For many years when people would ask me if I quilted like my mother did, I would respond, “I quilt in glass.” I’d go on to explain that like a quilter, I would cut bigger pieces of glass and tile into smaller shapes and then place the pieces together in a certain pattern or design.

My first mosaic project  in 2005 was a set of four coasters, two from a Mosaic’s Mercantile coaster kit and two that I made with additional materials using the kit pattern.

I then fell in love with mosaics made out of tempered glass, took a class from the fabulous mosaic artist, Ellen Blakeley and primarily made tempered glass mosaics for a few years. One of my favorite tempered glass mosaics is a mosaic plaque I made in 2006 with tempered glass, stained glass, and a border of glitter tiles that hangs in my office at work to remind my clients and me to remember to breathe.

In 2009 I took a Millefiore Mirror class from Laurel Skye and that is when I started to design small blocks that worked together with other blocks to make a cohesive mosaic using tinted tile mastic to adhere a variety of tile, glass, and metal. I think a photo might explain it better:

In recent years, I have frequently looked at quilting websites for inspiration. Here is pic of a stepping stone I made in 2011 with a framed cross block pattern designed by Marcia Hahn of Quilter’s Cache. As much as I find photographing quilts to be challenging, at least quilts don’t catch the glare from the sun or the light in the room.

In 2012 I made a mosaic top for the vanity in our new bathroom using iridescent stained glass.

Later in 2012 I decided to recreate in mosaic some of the quilt blocks that are in a quilt my mother made for me about 35 years ago (I sure wish she had put labels on her quilts which reminds me I still need to put a label on the last quilt I finished). She made the quilt in the country-style color scheme of light blue and pink, but my color preferences have significantly changed in the last 35-40 years (thank goodness!), so I made this mosaic table using iridescent glass tiles in greens, teal, yellow, dark coral, and almond. I’m in the process of taking and gathering photos of my mother’s quilts and plan to do a blog later this summer devoted to my mother’s quilting.

In 2013 I had a lot of tempered glass to use up, so decided to paint an end table gold, tore up pieces of copper leaf sheets, and glued the copper leaf on the table with a quick-drying adhesive called Mac glue. I had no idea that the glue would oxidize the copper which gave it such a cool effect. When I grouted the table with black grout, it even further oxidized. I call this my Happy Accident table.

I made this trivet for my sister’s 70th birthday in 2014 modifying Marcia Hahn’s Brother Bear/Sister Sun block pattern from Quilter’s Cache.

The last few years I have made mosaic Christmas ornaments for my family and close friends. These are quick projects comparable to making a mug rug. Here’s a pic of an assortment of them.

This past Christmas I decided to make a more improv style Christmas ornament using gold and copper 24K gold tiles with both smooth and textured surfaces.

I honestly don’t know how many more mosaics I will make. I’ve promised my sister one more mosaic Christmas ornament. I can tell you as I’ve increased my fabric stash, more and more of my mosaic materials have been moved into my storage shed to make room for fabric and other quilting materials. It might be time soon for mosaic supplies destash but definitely not my 24K gold tiles!