What can I say? The more I read about the abuse of animals and their loss of habitat the more angry I get. I want animals to have a fighting chance! I want them to be loved and cherished and recognized for the magical creatures they are.

Be it bears, wolves, raptors, walruses, pigs or even squirrels—I feel bad for them. I wish they’d develop ways to defend themselves against the stupidity of humanity. With the sixth mass extinction well underway and the next zoonotic disease pandemic on the horizon the future feels bleak. Can you imagine a life without bird song and bear antics? I cannot.

This is why I created this series of hand-puppets-cum-liquor-bottle-covers. To vent your frustration and act out your anger towards humanity I suggest you pick up one of my puppets and start playing make-believe. What if animals ruled the world and humans were threatened by them? What if they farmed us in factories and ate us? What if they went fishing for old, white, bald men? Who am I to colonize my squirrels’ backyards?

I suggest you have a drink while playing, so you can really let loose. Once you feel better you can hide your liquor bottle inside the puppet and pretend that the world is a good and just place. Just for a little bit.

These puppets are made from recycled materials because the last thing our environment needs is more waste. They measure between 12 and 16 inches in height; some fit pint-sized liquor bottles, others fit larger wine bottles.

To take a closer look at details, head over to my blog.

Half snail and half bird or mammal, these hybrids were inspired by depictions of animals in medieval illuminated manuscripts. In this series I was exploring what a monochrome creature looks like in front of a crazy colorful background. (Some of the recycled fabrics are from the 1970s and 1980s.)

It all started out after I came across an image of an angry boar in a snail shell and ended with my elephant squeezed in a shell. I now notice that the animals start looking happier as the series continues. The elephant, which I made last, almost appears to be laughing. Maybe, subconsciously, the pandemic has influenced this series? At first we were angry to be stuck in our homes, but eventually we began to accept our fate and made do. Today, we hardly want to leave the house anymore.

These little quilts measure approximately 14x19”—each creature slightly varies in size—are entirely hand-stitched.

They look great on the wall as a series or in pairs as place-mats—and they can be hand-washed.

Measuring 57 x 52 inches this quilt is part of a series highlighting the injustices animals in the entertainment industry endure. (For another example of this ongoing series, check out Montecore Says Hello.) Like my other work, it is made from recycled textiles. 25% of the proceeds will go to the Animal Welfare Institute, a nonprofit that has been working tirelessly to fundraise for animals impacted by the war in Ukraine. You can read more about the story behind the quilt on my blog.

For pricing please contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

Do I need to say more? Circuses are cruel institutions, and you can’t blame the elephant if he loses his patients after being forced to perform menial tricks and prodded by clowns with sticks. Made from recycled textiles, this hand-stitched quilt measures 45 x 56 in. It is part of a series that highlights the indignities animals in the entertainment industry have to endure.

SOLD.

“Say hello, Montecore!” Roy told his white tiger during his last performance in Las Vegas in 2003. Montecore promptly ripped off his master’s head, possibly his way of saying a final hello. Maybe Siegfried & Roy shouldn’t have exploited their white tigers, inbreeding them causing birth defects, ripping their babies away from their moms, locking them up in a cages and treating them like slaves—all to make tons of money and entertain their idiotic crowd. This quilt was made from donated curtains, clothes and fabrics and measures 48x63 inches. For pricing please contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

Need I have to say more? Fish, eals, seahorses and crustaceans are finally fighting back. The girl on the top is modeled after my best friend Leslie. She has beautiful blond hair, an exquisite figure and she likes to drink water. Also, I would hereby like to demand that the 50 stars on the American flag be changed to one giant starfish. And surely, we can afford lose a few states, no? (Ahem, Arkansas, anyone?) This quilt measures 52 x 62 inches and is made from clothes and fabric donated to me by neighbors and friends.

This plague quilt, which features 20 animals and the different zoonotic diseases they transmit to humans, was inspired by the Covid-19 outbreak. It measures 45x45 inches and is made entirely from recycled fabric to protect the environment. For further information on this quilt, please check out this blog post. You can also follow me on Instagram at @animalquilter, where I’ve added a little educational narrative to each plague panel.

This quilt is made from recycled denim and clothes and perle cotton thread. It measures 39​ ​x​ ​50 inches and draws on my various travels to petroglyph sites in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. I miss the Southwest but not its tourists.

