my art is the way that I sing 

The life's work of Sheila Lee Niles

 

This book is a labor of love to the memory of Sheila Lee (Talbott) Niles, assembled by her husband, Bill, and granddaughter, Rebecca. Rebecca applied her awesome talent and experience with book publishing gained from her work with the museum in Washinton D. C..

 

Sheila raised and nurtured five children and a husband while she fulfilled her creative desires.  In her first fourteen years she spent her time on the beach and in the woods of Puget Sound area in what is now the city of Seattle. Free as a bird.  Her father nailed her wooden apple boxes as "doll house rooms" to the wall of her room. She doesn't remember having any kind of dolls for the rooms.  This was during the depression, but it wasn't the dolls that interested them anyway. Marvelous things came from the woods and the beach.  Sheila made everything she could dream up.

While she and her husband and children were in Montreal, "Finally the smoke began to clear" and everyone was in school - not even coming home for lunch.  That was wonderful. All that time and nothing to do but choose.

 

 Linda McKay said, "At the local guild, you always knew that Sheila wouldn't follow the given directions - I don't think she could. Her mind didn't work that way. Traditional quilters didn't appreciate that Sheila's quarter inch seams weren't really a quarter inch - they were creative resemblances.  And forget about a flat-hanging wall quilt - in Sheila's aesthetic the more wrinkles the better!"

 

Her creativity was appreciated as she won "Quilter of Distinction" at Heritage Park Festival of Quilts in 2005. She was a philosopher as well as an artist. Towards the end of this book is a project called "Time Again" a burying coat. "It says what I think about life. What I think about life is what I wrap around me to protect me from the storm. This coat is also my celebration of life."

I would highly recommend you take this book out of the library and get a glimpse of a remarkable woman.  The book is also online at www.rebeccaniles.net/sheila