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Wednesday, November 12, 2025

“Midnight in the Garden”

 

“Midnight in the Garden”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
56" x 48"

The decision to bear children was, for me, partly a decision that humanity was worth continuing. These days, I’m not so sure. As a mother, I yearn for my children – all children – to live in a world of beauty and peace (represented by the flowers at the bottom). But our world is filled with horrors, too. Wars and genocide; government corruption; the influence of neo-Nazis and white supremacists; degradation of civil rights, human rights, women’s rights and voting rights; school shootings; poisoning of our water, air and land; and environmental catastrophes brought on by man-made climate change. What will we choose for our children and their descendants as the clock strikes midnight?

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint. Wholecloth painted with collaged painted elements, free-motion machine quilted.









Monday, October 20, 2025

“I Told You So”

 

 “I Told You So.” 
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
11” x 15.5” 
 

This one just applies to so many situations! Another piece in my “Short and Sweet” series. 

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

“Swimming at the Pink Pony Club"

 

“Swimming at the Pink Pony Club” 
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
11.5” x 11.5” 

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

 

Sunday, October 19, 2025

“Sugar Junkie”

 

"Sugar Junkie" 
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 
15" x 10.75"

That’s me. I’m a sugar junkie.

This is another piece in the series I’m doing called “Short and Sweet” – short phrases on my painted/stenciled fabric backgrounds. They are so fun! 

Have a phrase you’d like? I do commissions!

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


“Nobody’s Free”

“Nobody’s Free” (copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 18” x 11”

I love this quote by Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977), American voting and women’s rights activist, community organizer, and leader of the civil rights movement. We are all interconnected and bound to each other by our humanity, and until we can achieve justice and freedom for everyone, none of us are truly free in the “land of the free and home of the brave.”

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

 

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Sugar Maple series

 

“Sugar Maple 2”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
10.5” x 14.25”

I'm working on a series of pieces featuring sugar maple leaves, using the same techique – I paint white fabric, stencil it, paint around the imagery, then free-motion quilt.  

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


“Sugar Maple 1”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
10.5” x 14.25”


Tuesday, August 26, 2025

“Our House”

 

 

“Our House”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
17” x 25”

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

These words are from the song “Our House” on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1970 album, Déjà Vu.

I'll light the fireYou place the flowers in the vaseThat you bought today
 
Staring at the fireFor hours and hours while I listen to youPlay your love songs all night long for meOnly for me
 
Come to me now (come to me now)And rest your head for just five minutesEverything is doneSuch a cozy room (such a cozy room)The windows are illuminatedBy the evening sunshine through themFiery gems for you, only for you
 
Our house is a very, very, very fine houseWith two cats in the yardLife used to be so hardNow everything is easy 'cause of youAnd our
 
La-la, la-la-la-la-laLa-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-laLa-la-la-la-la-la-laLa-la-la-la-la-la-la-laLa-la, la-la-la-la-laLa-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-laLa-la-la-la-la-la-la
 
Our house is a very, very, very fine houseWith two cats in the yardLife used to be so hardNow everything is easy 'cause of you And our
 
I'll light the fireWhile you place the flowers in the vaseThat you bought today




Sunday, August 10, 2025

“Kintsugi”

“Kintsugi”
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 21" x 16.25”

Just finished this piece, “Kintsugi,” last night. 

Kintsugi 
(金継ぎ), or kintsukuroi (金繕い), is a Japanese method of repairing cracks or broken pieces of pottery. After the repair, the crack is lacquered, then dusted with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The idea is that the imperfections can also be beautiful, and that cracks are not flaws. 

I pieced “Kintsugi” with cotton fabrics — dyed, painted, marbled and stenciled — and then used cotton thread, perle cotton, sequins, and beads to embellish it. Free-motion machine quilted, hand embroidered. 

 The fabrics in those three appliquéd circles are by Melissa DeLisio. She's on Instagram @lostmymarblesfabric. 

 
“Kintsugi” (detail)
“Kintsugi” (detail)
  
“Kintsugi” (detail)
 
“Kintsugi” (detail)
 


Thursday, July 31, 2025

Moon Moths

“Moon Moths” – 41x56"
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2023

I realized today that I had not posted about this piece, “Moon Moths,” which I made in 2023!

My fascination with moths and butterflies has spanned decades, and I have been making art about them since I started making art quilts around 2005. (The first was “Gossamer,” which I made in 2006. It featured a woman’s body on a Blue Morpho butterfly, soaring through a spiral of thread and hundreds of glass beads.)