This quilted Egyptian coffin/sleeping bag is the third in a series of pandemic quilts. Featuring baboons, cats, rabbits, a falcon and a scarab, or death beetle, it is loosely based on Egyptian mythology, in particular The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Filled with wool and embroidered with Finca Presencia perle cotton, the quilt is made from recycled shirts and dresses from friends, neighbors and colleagues. It’s about 5 feet and 5 inches long, 17 inches wide and 4 inches deep. The quilt’s yellow sides feature an excerpt from the Book of the Dead that reads:

“O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart of different ages! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of...”

You can read more about the making of this quilt and view detailed images on my blog.

This quilted book features the 10 plagues of Egypt told from the perspective of the animals that were affected by the epidemics that struck Egypt during the time of the Exodus. Made from used denim and other recycled fabric, the “book” features 12 panels, including a cover “page,” a portrait of the antagonists, Moses and the Pharaoh, and a panel for each of the 10 plagues: blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing of firstborn children. The quilt was inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic and is one of three quilts that tackle the subject of the worldwide outbreak that cost millions of people their lives. The quilted book is available as a little printed book, which also features an essay about the 10 plagues. It is a fun and interesting read for both adults and children. (If you’d like to purchase a copy, email me for details at sabineheinlein@gmail.com) You can learn more about the book and view more images of the quilt on my blog.

What do you do if you have 30 jeans pockets left over from previous denim projects? You make a leopard quilt! (Duh!) And what do you do if you are missing a few (baby jeans) pockets? You make your own and decorate them with a pentagram, a question mark, a lightning bolt and an “L” for leopard! Oh, and jeans buttons make for wonderful tail spots!!!

This beauty is made from recycled jeans from neighbors and friends. The jeans were washed and dried, cut apart and reconfigured. All stitching is done by hand. (Yes, my fingers are very sore. Thanks for asking.)

The leopard quilt measures 48 x 72 inches. It features colorful borders made from fabric that my neighbor’s grandmother had stored in her attic for 50 years.

Please contact me for pricing. sabineheinlein@gmail.com

These placemats have a LONG, PASSIONATE story behind them. You can read about them on my blog. They measure about 12x17 inches. Just like the animals they feature and the feelings they evoke in us, some are a bit smaller than others. Like all of my recent work they are made from recycled fabric kindly donated to me by neighbors and friends. The placemats—or wall hangings, really—are hand-quilted with perle cotton and much love (for animals mainly). They can be washed gently, the way you’d wash a kitten, a piglet or a baby swan. Please contact me for a price at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

This extinct-animal quilt was inspired by the ongoing sixth mass extinction taking place during the present Holocene epoch as a result of human activity. Some scientists estimate that each year 8,700 species of animals go extinct.

The quilt, which seeks to memorialize just a few of the wonderful animals that once roamed this world, measures 66 x 51 inches and is made from recycled material.

Surrounded by creatures that lived over the past hundreds of millions of years, at the center of the quilt stands the magnificent Mauritius Blue Pigeon. The bird’s story is sadly familiar. It became extinct in the 1830s due to deforestation and the introduction of predators by humans. Due to “island tameness”—it wasn’t used to humans and other large predators—it was an easy target.

Once native to an island in the Indian Ocean, this very large pigeon was known by the erectile plumage around its head. I can very much identify with this bird, not only because its call was “barf-barf.” I also have the same hairdo.

Much of the denim was gifted to me by friends and neighbors, but the pigeon was inspired by a bag of fabric I found on the street (my lucky day). I spent all weekend sorting, washing, drying and ironing fabrics and blow-drying fur.

Please email me for a price at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

This tiger head is made from recycled jeans that were washed, dried, cut apart, machine-pieced, then hand-quilted and -tied. Just look at her adorable whiskers! Don’t you want to touch them?! She measures 25 x 35 inches and would make for a lovely wallhanging or rug. For pricing please contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

I tell myself daily how lucky I am to have not caught Covid and to have discovered worthwhile things to do that helped me process the unprecedented trauma and loss the world is suffering. One of these things was to make a series of pandemic quilts. I felt a little lighter once the zoonotic disease quilt, the Egyptian coffin quilt and the 10-Plagues quilt were finished and felt ready to move on to lighter territory.

My husband and I live in New York and at the beginning of the pandemic our minds often wandered to foreign places we had visited in the past, places that Covid made off-limits. With all the museums and restaurants closed, New York suddenly seemed dull. Travel-starved and antsy, we went to great lengths to discover nature in New York. Our favorite places became Alley Pond Park and Vanderbilt Motor Parkway in Queens, Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where we saw hawks, bunnies and even parrots! Who would have thought that these green spaces are teeming with so many creatures!

