In her own words…
“There’s a reason I call my alter ego “Zoombaby.” I love to drive fast and live intensely. My improvisational approach to art gives me that same kind of exhilaration. Whether I’m painting, drawing or piecing a studio quilt, moving head first into the unknown fuels my creativity. I relish all the surprising discoveries along the way as the journey starts to reveal itself to me. Never having had an interest in sewing or textile work before, I arrived in the quilting world by accident—though you might call it fate. In January 2009 I went to donate some fabric to Project Linus, and when I left, a little voice started nudging me to do something, so I spent the rest of the year making and donating 30 quilts. Exactly one year later, I embarked on my first art quilt, “Life in the City.”
![](https://preview.americanquilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wm_lifeinthecity_full_v2.jpg)
“My pieced quilts are bold and graphic, as I am inspired by color, line and shape. I love the bright, beautiful patterns of tropical fish and am constantly in awe of nature’s palette. I also enjoy painting with thickened dyes, discharging, batiking and other aspects of surface design. However, my greatest passion is basic piecing with no plan, no sketch, and no agenda. It’s a huge challenge to navigate a complex vision from piecing alone, so to pull it off is incredibly rewarding. My journey into the magical world of quilting has truly been a gift. My life has been enriched in ways I never could have foreseen going into it. I guess that’s what happens when you let your intuition be your guide.”
![](https://preview.americanquilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SFramptonCooper_UnderseaPortals_full-850x736.jpg)
After years of oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting, jewelry making, and architectural photography, Sheila’s passionate leap to studio art quilts in 2010 came as a surprise. She found excitement in improvisational piecing, painting with thickened dyes, and various aspects of surface design. Whether it’s a butterfly on her windowsill, a bird in her garden, or the colors of a tropical fish, Sheila finds inspiration in the natural world as well as in a bustling metropolis. Often a featured artist, she has won awards at international quilt shows, curated and participated in major exhibits, been featured in a variety of quilting and fiber art publications, and appeared on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.
![](https://preview.americanquilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SFramptonCooper_Kelp-812x1024.jpg)
Find out more about Sheila at www.zoombaby.com.
I absolutely love the freedom of color and motion. Inspirational.
Beautiful, inspiring, colorful, contemporary – it is a joy to see something different. I wonder what would happen if you had some crazy textures in the quilts some 3D elements?
Architectural influences with shadows
so much inspiration out there if only we all could see it, feel it, transfer it to fabric art.