The Twelve-by-Twelve Fiber Show is on view now through September 30 — 40 pieces from our member fiber artists, each created within a 12-inch by 12-inch square.
Many of the pieces below are also part of our benefit auction, with bidding open through September 30 on Givebutter Auction platform. Look for the "Click here to bid on this piece" link under each auction piece.
You can also vote for your favorite piece for our People's Choice Award — voting stays open through September 30. Vote here
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Opening Reception on August 20! We're delighted to share this year's award winners:
Handwoven piece using double weave with manual pick up design with inlay
Artist + Bio: All the women sewed, embroidered, or knitted, so Joanne Bossert learned these skills early and loves to work in any medium related to fiber.
Category: Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Double weave with Pick-up design with inlay. Linen ground, inlay with various fibers.
Titled after the Japanese expression "mottainai," which conveys regret over waste, this work consciously incorporates the loose ends of numerous fiber projects. It seeks to rework what some might see as "trash" and find beauty in reuse.
Artist + Bio: Andrea Connolly approaches textiles from an education background. Her studio practice explores creating functional items from repurposed fibers.
Category: Slow stitch + Quilting
Techniques + Materials Used: A variety of boro techniques, from sashiko and sakiori to English paper piecing. The materials include eco-printed textiles, silk kimono fabric, yarn, and more.
Fractal felt is an approach to creating spontaneity within structure, resulting in a felted tapestry with complex designs. This piece is made with 100% wool batting, needle felted onto a 100% wool base, then lightly wet felted for stability, and finally embellished with stitching and beads.
Artist + Bio: Laurie Curtis fell for needle felt tapestry more than 5 years ago and has been exploring the form since. She recently relocated to Asheville from Vermont.
Memories of my trip to Sicily. How Sicily as a place has journeyed through history and culture.
Artist + Bio: Allynn has been making quilts most of her adult life. She has an art background so the move from traditional work to art quilting was a natural process.
Category: Quilting
Techniques + Materials Used: Commercial and hand dyed fabric. Machine pieced and quilted.
A Little Klee by Kathy DeOrnellas
This tapestry weaving is a representation of a small section of a painting by Paul Klee.
Artist + Bio: Kathy DeOrnellas lives in Waynesville where she maintains a weaving studio. She has been tapestry weaving for five years.
Category: Tapestry Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Wool yarn and cotton seine twine
Rhodo Reliquary gathers together fragments of cloth, ribbon, buttons, and handwoven fabric as one might gather keepsakes from a beloved place. Stylized rhododendron leaves—an emblem of the Blue Ridge Mountains and their shaded understories—are stitched onto a field of woven color, suggesting both memory and preservation. The buttons act as quiet markers of mending, attachment, and the human impulse to save what carries meaning. Neither purely functional nor decorative, this small textile vessel invites viewers to consider the ordinary objects that become sacred through use, touch, and remembrance. It honors the landscapes we inhabit and the pieces of our lives we choose to hold close.
Artist + Bio: Peggy Eckel has been playing and working with fibre through a lifespan of years. Weaving and knitting are inspired by the natural world she is settled in.
Category: Weaving, Stitching + Printed Cloth
Techniques + Materials Used: Weaving, hand sewing, machine sewing, old buttons
A woven piece using the natural fibers of indigo dyed nettle and unspun natural nettle. The nettle fiber is used for both the warp and the weft creating a sea of blue that can hold it all. The various shades of indigo come through in the nettle fiber in both simple and subtle ways.
Artist + Bio: Lauren Faulk is a crafter at heart and enjoys creating beauty through various forms of fiber arts such as weaving, sewing, and mixed media pieces.
Category: Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Indigo dyed nettle and wool
Artist + Bio: Jacqueline has been weaving for four years, and she have been focusing on tapestry weaving for the past two.
Category: Tapestry Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Wedge weave technique using cotton warp and wool weft
Shaggy Bracket Bag by Jon-Delia Freeman
A mushroom-dyed accessory bag, featuring a local mushroom (Shaggy Bracket, Inonotus hispidus). A needle-felted miniature Shaggy Bracket is the clasp. The yarn is local hand-spun.
Artist + Bio: Jon-Delia is a mushroom forager, natural dyer, musician and craftsperson living in Appalachia. They tell stories of the land through songs and art.
