My exploration of color began when I was a little girl. My summer afternoons were spent by my mother's side, copying the stitches she sewed in her crewel work. I loved watching how a single needle could elicit such wonderful loops and knots and chains as if by magic. I knew that my mother's love of this antique art form had grown from countless hours kneeling by her mother's side, and was part of life in the small Hungarian village in which she grew up. The stitch patterns and intricate designs felt as though they'd been handed down through the generations into my care. And I wanted my needle to create the same wondrous art.