Orinda Spence

A cooperative Artists' Gallery located at the Gateway to Mesa Verde National Park, in Mancos Colorado. From Textiles to fine Paintings, Wood Art, Jewelry, Furniture, Graphics, Photography, Calligraphy & Stained Glass, you will find a fantastic array of art & crafts.

Orinda's Fancy
Orinda Spence - Crazy Quilting

Orinda Spence
   Cortez, CO
    970.564.9197
    Contact me here: spenlo@netscape.com

Also, see me at - www.community.webshots.com/user/crazypieces

        Orinda Spence: "For as long as I can remember, I have been hand-stitching on some sort of fabric. My first pieces were the traditional dish towels and pillow cases. Many years later, my stitching includes fancier pieces that are much less functional and mundane. Collecting a pallets of colors of fabrics, threads, beads, buttons and lace is an ongoing process. I find that if I chose items and colors that I like very much, sooner or later the items coordinate onto a piece of fabric. Color is everything in my design. The art piece is composed of whatever comes from my needle and fingers, I never know what it will be. All pieces are entirely hand stitched, using heirloom quality materials.

       About Crazy Quilting - Crazy Quilting is a very old art. Ladies in the 1800s created small quilts to decorate their parlors. The pieces were used as a display of a lady’s needling and painting skill. The art of Crazy Quilting has become contemporary and today there are many styles. I call my style Crazy Quilt Collage. Starting with a piece of good quality cotton muslin, I hand stitch various and random shapes of different but coordinated fabrics onto the cotton until it is covered. The next step is to decorate each seam with embroidery stitches, lace and/or ribbons. The collage is created by layering more ribbons, lace and fibers over the stitched fabric. The final step is to add the larger beads and embellishments, ribbons, trims, buttons flowers and whimsical doodads. I enjoy using silk threads and fabrics because they have sheen and it is a pleasure to stitch with them. Quality beads as well as crystal and semiprecious beads enhance the embroidery stitches. In this modern day, acrylic beads and ornaments are more expensive than traditional glass beads and as a bonus are light in weight.

        Please inspect and enjoy the intricacies of my handwork. Each is one-of-a-kind, carefully finished and decorated by my hand holding a needle and thread."