I have become passionate about working with reclaimed denim, and the old piece of plaid cotton that my neighbor gave me lent itself to become a skyscraper through whose windows you could see my favorite NYC creatures. (Well, ok, mosquitoes and roaches I detest, but I’m sure they moved to the city for the same reasons I did.)

The NYC Wildlife Quilt measures 50x42 inches and would make for a great wall hanging or blanket for a precocious New York baby. Its backing and batting are 100 percent cotton. It can be machine washed and line-dried. Email me for a price. sabineheinlein@gmail.com.

Do you yearn for a swim in warm, tropical waters? I do. Do you wish we humans would get along like the multitude of tropical fish elegantly floating around the Caribbean? Do you wish we’d only take as many natural resources as we need to survive? Do you wish our relentless consumerism and our addiction to fast fashion didn’t hurt the planet and its fishy and furry inhabitants? I do. I do. I do!!!

This tropical fish, made from recycled denim that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill, has it all. It reminds us that jeans is one of the worst textile offenders—polluting fresh water and impacting the climate and the health of those who produce it—while taking us back to a time when we could carelessly bob around in the warm seas of Jordan and Grenada. You can hang this fish on the wall and watch it stare at you lovingly, or you can put it on the floor and imagine an Angelfish or Butterflyfish is nibbling on your toes. This quilt measures 40x46 inches, is made from a cotton and spandex mix and filled with wool batting. It can be machine-washed (gently).

As I recently wrote on my blog, my jungle quilt originated during a splendid trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon, where my husband and I got to meet SO many magnificent monkeys. The quilt continues my work with recycled fabrics: Its sky is made entirely from men’s shirts from Goodwill; the spider monkeys from a shirt donated by an artist friend; the big Napo Saki monkey was once a shirt that belonged to a friend’s husband. The more I see of the world the less I want to participate in consumerism, and fashion consumerism in particular. The constantly expanding oil fields I saw while riding down tributaries of the Amazon, where animals’ territories are more and more at risk of being annihilated, left me with a sadness I cannot forget.

The jungle quilt speaks of this environmentalist sentiment. Why buy new stuff if the old stuff is perfectly fine? I love the challenge of working with used fabric. Not only is the quality of the fabric often better than what I could buy online, the marvelous patterns and different sizes I encounter challenge me to create a composition I would have not normally thought of. Big-lady khaki pants? Tree trunk for owl monkeys to nest in! Long dress with weird, fuzzy circles? Jaguar! (Rest assured that all fabric was washed and dried at high temperatures for hygienic purposes before I began working on it.)

The appliqué animals on this quilt are made from 100% cotton; the quilt’s backing is Kona cotton and the batting is 100% wool. The quilt is hand-stitched with Finca Presencia pearl cotton thread. At 86 x 86 inches, the quilt fits a King or Queen-sized bed. Contact me for a price at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

Bats have a bad rap. Just recently Fox News blamed them for the outbreak of the Coronavirus, claiming that Chinese people are eating raw bats.

“They are very hungry people,” host Jesse Watters said, demanding an apology from the Chinese for the outbreak.

It might be true that bats carry all kinds of germs and viruses—a very good reason to leave them alone and watch their magic from afar. Bats seem like creatures from another planet, with the power to transport us into a world that is better and funnier and cuter and fiercer than ours. I can’t believe how many different varieties of bats there are! The world is a better place because of bats in it. In fact, I want Fox News to issue an apology to all the bats of this world!

This quilt is made from men’s shirts from Goodwill and from my husband, who donated his last black shirt to me when I told him about the alchemy that was about to unfold in my studio. At 76 x 34 inches, the quilt would make the perfect headboard behind a King-sized bed—or a wall-hanging in an attic and/or children’s room. It is 100% cotton, hand-stitched with Finca Presencia pearl cotton thread. (Rest assured that all fabric was washed and dried at high temperatures for hygienic purposes before I began working on it.) Please contact me for a price at sabineheinlein@gmail.com

And if you are as much into bats as I am, you might also want to consider the other, slightly smaller bat quilt I made.

I made this whale quilt when I once again had it with all the bad things humans do to animals. I googled “Can whales capsize boats” and there were 521,000 results. Apparently, they can! I was excited.

