Collection: Marilyn Lee

I live in the beautiful north woods of Minnesota and I was 5 years old when I first learned to sew using a treadle sewing machine.  Sewing, creating, and designing has been my passion ever since.  From the amazing bag of scraps that my Grandma gave as a gift when I was a small child came my love for fabric and all of its fabulous colors and textures.  I started out by sewing clothes for my dolls and the dolls of my friends.  They all received tiny little quilts also.  Patterns were unavailable to me and this is when I started learning to design my own patterns and to this day I very rarely ever use a pattern other than my own.

I have dabbled in just about every aspect of sewing, fabric, and thread through the years.  My love of fine art has spilled over into my fabric creations and I find great joy in manipulating fabric and thread to re-create the beauty that I see around me in nature and in life.  I love color and the amazing contrasts they can create in my work.

I use a vintage treadle to do free-motion thread painting on my quilts and I also use a 1929 Singer free-motion embroidery machine to embroider some of my quilts and also to do the quilting on them.

I design many products for local manufacturers and also one that sells worldwide.  I am a very stay-at-home person, preferring to spend my time creating the beauty that surrounds me.  I have taught many local and regional classes.  I have entered some of my art quilts in local, regional, and state shows and I have received many blue ribbons and Best of Show awards. Some of my work was featured in the magazine "Stitches" which is a worldwide industry magazine for the embroidery industry.  In 2004 I received a Guinness World Book record for the largest rag doll in the world.  This 13-foot-tall doll, the famous Paul Bunyan of legend, was completely sewn by myself and was extremely life-like right down to his fingernails.  My work has been featured in local, regional, and state magazines and publications.  I have not entered any of my work in large shows as of yet.

I love to share my experience with others and help in any way that I can to teach them that they can create beautiful images with fabric and thread.  We all need to open our minds up and let the possibilities pour out.