digitally altered photo by the artist, covered with tiny hand-cut fabric squares (smaller than 1/4") placed with tweezers and glued down one at a time, then free-motion machine quilted. Rhytidome is the outer layer of bark on woody plants, including trees. Like people, the "skin" of trees is smooth when young, and develops distinctive wrinkles and textures as they age. Recent groundbreaking science is discovering many other ways that trees are like people – they live in family groupings, share nutrients, communicate with each other, and warn each other of dangers. Since childhood, I've felt a close kinship with trees, and take every account of abuse personally. I've had a particularly hard time with the death of the Grandmother Trees, cut down for a hideous swath of Trump's border wall in Arizona. These trees were estimated to be 150-250 years old. The last one in this grove in was bulldozed in Lochiel, Arizona, on Oct. 5, 2026. In indigenous cultures, grandmother trees are revered and viewed as living family members. How the trees must have screamed out to their family members as they were ripped from the earth.

 

“Fantasy Fish”

 

“Fantasy Fish”
by Susan Brubaker Knapp  Copyright 2026
11.5" x 11.5"

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.  

Green Beetle

 

Green Beetle
by Susan Brubaker Knapp  Copyright 2026
9" x 15"

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

Poppy in Fuchsia

 

Poppy in Fuchsia
by Susan Brubaker Knapp  Copyright 2026
7.75" x 10.75"

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

 

Beautiful Swimmer

 

“Beautiful Swimmer” 
Copyright 2026 Susan Brubaker Knapp. 
31.5 x 22”

Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting. Free-motion thread sketched and machine quilted.

 

 

“Frosty”

 

“Frosty”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026
10.5 x 16.5"

Batik fabric, cotton thread, interfacing, polyester batting, cotton backing fabric. Free-motion thread sketched and quilted.

Fizzled

“Fizzled”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knappp (2026) 
17 x 17"

Silk (some sourced from men's ties), polyester batting, silk thread, cotton backing. Hand appliquéd, free-motion quilted.

 

“Sunnyside”

 

“Sunnyside”

Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026

17x12"

 

Cotton fabric, cotton thread, fusible adhesive, ink, cotton batting. Fusible appliqué, free-motion machine quilted.

 

I worked on this piece during a segment I just shot for Quilting Arts TV; it will be released this fall. 

 

I made small art quilts featuring the three homes my husband and I have lived in. This is the second, a 1916 Queen Anne/Craftsman house in Mooresville, NC, where Rob and I moved just before I had our first child. We lived there for 23 years.

You Say Tomato

  

“You Say Tomato”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026
14 x 18" 

Cotton fabric, interfacing, cotton batting, cotton thread. Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion quilted, stretched on canvas and wood frame.   

 

“Falling”

 

“Falling” Copyright 2026 by Susan Brubaker Knapp. 11.5 x 11.5" White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, acrylic craft paint, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing. Wholecloth painted, stenciled, free-motion quilted.

Rainy Day Daffodils

 

“Rainy Day Daffodils” Copyright 2026 by Susan Brubaker Knapp 22.75 x 15.25" Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing, glue. Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion quilted.

 

Boxbriar Cottage

   

“Boxbriar Cottage”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp (2026)  
15.5” x 11.5" 
Batik fabric, hand-dyed fabric, glue, cotton thread, interfacing, cotton backing. 
Raw-edge applique, free-motion quilted.

 

(2026)

Fern Hill

Fern Hill

Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp (2026)

15 x 11" 

Batik and hand-dyed fabric, fusible adhesive, cotton thread, glue, cotton backing. Raw-edge appliquéd, free-motion quilted.

 

 

Raven, Illuminated

Raven, Illuminated
Copyright 2025 Susan Brubaker Knapp 
23x23"
White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting, cotton backing fabric. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.  

Just realized that I never posted this piece! I made it last year. It’s based on the same drawing of a raven that I based a series of pieces on in 2022, but it’s bigger and more detailed. 

  

Silk Circles

“Silk Circles”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026
6.5" x 31" 

Silk ties, dupoini silk, cotton batting, stabilizer, silk thread, cotton backing. Needleturn appliquéd, free-motion machine quilted.  

I’m experimenting with ways to use silk in my work for a segment I'll shoot for Quilting Arts TV Series 3300... this series will air starting in November 2026.  

Retirement Party

“Retirement Party”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026
22" x 33.5" 

Upcycled silk jacket and ties, cotton batting, stabilizer, cotton and silk thread, cotton backing. Needleturn appliquéd, free-motion machine quilted.  

