Featured quilter serves up varied styles

Carol Loehndorf-Webb describes her quilting style as "eclectic."

"I do all sorts of things; I don't have a specific style," she told the Nugget.

The featured quilter for the 2014 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show will display the wide range of her work in the yard at Ponderosa Properties on the corner of Hood Avenue and Ash Street during the Quilt Show on Saturday, July 12.

Loehndorf-Webb takes inspiration from the color and texture of fabric and lets that lead her toward her final product.

Her intuitive artistic sensibility is a legacy from her father, William Loehndorf, a skilled artist artist who also worked in oils and watercolors.

"There is a resonance between the color, the design, the texture of the fabric that's intuitive for me," she says. "And that's because of what my father taught me."

The Sunriver quilter uses her maiden name in her art as an homage to her father and his influence.

Loehndorf-Webb started quilting in 1985. She says that her quilts are an expression of each time period in her life. More placid quilts are indicative of peaceful times, where wilder quilts reflect periods of turmoil.

Like other forms of art, quilting can be a profound act of self-expression.

"It illustrates the condition of your life at that time," she says. "I can look at a quilt and say, 'That's where I am at that time.' It's a psychological mirror - or a spiritual mirror. And that has been a real gift to me. It kind of helps me set a course for my life."

The power of her work led to her selection as this year's featured quilter - a high honor in the world of quilting.

"I really was kind of floored," she said. "More than kind of. There are so many marvelous quilt artists in the area. I'm very humbled by it."

Loehndorf-Webb says that her featured quilter display will cover a range of time- periods and styles. She says there's no clear arc of her evolution as a quilter - she wanted to show how "various" quilting can be.

But nonetheless, she does acknowledge a certain kind of movement.

"I graduated from the school of perfection to a little more random - more organic," she said. "That's been my biggest leap: From straight lines to curvy lines."

Quilting has been an important form of self-expression for Loehndorf-Webb - and she believes such expression can be of value to anyone.

"We all have some gift of creativity," she said. "The point is to find it and exercise it."