R5 Not Granny's Quilts

While she was studying for her master’s degree in art therapy during the ’80s, an “amazing” nearby fabric store inspired Caren Sacks to try her hand at quilting. “From the first, I was hooked,” says the Mamaroneck resident, who learned to sew in a junior high home-ec class. “I started playing with shapes and colors and soon began selling my work at craft shows.”

Today, Sacks pursues a rewarding private practice in art therapy, but her own personal form of therapy and relaxation continues to be the handcrafting of functional throws and art-quilt hangings (“I find the process meditative”), which she continues to sell at what may be the world’s largest online crafts marketplace, etsy.com. “I draw inspiration from my observations of nature,” she says, citing her many summers in Martha’s Vineyard as particularly fruitful. “Anything from how the waves hit the shore and the roll of the sand dunes to rock formations, trees, branches, and the twisting and turning of their trunks.”

All throws are 100-percent cotton and machine-washable and dryable ($180-$280). The art quilts, many inspired by beach scenes and colors, may also incorporate such additional embellishments as snippets of tulle, silk, or hand-painted fabric, knitting yarn, printed photos on cotton, and hand-stitching and beading ($60-$400). For additional info: forcomfort.etsy.com; forcomfortquilts@gmail.com.