In 2013, two boaters were thrown into the water when a whale flipped over their boat. They weren’t seriously injured, but hopefully learned their lesson. LEAVE THE WHALES ALONE! They just want to eat krill in peace. How would you like it if a couple of whales showed up at your doorstep demanding to watch you eat waffles?

The whale quilt is made from recycled denim, with wool batting. (Rest assured that all fabric was washed and dried at high temperatures for hygienic purposes before I began working on it.) This quilt is very sturdy; it can be washed and used as a floor mat in lightly trafficked areas—or as a wall hanging, of course (just trying to give you plenty of options). It measures 28 x 41.5 inches and is entirely stitched by hand in a style that is reminiscent of Japanese Sashiko.

My choice of using Sashiko is also a comment on the recently resumed Japanese practice of hunting whales for commercial purposes (disgusting, in my opinion). As such, the whale quilt poses the question, what if we turned things around and whales, who count among the smartest mammals of this world, would hunt us?

As we’re inundated with the devastating news that the sixth mass extinction has already cost billions of animals their lives, cockroaches provide a glimmer of hope. It’s true! With death all around, roaches live up to their reputation as indestructible. A roach can hold its breath for 40 minutes, allowing it to stay alive under water basically forever. It can run up to three miles an hour as a one-day-old (!), withstand freezing temperatures and—drumroll, please—LIVE WITHOUT ITS HEAD FOR A WEEK!!! It can probably do all this while shit-faced (roaches have an affinity for beer) and high on some new chemical that it has already mastered resistance over.

My roach quilt turns our desire for hygiene in the bedroom upside down. Made from recycled men’s shirts, the quilt features 22 cockroaches and 26 bedbugs, another nearly indestructible species. It’s not for the faint-hearted. I woke up more than once at night, jerking back in alarm at the sight of the quilt in progress next to my bed. 

This queen-size quilt is 76 x 82 inches. It is made from pure cotton (with the exception of the houndstooth roaches). It is lightweight and made for the summer months because it doesn’t contain batting.

Photos: Carrie Villines

Maybe because I’ve been reading too many books about the Congo lately, or maybe because of my growing despair over humans destroying the earth, my quilts have recently taken on a darker character. This quilt, made from recycled men’s shirts and ties, started out with some elephants playing peacefully by the water. But then I learned that six million tons of bushmeat are killed in the Congo Basin alone each year, the equivalent of Brazil’s annual beef production. The unsustainable torture and slaughter of elephants, porcupines, chimpanzees and pangolins harms the ecosystem and pushes many of the country’s animals to the brink of extinction. Reveling in utopian fantasies, I wondered, what if things turned around? What if animals won the battle and were free to play and multiply at the expense of humanity?

This king-size quilt is 92x86 inches. It is made from pure cotton and a little bit of silk. It is lightweight and made for the summer months because it doesn’t contain batting.

Photos: Carrie Villines

I don’t know about you but until recently I had not paid much attention to pigeons. In New York, they are everywhere. They coo, act horny, ride buses, steal bagels from sparrows and bathe in dirty little puddles. Recently, though, I started volunteering at the Wild Bird Fund, a wonderful organization that helps wildlife in New York recover from insult and injury. Pigeons, who like me are immigrants to this country, often suffer from window-strike and lead poising. Some people call them flying rats. That’s just not nice. Believe it or not, pigeons actually smell really good (unless they just took a bath in a dirty puddle, which isn’t exactly their fault. It’s hard to find clean puddles to bathe in in New York). After a few weeks at the WBF, I learned that each pigeon has its own personality. Ever fed puppy chow to a bunch of nestlings? No? I have. Each and every little guy reacts differently to being handled. Some struggle, some play along, some stare at you, some roll off the table the moment you let loose (no worries, I caught him). I have encountered adult pigeons that looked at me suspiciously when I first entered the fly room but who, after a few days, seemed to recognize me. There’s one pet pigeon—he’s too friendly to be released—I could swear has a crush on me. He lands on my shoulder and pecks my cheeks, ever so gently. He also watches my every move. If you want to know how smart pigeons a really are, read this article.

I think if you gave them the opportunity pigeons could be very talented little businessmen, which is why I gave them little suits made from recycled men’s shirts from Goodwill! They’re real New Yorkers who always look professional!

