Heidi Parkes

A hospital blanket, nylons, a bra strap, hospital restraints, keys, a paint brush, ear buds, handkerchiefs, beads, mixed textiles, and mixed thread

Hand pieced, hand appliquéd, hand embroidered, and machine quilted

2016

65 x 78”

$5,000

Sewn for exhibition on the Changing Aging tour, this quilt explores the subject of aging within institutional and gentler networks of care. This is emphasized with handwork and machine quilting. It’s hard to know how to support the elderly, and to find the line where caretaking ends, and confinement begins. This restraint of aging begins early in life with control tops, and climaxes with tight quarters, physical restraints, and medications.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Reuse, Reflection, and Storytelling in Cloth, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI (2023)

Toured from 2016-2018 with Changing Aging and Kyrie Carpenter

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

12 x 12”

$400

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

12 x 12”

Sold

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

12 x 12”

Sold

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

36 x 36”

$3,000

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

Through the Needle’s Eye, Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN (2025)

By Hand, Blue Bar Quilts, Middleton, WI

Pfister Finalist Exhibition, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2017, 2018)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

20 x 20”

Sold

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

Members Show, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI (2016)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Bedsheets, cotton fabric and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, stretched

2016

24 x 24”

Sold

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

Points of Departure, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (2016)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Bedsheets, cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted

2016

66 x 135”

$9,000

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. The exposed knots I use in this series are inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

Heidi Parkes: Reuse, Reflection, and Storytelling in Cloth, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI (2023)

By Hand, Blue Bar Quilts, Middleton, WI (2018)

QuiltCon presented by the Modern Quilt Guild, Savannah, GA (2017)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Bedsheets, cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted

2016

60 x 60”

Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts Collection

Hand quilted with re-purposed bed sheets, this series of quilts investigates the unconscious mind. I was inspired by an analogy from the book, Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, in which the subconscious mind is an ever-present influence, similar to the presence of the stars, even when they are not visible. We often speak about the stars as though they “come out” at night, but in fact, they are always there. This is a truth that we know, but cannot observe with the naked eye. So it is with our conscious and unconscious thoughts. When forming new habits and ways of being in the world, we must repeatedly remind ourselves of the truths that we’ve learned in order to override previous assumptions. The hand quilting in this series shifts from neat lines, to billowing clouds, to the links between constellations- or the forming of new neural pathways. This is the first quilt where I used exposed knots, a choice that was inspired by Rachel Carey George’s Work-Clothes Quilt, one of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, which I saw in person at the Milwaukee Art Museum. This quilt is now part of the permanent collection of the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

Pfister Finalist Exhibition, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Cotton cloth and cotton thread

Hand pieced and hand quilted, stretched

2016

13 x 11”

Sold

As a child, my family would drive North many times each summer to visit my grandfather’s cottage on Pretty Lake. This fiber art piece alludes to the process of cobbling together childhood memories. The vintage fabric in the center is a reference to my mother’s maiden name of Moosbrugger, and the other images of rabbits, strawberries, flowers, 1970s floral sheets, vintage flour sack prints, and lattice work all remind me of happy times on the road to Wisconsin.

Exhibitions:

Waysides, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (2016)

Hand-dyed cotton, cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted, stretched

2016

16 x 16”

Sold

Exhibitions:

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Hand-dyed cotton, fabrics from Seoul, cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

61 x 60”

$3,000

This quilt was inspired by Two-Sided Quilt Blocks by Polly Bennet, one of the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers. I was struck by how Bennet’s quilting stands out against the solid fabrics and blends into the prints. I dyed the black fabric using RIT dye and chose fabrics I had found during a trip to Seoul, South Korea. One of the fabrics on the quilt includes an image of a prince, and I was reminded of the story of The Little Prince. In the story, the fox wants to be tamed by the prince so that he can become familiar with him and look forward to seeing him. I had been inspired by the quilts of Gee’s Bend since art school in the early 2000s, and I felt a desire, like the fox’s, to be familiar with the improvisational style of quiltmaking of Polly Bennet and the other Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

Heidi Parkes and Lee Heinrich, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2017)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen and cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Hand pieced and hand quilted, stretched

2015

13 x 11”

Sold

Exhibitions:

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Pfister Finalist Exhibition, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Opening Exhibition, Permanent Baggage, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

Linen and cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Hand pieced and hand quilted, stretched

2015

13 x 11”

Sold

Exhibitions:

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Pfister Opening Exhibition, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Opening Exhibition, Permanent Baggage, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

Cotton fabric and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted, stretched

2015

48 x 36”

$1,500

Exhibitions:

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Opening Exhibition, Permanent Baggage, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen and rayon blend fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

48 x 34”

