I grew up along the banks of North River in Bridgewater, VA in a family of seven girls and one boy. I came to Mississippi where I taught school for three years and married Paul Graber in 1977. We live on a farm raising hogs and growing corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton. We have six children and enjoy ten grandchildren.

My interest in sewing started when I was young and learned to make my own clothes. After I married, I made a few tied comforters and utility quilts for family, friends, charities, and myself. It was after our youngest child started school that the quilting bug really bit me.

My sister Polly coaxed me to subscribe to Quilter's Newsletter magazine which opened my eyes to the quilting world out there. It wasn't until the late 1990s that I learned to enjoy and appreciate art quilts. I like a new twist or contemporary flavor to the old and traditional. In recent years, four generations of the women in our family get together for a week to ten days, to sew and quilt. We talk, laugh, stay up late, and take turns fixing meals. These times together are one of the highlights of the year for me.

I enjoy the challenge of taking an old familiar quilt block and turning it into a new and innovative quilt or fiber art. I'm also drawn to bright, bold, and brassy colors to help bring my work to life.

And then too, I love the challenge of taking an image, whether from a photography, nature, or in my mind, and creating it with fabric and thread. My work is representational and often minimizes detail.

It brings me joy when viewers of my work are drawn in for a closer look. I'm encouraged when they study the piece and discover with delight that it is not just another quilt, but an expressive and compelling piece of fiber art.

Sherry Pence has been tatting since 1987. Additionally, she is a ceramic artist. She combined her love of pottery and tatting by creating the world's first one-of-a-kind ceramic tatting shuttles. After discovering the online world of tatting, she found inspiration to follow other tatting persuits such as blogging, designing, teaching and writing. She received her "Master Tatter" certification in 2009. She has authroed four tatting books. She enjoys exhibiting her work and sharing the old art of tatting with a fresh new look.