Category: Dyeing & Felting
Techniques + Materials Used: Alum and iron mordanted Shaggy bracket felt and yarn dyeing, as well as needle-felting and simple embroidery.
Hand painted silk enhanced with acrylic paint and mounted on gallery wrapped canvas
Artist + Bio: Asheville-based artist creates colorful, energetic silk accessories and canvas paintings. In this piece Margee has combined silk painting and acrylic.
Category: Silk Handpainted
Techniques + Materials Used: Silk dyes and paint brushes are used, next the piece is steam set, stretched on canvas. Next I add acrylic paint to enhance the painting.
Artist + Bio: Ruth Hartman has been creating with fiber for the past seven years. She primarily makes paper, hand stitches and enjoys various printing techniques.
Category: Eco-print
Techniques + Materials Used: Linen, eco-printing, hand stitching
Inspired by walks in the woods, this piece is woven with copper wire and yarn. It is embellished with beads to suggest berries and seeds on the ground.
Artist + Bio: The texture of woven cloth lured Sue Helmken to the loom 40 years ago. She studied at Penland and with numerous fiber artists, and now teaches and sells her work.
Category: Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Handwoven, copper wire warp and tabby weft, yarn, beads and driftwood
Artist + Bio: Betty Hilton-Nash has been weaving tapestry for 35 years. She currently teaches tapestry weaving at Local Cloth and leads the Tapestry Study Interest Group at Local Cloth.
Category: Tapestry weaving & embroidery
Techniques + Materials Used: Tapestry techique, couching, cotton and wool
Knitting, Crochet, Hand felting, Mixed Media handmade paper, Hand sewing, Plant dye linen
Artist + Bio: Found knitting in 2007, Carol Jensen began to make buttons for knitters. She has been in the design industry for 39 years, and so is always looking at fabrics.
Category: Mixed Fiber Art
Techniques + Materials Used: Knitting, Crochet, Hand felting, Mixed Media handmade paper, Hand sewing, Plant dye linen
This mixed-media piece features vintage linens, a recipe printed on fabric, embroidery, text from poems, buttons and ephemera gathered during a trip to England.
Artist + Bio: Judi Jetson is a fiber artist and community economic developer. One of the founders of Local Cloth, she weaves, spins, knits, stitches, and makes paper.
Category: Mixed media + Stitching
Techniques + Materials Used: Linen fabric, transferring text and images onto fabric, buttons, and fabric scraps
Water I Haven't Left Under that Bridge by Chris Koppi
Hanging tapestry piece
Artist + Bio: Chris Koppi is a young craftsperson from Western North Carolina, working in ceramics and fibers. Their work focuses on feeling; both as a verb and a noun.
A warp stretched between two copper rings — one outer, one suspended within — holds the weaving in tension and leaves a void at its center. Into that structure, Courtney LaCaria wove two worlds: the upper half in cream and warm gold, loose-textured and luminous as early sky; the lower half deepening through layers of navy, teal, and aqua, dense with the weight of water. A band of dark navy marks the place where they meet.
The piece draws on the coastal light of the beach near Wilmington, North Carolina — that particular horizon line where stillness and depth converge — rendered in fiber, copper, and the slow accumulation of each woven pass.
Artist + Bio: Fiber artist & farmer, Courtney LaCaria raises alpaca, spins the fleece, and weaves slow, intentional work — and invites others to find the same.
Category: Weaving
Techniques + Materials Used: Woven alpaca and mixed fiber on copper frame | 12"
your ancestors knew how to live with a healthy planet
their love lives on in our hands
bursting with love
resting on the Tree of Life
eternal & transient
inhale the sacred scent of sweetgrass twined into this carrying basket
to carry forth their dreams
Enjoy using your new/old basket!
Artist + Bio: A fiber artist working in deep time, Gail Lazaras explores prehistoric European textiles to link ancient ways of knowing with a beautiful future for all.
This piece was collaged and quilted with commercial and artist screen printed fabric. Finally, embellishment was added with improvisational embroidery.
Artist + Bio: Jan Lazear has worked in a variety of mediums, including, fiber, painting, metal and wood. Her current focus is quilting and surface design.