$1,800

Antoine de Saint-Exupery is one of my favorite creative people, and this quilt's title is a nod to his book, Night Flight. As a very young girl, my mother read The Little Prince to me, and before she took me on a real flight, she showed me Georgia O'Keeffe's painting Sky Above Cloud's IV at The Art Institute of Chicago. Every time I fly I am reminded of the magic and beauty in these two works of art. Staring out the window of a plane gives me such joy, that the journey is as much reward as the destination. This fourth work in the series highlights my experience landing at Chicago's Midway airport, and feels evocativeof Piet Mondrian's painting Broadway Boogie Woogie. Also an exploration in efficiency, this series employs techniques inspired by Seminole patchwork that are ideal for machine piecing to create repeat patterns. Unlike the Seminole tradition, my grids wobble with idiosyncrasies that remind me of rooftops, streetlights, and urban life. This series asks questions about light pollution, flight, efficient travel, machine vs. hand, and the American landscape. It is hand quilted horizontally to reveal the latitude lines necessary in navigation.

Exhibitions:

Through the Needle’s Eye, Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN (2025)

SEAMS: Contemporary Textile Artists, Portrait Society Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (2020)

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen and rayon blend fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

57 x 75"

Sold

This quilt uses improvisational piecing and techniques inspired by Seminole patchwork to create an aerial view. Visible horizontal hand-quilting represents latitude lines. The series is titled for the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Exhibitions:

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Threshold, Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

Linen and rayon-blend fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

57 x 58"

Sold

This quilt uses improvisational piecing and techniques inspired by Seminole patchwork to create an aerial view. Visible horizontal hand-quilting represents latitude lines.  The series is titled for the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Exhibitions:

Threshold, Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

Cotton fabric and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

61 x 57”

$3,000

The sandy color in these 35+ prints unifies them visually as they move like a wave across the surface of this quilt. From a distance, clusters of connected fabrics appear to vibrate, creating the illusion of movement, or even a wave. Up close, further details reward the viewer: kittens, ponies, pheasants, flowers, maps, scenes from Japan, block printed waves, and toile lovers with cherubs. This archetypal strip quilt, alternating a blue pinstripe sashing with wide strips of complex piecing, conceals its own simplicity. This approach yielded to the constraints of my sewing environment, while using a bathroom door and blue painter’s tape as my design wall during an artist residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Exhibitions:

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, Sisters, OR (2022)

Heidi Parkes and Lee Heinrich, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2017)

Warped Milwaukee 8th Annual Fiber Art Exhibit: Elements, ABK Weaving Studio, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen cloth and cotton thread

Hand quilted, stretched

2015

13 x 11”

Sold

Exhibitions:

Pfister Finalist Exhibition, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

It Was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

A vintage linen tablecloth from Laura and linen fabric from New York City’s garment district, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

58 x 60"

$3,000

My dear friend Laura found this tablecloth, and gave it to me in hopes that it would inspire a quilt. Within two weeks, this quilt was pieced. The charming vintage print features flowers, bees, and a chain link fence. The fence motif repeats in the three shades of gray fabric, the yellow line work, and the hand quilting done in a checkerboard-like grid pattern. The piecing design was inspired by Deborah Pettway Young’s “Roman Stripes” variation (the second side of the quilt linked!)

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

By Hand, Blue Bar Quilts, Middleton, WI (2016)

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen and rayon-blend fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

58 x 58"

Sold

Antoine de Saint-Exupery is one of my favorite creative people, and this quilt's title is a nod to his book, Night Flight. As a very young girl, my mother read The Little Prince to me, and before she took me on a real flight, she showed me Georgia O'Keeffe's painting Sky Above Cloud's IV at The Art Institute of Chicago. Every time I fly I am reminded of the magic and beauty in these two works of art.  Staring out the window of a plane gives me such joy, that the journey is as much reward as the destination. This is the first work in a series. It is modeled after the idea of flight, rather than a specific location, expressing the mystery of passing over multiple unknown locations in the night. It is hand quilted horizontally to reveal the latitude lines necessary in navigation.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

QuiltCon Traveling Exhibition, national exhibition. (2016)

QuiltCon presented by the Modern Quilt Guild, Pasadena, CA (2016)

Awards:

Second Place for Improvisation, QuiltCon, Pasadena, CA (2016)

Linen and linen-rayon blend fabric, a strip of yellow and pink floral from the artist’s grandmother Mimi, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2015

55 x 61"

Sold

This quilt pattern was inspired by ”Blocks and Strips” by Loretta Pettway, a quiltermaker in Gee's Bend Alabama. The fabric was purchased in the Manhattan garment district in New York, and in Chicago, except for the thin yellow strip with flowers. That piece was collected by my grandmother many years ago. The dark expanses of the quilt create an opportunity to see the improvisational hand quilting, while the long gray strip features only even horizontal stitches. Symbolically, the work speaks to transition; old and new, sunrise, regular vs. complex.

