Quilt As Art is the home of Barbara McCraw, an award winning quilt artist. We invite you to visit each page to see some of Barbara's art as well as learn more about quilting as an art form.

Barbara does do custom quilts for individuals and she has also donated many of her pieces for charity fund raisers.

While many may think of quilting as a lost art, or something your grandmother and her friends used to do to pass the time while gossiping, you will find that quilting today is very much a new and enriched art form.

I grew up in a Chicago tenement, most in awe of how my mother took second-hand scraps of fabric, furniture, and hand-me-downs and turned them into a palace of a place for us to live. It might not have really been a palace, but in my mind it was.

My artwork is most influenced by my imagination, the encouragement I receive from my friends and the memory of my mom. I think of her the most while I'm sewing; I think of how steadfast and hardworking she was and at once, my patience grows for the tedious work sometimes involved in quilt making. Satisfaction with the results is much more important to me than how long it takes to get there.

The colors in my head are vivid, recalling movement, Nature, and the beauty of people. I have great respect for traditional quilting and love to imagine and learn the history behind the patterns, but my true interest is in creating one-of-a-kind, uniquely designed quilts using more contemporary techniques.

I feel a communal joy in working with other women, and a personal joy in creating articles of expression and comfort. I am influenced by my need to express my imagination, my heritage, my vision, and influenced also by my need to offer something of myself through community service. For me, the art of quilt making allows me to accomplish all of this.