Bold, colorful, and stunning geometric designs with flying geese galore – that’s how you know you’re looking at one of Gail’s quilts! Her style has become immediately recognizable because of her talent for combing vivid colors with intricate piecework. Her geometric star quilts and pictorial quilts have won awards at shows throughout the U.S. and have been featured in publications worldwide. Students love her ability to make these designs achievable even for novice quilt designers.
For Gail, quilting began as a whim, when friends convinced her to take a hand-quilting class. Quiltmaking quickly became a passion. Gail’s early quilts are traditional with conservative fabric choices. By 1984, she began exploring original design.
Her first effort, Azimuth, is a king-size medallion style quilt that features a Mariner’s Compass in the center and variations of the compass throughout the quilt. This award winning quilt has been displayed at quilt venues throughout the U.S. and overseas.
Today, Gail lectures and conducts workshops to quilters throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her classes for novices include instruction in color and composition, introduction to paper piecing, and drafting, drawing and design. For the experienced quilter, Gail’s classes in design are popular wherever she travels. She also leads tours for quilters and birdwatchers to exciting “off-the-beaten-path” locations.
In her other life, Gail is the Executive Director for Hawks Aloft, a New Mexico conservation organization. This organization was founded by Gail and others in February 1994. They conduct education and research programs to monitor and protect raptors and other neotropical migratory birds. During her non-quilting time, Gail may be found working with schools and various interest groups in the community, promoting raptor and conservation awareness, flying in a small aircraft locating nests of large raptors and eagles, or conducting surveys on foot in remote, back-country areas of New Mexico. Several non-releasable, permanently injured education raptors are housed in outdoor flight cages at her Albuquerque home.