Exhibitions:

QuiltCon presented by the Modern Quilt Guild, Pasadena, CA (2016)

Cotton fabric scraps, including a piece of the artist’s mother’s tablecloth, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

61 x 58"

Sold

My favorite painting is Mark Rothko’s untitled orange work at The Art Institute of Chicago.  Enveloped by the expanse of color, my eyes love to linger on every drip and transparency. This white quilt explores the subtleties found in the piecing, stitching, and fabric of the quilted textile. It is made, in part, with pieces of my mother's tablecloth left from making "Beginners." This is the first quilt in my series of scrap quilts, including Cream, Sugar, Snow and Static, Sand, Sky.

Exhibitions:

New Threads, Concordia University, Mequon, WI (2016)

QuiltCon presented by the Modern Quilt Guild, Pasadena, CA (2016)

Cotton fabric, silk fabric, synthetic fabric, and cotton thread

Machine pieced

2014

40 x 40"

Sold

Inspired by the concept of a quilt interacting with light, this hanging panel investigates the visual movement created with varying segments of geometric shape and opacity. Bojagi are usually transparent, a traditional Korean version of the quilt.

Mixed textiles, including a piece of the artist’s mother’s tablecloth, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

64 x 61"

Sold

“Medallion with Center Bars” by Gee’s Bend quiltmaker Polly Bennet influenced this contemporary composition. The feeling and color story come from the film, “Beginners,” by Mike Mills. An essential component of that concept is the white fabric from my mother’s repurposed tablecloth from most of the holiday meals during my childhood, contrasted with the floral print with berries and hummingbirds that I found at Mood Fabrics in the garment district in New York, NY.

Exhibition:

Opening Exhibition, Permanent Baggage, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

Cotton fabric, including an ice cream print by Thomas Knauer, fabric hand-dyed by the artist, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

56 x 58”

Sold

Initially inspired by “Blocks and strips” by Amelia Bennet, one of the quilt makers of Gee’s Bend, this quilt is also reminiscent of a Gerhard Richter painting, with its horizontal strip piecing. The colors center around the ice cream print fabric by Thomas Knauer, with many humorous and vintage prints like jumping foxes, and my grandmother’s floral fabrics. 

Exhibitions:

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*Thomas Knauer later included two of my quilts in his books: Places Unfold in his book Why We Quilt (2019), and There’s Something Between Us in his book Quilt Out Loud (2023)!

Linen fabric and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

58 x 61”

$3,000

The painterly qualities of this quilt are guided by artists like Mark Bradford and Joan Mitchell, who also investigate the feeling of a place. This herringbone-patterned linen is segmented into areas of varied density, representative of the spatial arrangement found in an urban environment.

Exhibitions:

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Wisconsin Artists Invitational, Timothy Cobb Fine Arts, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Linen fabric and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

61 X 62”

$3,000

At a distance, the piecing of this quilt looks very traditional, an even grid of blues. Upon closer inspection, however, the viewer discovers that each section of the outer grid is constructed uniquely. This creates variation within the same. I was inspired to make this grid as a representation of the expansiveness of an ocean, in part by Agnes Martin. This work references the endlessness of water, and the latitude and longitude lines we use to corral it.

Exhibitions:

Water, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2019)

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Wisconsin Artists Invitational, Timothy Cobb Fine Arts, Milwaukee, WI (2015)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Cotton fabric, including cotton hand-dyed with turmeric, coffee, tea, and RIT dye, cotton embroidery floss, and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

64 x 61"

$3,000

When I first became a quilter, I moved from the suburbs to Chicago, and loved traveling on Lakeshore Drive. Glimpsing the view of Lake Michigan from my car, I found that the sky and water were ever changing, yet simultaneously reliable. Not a typical waterfront, the shoreline is corrugated metal and poured concrete, crumbling a bit from the seasonal freeze and thaw. I created texture by folding and sewing additional seams (pleats) within the color blocked structure of the quilt. The horizontal quilting lines have an ombre effect, creating atmospheric perspective as the lines gradually shift from navy blue at the top to light cream at the bottom.

Exhibitions:

Water, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2019)

Heidi Parkes and Lee Heinrich, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2017)

By Hand, Blue Bar Quilts, Middleton, WI (2016)

It was Felt, Prosper, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Cotton fabric and cotton thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2014

36 x 36”

Not for Sale  

This quilt features the bright colors of strawberries and flowers, with red quilting. Improvisationally pieced, the quilt starts out with a traditional log cabin pattern, and then like Jazz music, it creates abstractions and variations on that theme.