“Moon Moths” features four spectacular moths: Luna (green moth at the top, Io moth on the right, Madagascan moon moth on the bottom, and Emperor moth on the left). They encircle the moon and the moon phases. It is a wholecloth painted piece. 

It was purchased before I could exhibit it, and perhaps that is why I forgot to post about it!




 

Monday, July 21, 2025

Shooting "Quilting Arts TV" Series 3200


I’m just back from Denver, where we shot the latest series of “Quilting Arts TV.” I shot three segments for this series, which will come out this fall.  

I have been the host of Quilting Arts TV since 2014. I was also a guest on the show several times (Series 500 in 2009; Series 700 in 2010; Series 1300 in 2014) while Pokey Bolton, the founding editor of Quilting Arts magazine, was host. 

QATV is shown on more than 400 PBS stations across the U.S., as well as Create TV, and showcases the work of expert art quilters who explain and teach innovative surface design, construction, embellishment, and hand and machine stitching techniques. Novice and professional art quilters alike can learn something new from the wide variety of topics explored on the show.

To see the show on your television: Visit your local Public Television station’s website to see if the show is available in your area. Or watch on Create TV, if you get it.
 
To purchase downloads to individual series, or to get access to all seasons: Video Downloads or Stream All Episodes on QuiltingDaily.com.

We have some fabulous guests in Series 3200!

Quilting Arts magazine’s Contributing Editor Brandy Maslowski shot two segments. She’s the host of the popular “Quilter on Fire” podcast (she was a firefighter previously). You can listen here: https://quilteronfire.com/podcast/
 
 
Our other guests in Series 3200 are: 

David Owen Hastings
 

David M. Taylor

Diana Fox

Kestrel Michaud

Mel Beach

Pat Bishop

Sarah Spencer


Sondrasa

Several artists who shot last year have segments in Series 3200 as well (this is the series where I caught Covid just before the shoot, so Brandy and Vivika Hansen DeNegre stepped up as co-hosts):

Vivika with Kimberley Pierce Cartwright

Brandy with Shannon Conley  










Brandy with Kimberley Vicki Conley


Cindy Lohbeck with Vivika Hansen DeNegre 
 

There’s more information about QATV on my website here: https://susanbrubakerknapp.com/quilting-arts-tv

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

“Beach Access”

“Beach Access” (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 11” x 9” 
 
Cotton fabric, interfacing, cotton batting, cotton thread, ink, acrylic textile paint. Fusible appliqué, free-motion thread sketched and quilted. 


“Red Rocks”

 

“Red Rocks” (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025). 

Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing, ink. Fusible appliqué, free motion machine quilted.

Asilomar Sunset

 


“Asilomar Sunset” (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 

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

“Blue Mountain Lake, 1968”

 

“Blue Mountain Lake, 1968” (Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025) 11” x 9” 

Cotton fabric, interfacing, cotton batting, cotton thread, ink, acrylic textile paint. Fusible appliqué, free-motion thread sketched and quilted.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

“‘Marsh View”

Marsh View
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
11" x 9.5"
 

This piece is based on a photo I took last summer from one of my favorite vantage points to view the marsh on Bald Head Island. It’s the dock at the Creek Access on North Bald Head Wynd, just east of Old Baldy lighthouse. 

I love this view best in summertime, because the blues and greens really make my soul sing. It’s also very peaceful. Last winter, when there was no one around, we saw a river otter there.

I’m doing a series of small landscapes right now, in preparation for shooting a segment for Quilting Arts TV in a few months.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

“Common Buckeye”

 

“Common Buckeye”
16" x 12.75"
© Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025

I took the photo on which this piece was based at a local garden center last summer. 

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

“Mascara”

“Mascara”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
9"x9"
 

This is my daughter Julia’s eye. I created this piece for a segment on Quilting Arts TV several years ago, and just quilted it today. White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, interfacing, cotton thread. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

“Scissors at the Disco”

“Scissors at the Disco”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
14.5" x 8.25"

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

Thursday, April 17, 2025

“American Robin”

“American Robin”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2025
23.5" x 33.5"



I have loved robins since I was a child, and have made several pieces featuring them and their nests. The background fabric for this piece is one I made in a class with Pat Pauly – screen printing with thickened dyes. 

Hand-dyed cotton fabric and commercially printed fabric, glue, paint, ink, cotton thread, fusible adhesive, interfacing, cotton batting. 3-D elements made from cotton thread on water-soluble stabilizer.

Fusible and raw-edge appliqué, free-motion quilted.