I always design all my quilts on graph paper before I even start shopping. I get an idea of what colors I want and how I want them to be arranged. Then I choose the fabrics and get going. I love drawing the quilt out, coloring it in and choosing the fabric but most of all I love being deeply involved in the process. I love the intimacy of a quilt divulging its character to me and dreaming about the person who will get the quilt while I am making it and then saying goodbye to the quilt and knowing that it has fulfilled its destiny and gone to make someone else's life better. I quilt for wounded soldiers, foster children, sick kids and orphaned kids in other countries. I once ran a schoolwide community service project based on the book The Quiltmaker's Gift. I am working my way through the patterns in the book and send a copy of the book with each donated quilt.