Some of these ties belonged to my father and uncle; others were purchased for a few dollars at local thrift stores. The background is made from a quilted silk jacket I purchased for $5. 

I’m experimenting with ways to use silk in my work for a segment I'll shoot for Quilting Arts TV Series 3300... this series will air starting in November 2026.  

 

Your Move!

Your Move! (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp, 2026) 15.5" x 22"
Cotton and silk fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting. Silk screened with thickened dye, appliquéd, free-motion machine quilted. 

Monarch Munch

 
“Monarch Munch” (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2026) 19.5 x 15"

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, interfacing, backing fabric. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

 

In April, I participated in an event hosted annually by my friend and realtor Natalie Marrone to gather food and raise money for PORCH, a local organization that fights hunger in this area. A naturalist named John Connors was there with several monarch caterpillars on milkweed, and I took photos on which this piece is based.  

“Milkweed is the common name for many plants in the genus Asclepias. It is an herbaceous perennial, recognizable by its broad opposite leaves, colorful flower clusters, or seed pods filled with silk that carries its wind-dispersed seeds. Monarch butterflies only lay eggs on milkweed and monarch caterpillars only feed on milkweed leaves. The key to this specialized relationship is found in the milky latex produced by the plant, which contains compounds called cardiac glycosides that are poisonous to most other animals. The monarch butterfly has developed resistance to this toxin, giving caterpillars a strong chemical defense against predators. In response, milkweed is trending toward faster regrowth following monarch caterpillar activity rather than increased toxicity. This is an example of coevolution, the process of living things influencing one another over thousands or millions of years.” 

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/milkweed-and-monarchs.htm  

Lots of information about my wholecloth painting technique is in this blog post: https://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/2014/01/faqs-wholecloth-painting.html

 

 

Stencil Magic

 

For several years, I’ve been using a technique I call “Stencil Magic” in some of my work. It’s a super fun way to create interesting layering and transparency, and wonderful color. 

I’ve scaled back my travel to teach and speak significantly since moving to Chapel Hill in late 2019. Part of this was forced on me because of Covid. But I also discovered that I loved spending more time in my studio, and the amount of work I was creating significantly increased. I found that I started selling more work, partly because of my participation in the Orange County Artist Guild Studio Tour (the first two weekends in November), and focusing on making work for exhibitions. 

I’ve enjoyed doing presentations for lots of guilds via Zoom, and I also teach (in person) for nearby guilds, depending on the craziness of my schedule. I made the decision several years ago not to teach online – I don’t feet that my techniques and teaching style are suited to it, and I don’t want to spend a great deal of time learning how to teach effectively online. 

But I really love teaching near home! If you live locally and want to hear about the local classes I teach, please sign up for my occasional e-newsletter here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.com/contact

My full schedule is here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.com/schedule

This year, I'm teaching these classes locally:

STENCIL MAGIC – SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2026
Old Murphey School, Durham, NC, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Get information and register here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.corsizio.com/

WHOLECLOTH PAINTING: BARNYARD – SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2026
Old Murphey School, Durham, NC, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Get information and register here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.corsizio.com/

NEEDLETURN APPLIQUÉ FOR BEGINNERS – SATURDAY, AUG. 15, 2026
Old Murphey School, Durham, NC, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Get information and register here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.corsizio.com/  

*****

Here’s more about the Stencil Magic class:

You’ll create a vibrant art quilt using simple imagery, acrylic paints and stencils. We paint and stencil in class, and you take a small quilt top home to quilt (this means no lugging your machine; yea!). The supply list is pretty short, because I provide all the paint. 

You’ll begin one or two original projects, learning how to work with acrylic paints to create a background, then stencil pattern onto the background and then paint around the imagery. (In the examples below, the imagery is things like ferns, leaves, lanterns, lettering, or hands). I bring some imagery and stencils you can use, or you can bring your own. 

Here are some examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Prayer”

 

“Prayer” 14x11" (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp, 2026)

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing. Painted, stenciled, free-motion machine quilted. 

Made in early 2026, during our government’s attack by ICE on Minneapolis, the kidnappings and killings.  

“Spring Fever”

 

“Spring Fever” Copyright 2026 by Susan Brubaker Knapp. 17x22" Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing, glue. Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion quilted. The times are dark, the news is awful. I am trying to hold on to hope.