This couch throw or children’s quilt is 71x51 inches and stitched by hand. Top and backing are 100% cotton, the batting is pure wool. It can be machine-washed and line-dried. Contact me for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

My obsession with puppets started out with a bunny puppet that came to me after waking from anesthesia after small medical procedure. I gave the puppet to a neighbor’s child because it was adorable and violated my anti-cuteness policy. Yet, I wasn’t quite done yet with the puppet business. I did some research on puppets and came across some very interesting findings, as chronicled on my blog. Also, I had just started volunteering at the Wild Bird Fund, a wonderful organization that helps wildlife in New York recover from injury. Many of their patients are pigeons and, as I’ve written, I fell in love with them right away. A pigeon puppet just seemed like the logical next step.

The pigeon puppets are made from recycled shirts from Goodwill and stitched by hand. They can be washed and air-dried. Top and backing are 100% cotton, the batting is 100% wool. Contact me for price.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

I don’t know what it is with me and why I can’t just make nice things. Every time something is getting too cute I have to destroy it. Sort of. For example: I picked up a cozy white corduroy jacket from Goodwill and immediately my mind went lamblamblamb. I have long been spellbound by baby lambs making the cutest little binkies (spazzy little jumps that distort their bodies into ridiculous poses). There are YouTube videos out there if you need to see for yourself. When I was done with the lamb I thought: A) this lamb is way too cute and B) it is very possibly possessed. Thus I added a pentagram (or pentacle), the circled five-pointed star that most people associate with witchcraft or Satanism. Wiccans argue that the pentagram is far from being an evil symbol, but rather represents protection, the self or the spirit. The five points of the pentagram represent five basic elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit. So all is fine. You may cover your witchy baby with this witchy little lamb, or use the quilt as a wall-hanging over his or her crib. No harm done. 

This quilt is 100% cotton (with the exception of the pentagram which is some sort of synthetic gold band and the shiny little hooves, made from some 80s dress ). It is stitched by hand and can be machine-washed and line-dried. Contact me for price.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

Sometimes a quilt begins with a fabric that’s been languishing in my fabric basket. Thus was the case with the crocodile. While I was scavenging for men’s shirts at Goodwill I came across a green plaid shirt. The shirt was quite ugly, but also rare -- most shirts are blue or white or grey (men are very boring that way). I cut apart the shirt to see what large animal I could make and voilà, the crocodile, with its scaly green skin, made its appearance. To put it in water, i.e. on top of cut-up grey and blue shirts, was just natural. And since an Instagram friend had donated an ill-fitting, flowery blouse, I decided there would also be a shore in bloom.

I once came across a crocodile family in Everglades National Park. A gigantic mom with six or seven little babies sunning themselves on top of a rock. So my crocodile mom needed babies, naturally, particularly one poking its head out of a shirt pocket. 

At approximately 54x62 inches, this is a couch throw or a children’s quilt. Top fabrics and backing are 100% cotton and it is stitched by hand. It has cozy wool batting and can be machine washed and line-dried. Contact me for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

My fish quilt was inspired by a recent snorkeling expedition in Jordan’s Red Sea. The coral reef I visited featured schools of some crazy-patterned fish. It struck me that sea creatures such as jellyfish, seahorses, whales, parrotfish and boxfish rarely swim by themselves and that they all peacefully coexist in very close proximity as parts of an enormously diverse community.

Measuring 86 x 92 inches, my fish quilt emulates this dynamic. On a background of three layers of cotton (front, back and batting), the 50+ fish are hand-appliqued with Finca Presencia cotton thread and pieces from discarded men’s shirts from Goodwill. The fish quilt forced me to “upcycle” male, “white-collar” patterns: stripes, plaid and a bunch of little ‘nothings’ repeated mercilessly. Specific to a business culture that perpetuates gender inequality, fashion labels like Izod, Ben Sherman and Hugo Boss reinforce these patterns. By cutting and reconfiguring them I challenged (and poked fun at) the sexist, conventional concepts of fashion, art and quilt making.

The fish quilt can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for a price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

The saber-toothed tiger’s long, stocky appearance make her a perfect subject for a king-size headboard. I am a big fan of all things cat, and saber-toothed tigers have held a particular place in my heart and imagination. Characterized by long, curved teeth that possibly extended from the mouth even when it was closed (magic, I know), the saber-toothed “tiger” (“Smilodon”) wasn’t a tiger at all. She didn’t live or hunt like the modern tiger and she didn’t even have stripes. In fact, since fur decomposes much faster than bones we don’t know what kind of coat the saber-tooth wore. She might as well have worn black swirls all over her body!

