A Yarmouth native, Dash learned to quilt from her mother a young age and quickly learned the meaningful nature of a handmade gift. She continued to quilt and craft throughout her childhood but stepped away from the practice as she entered college and her early working life. After graduate school Dash settled in Maine’s midcoast to work as a marine biologist and pursue small business. She has always created art in various mediums.
In returning to Yarmouth and her hometown community, Dash returned to her sewing machine, too. After a long hiatus she discovered that quilting every day was a key source of her contentedness. She starting drafting quilt patterns to the intrigue of the modern quilt community. The first quilt she made, Flight Effect, which has exhibited in a national quilt show and gained accolades in trade publications, was inspired by birds taking flight and was analogous to her feelings of returning to her sewing machine.
Dash has gone on to write seven more patterns while steadily making quilts, and has opened a small shop on Main Street in Yarmouth, Smith’s General, featuring her work as well as work from her peer textile artists and crafters. “Returning to Craft” is a visual representation of the journey she has taken over the past few years. Drawing inspiration from the abundance of beauty that coastal living offers, she designs modern quilt patterns that play upon the inherent symmetries and synchronicities of the natural world. These quilts boldly navigate the delicate balance of contemporary and timeless design.
