Twenty five years ago while in college studying traditional art methods, I never would have believed that today I would be making art quilts---and loving it! Childhood memories include hand sewing, drawing, and painting. I learned to quilt as an adult, and I produced quilts for home and family. Today, I am able to create original art quilts which incorporate my continuing love of vibrant color, line and texture. My sewing machine and threads have become tools for “drawing” original designs on fabric and adding dimension as well.

It was at a local quilt show that I met several local art quilters, and their vibrantly colored fabrics and quilts struck in me an artistic nerve. I said, “I want to do this when I grow up!” It has been a great adventure, one I would not trade for anything. I have been blessed with wonderful teachers, great opportunities, and an ability to express myself with fabric and thread. I find great satisfaction in sharing what I have learned with others, and I truly enjoy watching a student transform her doubts and fears into a confident, “Look what I made!”

I find that I need this creative outlet. Whenever I have not done any art or quilting, I feel that something is missing from my life---my life feels incomplete. I feel off-center and less confident. However, whenever I reconnect with the creative process, I soon lose all sense of time. Aches and pains are less noticeable and worries are put on hold.

I make art that I find pleasing to my mind and heart, using shapes and colors that bring me pleasure. I like exploring new ideas and seeing things that I have not seen before. I especially enjoy the process when it is unplanned and leads to exciting, unexpected results. It is my sincere hope that when others see my work that they will feel some of the wonder and satisfaction that I have gained while creating it and that they will be inspired to find and/or continue on a creative path of their own.

Anne Lullie is an award winning quilt artist from Lake in the Hills, Illinois. Her work has been shown throughout the United States in juried shows such as The American Quilter’s Society Show (2003, 2005), Paducah, KY, Pacific International Quilt Festival XIII, Santa Clara, CA, and Road to California, Ontario, CA. In 2004, her quilt Peace, Love, & Happiness Dragon won an Honorable Mention at World Quilt Show 2004. Fiesta del Mar I was published in the American Quilter’s Society 2004 Engagement calendar. In 2005, Fiesta Floribunda II won Second Place honors in the Art Wall Quilt category at Road to California. In 2005, Anne’s quilt Colorplay I was chosen to travel with the Husqvarna/Viking exhibit "Masterpieces; Art Takes Shape". Colorplay I was purchased by the International Quilt Association, to be part of their collection. Anne's quilts have also traveled in Chicago School of Fusing invitational exhibits nationwide.

Anne is best known for her use of bold colors, abstract shapes, and whimsical hand-embroidered embellishment. Her technique of choice is raw-edge fusible appliqué, incorporating hand-dyed fabric and threads, and finished with machine quilting.

Anne was born and raised in Iowa, and she has also lived in Colorado and New Hampshire. From the age of twelve, she had an interest in sewing clothing and items for the home and family. Following high school, Anne studied art history, ceramics, painting, drawing and printmaking at several schools, including Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She graduated with honors from the fictitious Chicago School of Fusing where she continues to learn from the brilliant “Professors of Fusion”.

Anne lives in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago with her husband Joe (talented bricklayer and handyman), two beautiful and talented teen-aged daughters, Sarah and Angie, and a precocious miniature Schnauzer. Anne creates art quilts in her home studio and shares what she has learned along the way with her students.