Cindy Grisdela has been making things since she was a child. Her mother taught her to sew as soon as she was old enough for her foot to reach the pedal of the sewing machine, and some of her fondest memories are of time spent in the fabric store immersed in color and pattern. Although she sewed, there weren’t any quilters in Cindy’s family, so she didn’t discover quilt making until she happened to read an article in a women’s magazine as a college student. She made lots of mistakes in her first quilt—a queen-sized Trip Around the World—but the process of creating with fabric and thread and adding texture with quilting stitches spoke to her like no other art form she had experienced. Cindy made many traditional quilts early on in her quilting journey while she worked as a financial journalist and later raised two boys. Being an artist at heart, eventually she grew tired of following patterns and longed to create quilts that were uniquely hers. Not knowing exactly where to start, she began by first tweaking old favorite patterns like Log Cabin and Drunkard’s Path, before finally evolving into a more contemporary, improvisational style that speaks to a more modern aesthetic. Working improvisationally, she cuts lines and shapes directly out of fabric freehand, without a pattern or template. The design process unfolds organically, as each decision about color and line influences the next. She doesn’t know exactly what the finished composition will look like, and that’s fine with her. The process of discovery is what makes Cindy excited to step into her studio every day. “What if . . .?” is her favorite question. Color and texture are the focus of Cindy’s work. The color is the starting point for almost all her designs. Although she is known for her bright colors, she enjoys challenging herself to use new color palettes that might be outside her comfort zone. The texture is the second step. Cindy does all her own free-motion stitching freehand on her BERNINA, without a computer or marking ahead of time. She is so passionate about the stitching that ten years ago she switched to using only solid fabrics in her work so the stitching would really show and be an integral aspect of her artistic design, rather than just a method to hold the three layers together. Cindy is a full-time artist and teacher. She travels all over the country lecturing and giving workshops on Improv Design to quilt guilds and groups. Helping students let go of the rules to uncover and explore their own creativity is a great joy for her. She has appeared on Quilting Arts TV and contributed to Quilting Arts magazine, and she is a Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates. Find Cindy on her website and blog at cindygrisdela.com or on Instagram @cindygrisdelaquilts.