Artist + Bio: Claudia is a fiber artist and teaches needle felting. She has been sewing since age 8, and has been felting since 2014.
Category: Needle Felting
Techniques + Materials Used: Needle felted wool design on prefelt
Connect: Facebook.com/Claudia Lemacks
Circles of Life in Freeform Fiber Arts & Bead Crochet by Deborah Levine-Donnerstein
Circle of Life’ displays original freeform designs with interconnections among yarn, & multicolor & crystals beads. It exhibits various techniques in freeform crochet, bead crochet, & bead weaving. This art piece features 2 Bead Crochet Bracelets (7” & 8.5”) & a Bead Crochet Necklace (18”) with Pendants
Artist + Bio: Deborah enjoys Fiber Arts & Jewelry award-winning competitions in local & national exhibits, & I donate to support education & animal rescue.
Techniques + Materials Used: Set on a 12 x 12 canvas, it exhibits various techniques in freeform crochet, bead crochet, & off-loom bead weaving (Peyote & freeform stitching) beads.
The World is Waiting Outside Your Window by Nancy Lydon
Depicting the beautiful seasons in our natural environment.
Artist + Bio: Nancy Lydon appreciates textile art and enjoys learning and combining media, including felting, quilting, embroidery and beadwork.
Category: Felt + Embroidery
Techniques + Materials Used: Needle felted wool roving, cotton and silk hand embroidery
This piece is a nod to my friend, artist Connie Bostic, who loved the way daffodils wilted without losing their petals.
Artist + Bio: Creating with fiber and thread is like a conversation Paddy has with materials, colors, and design. Making fiber art makes a happy life!
Category: Fabric Collage
Techniques + Materials Used: The background is rust dyed; flower stems & petals hand-dyed gauze & linen; leaves are composite fabrics created from scraps; machine stitched.
Connect: @Paddy6340
Love: The Final Frontier by Jade McWilliams
A portrait of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, locked in a loving embrace, the moment before their lips meet.
Artist + Bio: Jade McWilliams is a RainbowPunkMonster in WNC. Their practice focuses on embroidery and surface design that challenges norms and is often wearable.
Small quilt with a favorite quote. The fabric is from the Anything Fiber Sale.
Artist + Bio: Peggy Newell started sewing at 7 and knitting a few years later. Quilting became a passion in her 20s. Peggy has tried other mediums but fiber is her home.
A design determined by dropping a piece of yarn on the fabric and then using a variety of yarns and threads to create a sample of stitches outlining and filling spaces.
Artist + Bio: Lynne Noble has had needle(s) or hooks in her hands for 65 years. She loves making all kinds of fiber work, teaching and enjoying other artists’ works.
Category: Embroidery
Techniques + Materials Used: A variety of threads and yarns and fabric and beads
An abstract (appliqued and embellished) wall hanging
Artist + Bio: Shirley Parkin is a Western North Carolina native, an avid art quilter, a member of the Weaverville Art Safari, and an enthusiastic supporter of the local arts.
Category: Appliqued and Embellished Art Quilt
Techniques + Materials Used: Cotton and hand dyed solids and prints, commercial felting, metalic beads, and fabric pens (micro and metalic)
Connect: See more of Shirley's work in the Local Cloth Retail Shop!
Saint Helena, Dream of Linen and Limb by Sara Penninga
This matriarch of fine art and craft, Saint Helena, is being neglected, left to blow away in the wind as virtual reality, computers, smart phones and Artificial Intelligence take her place.
Artist + Bio: Sara Penninga creates original works of fine art and craft. She is currently working in basketry and fiber sculpture.
A piecing techniques using narrow strips was used to create this piece. The title comes from the song Burning Down the House by Talking Heads.
Artist + Bio: Jenny Perry has been a quilt maker for over 50 years. Raised in Canada, she has lived most of her life in Kentucky and now lives in Swannanoa.
The third watch of the night is a time of vigilance, waiting, and expectancy. It is the time between the day’s work end and the work of the new day. The tomte is a watchful guardian during these hours while tending to the safety of home, animals and fields. The bird, perched on the makers needle, is a companion with a song in the night.