Made for my niece Isabel; her mom says it is perfect for 'tummy time.'

Linen and cotton fabric, and cotton thread

Hand and machine pieced, hand embroidered, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted

2014

59 x 59”

$6,000

Thirty-six squares centered on the theme of ‘Wanderlust;’ this quilt explores the concept with aerial views of personal and public landmarks. Mapping patterns of movement, highways, umbrellas at the beach, and cities with hand embroidery and applique add a heightened level of detail to this quilt.

The top right square uses Google Earth to look down at my former home in Naperville near the train tracks. For the center square, I imagined looking up at the constellations in the sky.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

Modern Quilting national traveling exhibition, opening at Dairy Barn Arts Center, Athens OH, and closing at Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA (2018)

MQG Exhibition, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA (2017)

Origin 8: Abstract Artists Invitational, Pfister Hotel, Milwaukee, WI (2016)

QuiltCon presented by the Modern Quilt Guild, Pasadena, CA (2016)

Awards:

First Place in Handwork, QuiltCon, Pasadena, CA (2016)

*Thomas Knauer included this quilt in his book Why We Quilt (2019)!

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Cotton fabric hand dyed with wine, and cotton thread

Hand quilted

2014

52 x 52"

$1,800

This whole cloth quilt was hand-dyed with red wine and hibiscus tea. Quilted with DMC floss in many shades of green to highlight the grapes used to dye the fabric.

Exhibitions:

The Fine Furnishings Show, through the Milwaukee Art Quilters, Wauwatosa, WI (2015)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Cotton fabric hand-dyed with coffee, tea, and RIT dye, bamboo crochet thread, cotton embroidery floss, and polyester thread

Machine pieced and hand quilted

2013

63 x 60”

Not for Sale

My dad and I often traded handmade gifts. For his birthday in 2013, I made this, my third-ever fabric quilt, in an intensely focused week while home on break from my job as a high school art teacher. A two-sided quilt, one side depicts wooden planks and tree growth rings; on the other, a watery expanse and a hand-embroidered inscription. When he passed in 2018 at 69-years old, this quilt returned to me. It was a source of solace, knowing I’d expressed my love for him while I could. It brings back memories of mending his blue jeans and collaborating on woodworking projects. As I changed careers to quilting in 2014, my dad cheered me on, and I now marvel at this quilt’s influence on my life.

A backing made from a found, hand-­pieced Log Cabin quilt top made with flour-­sack fabric, mixed textiles, a sheep from Matthew Lanci, polyester hand quilting thread, and Aunt Lydia’s crochet cotton

Hand embroidered, machine pieced, hand quilted, and hand mended

2013

83 x 68”

Not for Sale

This is my first-ever hand quilted fabric quilt. Making this quilt was true love. I was inspired by Loretta Pettway’s “Housetop Variation” from 2003; she’s one of the @geesbendquiltmakers. On the back side, I used a found, hand pieced log cabin quilt top made with flour sack fabric that my grandmother bought at an estate sale for $37.50.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

Heidi by Johanna Spyri, white out, glue, and crochet cotton

Collaged, embroidered, and hand crocheted

2004

30 x 30”

$3,000

In 2004 I took my first Fibers class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Diana Guerrero-Maciá. In Sampling, we looked at the history of samplers, crazy quilts, and textiles through the lens of a DJ sampling music and using appropriation in their work. Thus, I sampled my namesake, the book Heidi by Johanna Spyri. Each chapter of the book became a quilt block and I cut, colored, redacted, and collaged to explore the progression of the book. In class, I constantly worked with paper, thread, an exacto blade, and glue. As a class field trip, Diana invited us to her home in Chicago's Ukrainian Village, and seeing her basement studio where she made her work was a formative experience in realizing the benefits of a textiles practice and a home studio. A decade later, I attended her exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum, and being a high school art teacher myself, I was moved that Diana recognized me and remembered my name. It was one of many small moments that inspired me to take a leap of faith, changing careers and pivoting to be a full time quilter.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.

Embossed copper, wire, photographs, book pages, mixed media, polyester batting, and a repurposed curtain

Hand sewn and hand tied

2003

51 x 48”

$3,000

I made this quilt in my college metal-working class when I was given the assignment to make something that was as important on the inside as it was on the outside. The copper sheets were embossed with lace, which was a technique that has previously excited me with ceramics and is part of what ultimately drew me to studying fiber arts later in school.

Exhibitions:

Heidi Parkes: Soft Magic, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, WI (2025)

*To purchase this quilt, visit the online shop. If you don’t see this quilt in the shop currently, it is likely on exhibition; contact Heidi at heidiparkesart@gmail.com for more information.