Artist + Bio: Reba creates visual art inspired by local and global experiences and people
Category: Knitting, fibre collage, needle felting
Techniques + Materials Used: This work is a collaboration. Reba created the art piece using knitted pieces and fibers from her morher’s studio. Peggy knit the tomte and the bird. Wool yarn, cotton fabric, knitted bird, tomte - knitted and felted, wooden knitting needle.
Peace by Natalie Rockley
The dove has been a symbol of innocence, love and peace for thousands of years. It is a fitting reminder of hope and renewal.
Artist + Bio: Natalie Rockley is a Quilt Artist.
Category: Quilting
Techniques + Materials Used: Monoprinting with metallic paints; quilted on a domestic machine.
A collection of hand dyed, hand knit hexipuffs arranged to showcase the beauty of hand-dyed yarn and the versatility of the knitted hexipuff.
Artist + Bio: Lisa Sandberg, of Studio 510 Fiber Arts and Local Cloth Resident Artist creates joy in the Blue Ridge with her dyeing, spinning, weaving and knitting.
Artist + Bio: Eileen Searcy creates art from textiles, fiber, pigment, and wax. Her work is available at Local Cloth and on her website eileensearcyquilts.com.
Category: Quilting
Techniques + Materials Used: Machine quilting and applique
I love to plan and start an ambitious new project, but don't always manage to finish one before the next idea steals my attention. So finishing this one-year stitch-a-long (within the intended year, no less!) felt like a major winning streak. Most of my productive stitching evenings began while watching Jeopardy! with family and shouting out answers between stitches, and the blue aida cloth background reminds me of the classic blue wall of "answers". A year of disciplined stitching gave me some answers of my own.
Artist + Bio: Rachel Watkins loves nothing more than making something beautiful and useful by hand. She is currently researching bookbinding as a form of resistance.
Handwoven Overshot Wandering Vine pattern, with a reminder to wander aimlessly and with purpose.
Artist + Bio: Melanie Wilder is a weaver whose work explores the relationships between people, place, and fiber through a deep commitment to sustainable practices.
Category: Handwoven + Embroidery
Techniques + Materials Used: Handwoven cotton and wool using the wandering vine overshot pattern with wool embroidery lettering
The Twelve-by-Twelve Fiber Show is Local Cloth's annual exhibit celebrating the creativity and skill of our member fiber artists. Each submitted work fits within a 12-inch by 12-inch square. The show is also our signature fundraiser — while donating artwork isn't required, many participating artists generously choose to donate their pieces, with proceeds directly supporting Local Cloth's programs and mission.
2026 Timeline
April 4 — Applications Open
June 29 — Applications Close
July 1–20 — Artwork Drop-Off
August 3 — Judging Complete
August 20 — Opening Reception + Auction Launch
September 30 — Exhibit Closes + Auction Closes
Judges
We were honored to welcome two guest judges this year: Betty Hilton-Nash and Joyce Tromba. Judging was completed prior to the Opening Reception. Committee members, judges, and their family members are not eligible for awards.
Betty Hilton-Nash has been weaving tapestries for more than 30 years, with training under leading tapestry artists including Archie Brennan, Jean Pierre Larochette, and Philip Playe of the Gobelins in Paris. Her work has received awards from the American Tapestry Alliance, Handweavers Guild of America, the Blue Ridge Fiber Show, and the Australian Tapestry Workshop. At Local Cloth, she leads the Tapestry Interest Group.
Joyce Tromba brings more than 20 years of teaching experience in design, sewing, knitting, quilting, bookmaking, and natural dyeing, with study at Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Center for Book Arts. A Master Gardener, she tends a natural dye garden at the Buncombe County Extension Office and leads Local Cloth's Natural Dye Interest Group.
Awards + Recognition
Our award categories celebrate excellence, encourage participation, and recognize innovation across our community.
Best in Show — The highest honor awarded to a single, outstanding piece of fiber art, recognizing exceptional originality, technical skill, artistic vision, and professional presentation.
Newcomer Award — Open to members who joined Local Cloth after January 2025, or first-time Twelve-by-Twelve exhibitors. This award celebrates new voices and encourages fresh participation in our community.
People's Choice Award — Voted on by visitors, in person and online, through September 30. The winner will be announced at the close of the exhibit.
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