This headboard (or wall hanging) is hand-quilted on 100 percent cotton with Finca Presencia thread. At 34x70 inches it fits behind a king-sized mattress. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

To learn more about the making of this quilt, check out this blog post.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

SOLD

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

The size of a baby quilt, the chameleon incorporates discarded men’s shirts from Goodwill, forcing me to work with male, “white-collar” patterns: stripes, plaid and a bunch of little ‘nothings’ repeated mercilessly. The quilt highlights the unusual threat chameleons face from the illegal pet trade, global warming and habitat loss while deconstructing gender stereotypes that assign certain colors to newborn boys and girls. The chameleon, whose colors fade from blue to pink and blend into the background vegetation, appears as the perfect animal to highlight the gender fluidity we are born with and which is taken from us as our life progresses.

The chameleon quilt is made from recycled cotton fabric (men’s shirts), wool batting, and Finca Presencia cotton thread. It measures 35x49 inches and can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

“Rooster Today, Feather Duster Tomorrow” is a wall hanging that measures 23 x 27.5 inches. Made of discarded men’s wear from Goodwill—shirts, ties and underwear—this rooster sports red nail polish and a golden crown. He is strutting. Hot stuff, on fire. In a medieval gesture, rays emanate from his presence. But today’s celebration of male vigor is short-lived. “Feather duster tomorrow,” the Russian proverb reads.

Materials: cotton, acrylic, wool batting, cotton and metallic thread. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

SOLD

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

For detailed description of how my camel quilt came about, please read my blog post about my recent trip to Jordan.

The little “plaque” on the bottom left of the quilt reads “From the middle I pick you.” I saw it on the side of a 4x4 pickup in the Wadi Rum desert. It was accompanied by a graphic of five little figures and a hand picking up the one in the middle. I loved the message so much that I decided to incorporate it in this quilt.

This quilt measures 53x70 inches, which makes it perfect for cuddling on the couch or for a child’s bed. The front and back are 100 percent cotton; the batting is 100 percent wool, making the quilt soft and cozy, perfect for chilly nights in front of the TV. The quilt also features wool tassels and wooden beads. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for a price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

I started this crib-size quilt when I heard that my friend Rebecca was pregnant. Rebecca had just moved to Texas to be with family. A dyed-in-the-wool liberal, she seemed a little uncomfortable. Trying to think of something good about Texas, armadillos came to mind. Sometimes I think about moving to the South just to be closer to armadillos.

Curling its head and feet and contorting itself into a hard ball, the nine-banded armadillo confounds potential predators. I just know there’s a soft soul under that hard shell! Also, in this quilt I lied a little bit: Armadillos are most likely to be found in rainforests, grasslands, and semi-deserts, not among cacti.

The backing, batting and background are made from 100-percent, high-quality Kona cotton; the armadillo itself, including its nine bands, is made from a velvety repurposed cotton shirt that fit both the armadillo’s intricate grey patterning and the baby’s need for tactile exploration. This quilt measures 40 x 34.5 inches. It is machine-washable and doubles as a wall hanging or bathroom rug.

SOLD. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com if you’re interested in a similar, custom made baby quilt.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

Last winter I became slightly obsessed with “the squares” of modernist painter Josef Albers. After carefully choosing one of Albers’s color studies to guide me I designed a simple modern quilt as homage to his work. Then I got bored. The yellow hues reminded me of a sunset—and what better animal to add than a flamingo, I thought? Flamingos are such weird and lovable beasts! A few years back, my husband and I visited a flamingo colony on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. To my surprise it wasn’t just the flamingos who were bright pink there, but also the water, the sand and even the flamingo poop my husband sank in (I’m still giggling). Like my husband’s sandals, the pink flamingos have absorbed the pigment of their prey, a shrimp-like crustacean that turns their bodies into a hot shade of pink. If this color spectacle wasn’t enough, the flamingos insisted on taunting us with their disproportional, skinny legs, their weird standing position and gate.

This sunny hand-stitched quilt covers a queen-size bed, at 72 x 80 inches and sleeps two lovers comfortably. While the front and back are 100 percent cotton, the batting is 100 wool, which makes the quilt particularly soft and cozy, perfect to brighten up those cold fall nights. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

We have an attic full of books with a mattress for guests to sleep on. Since it is just a mattress on the floor, without bed frame, I wondered how to solve the problem of the missing headboard. I decided it had to be site-specific.

Which animal likes to inhabit attics more than bats?

I liked the idea of messing with the proportions in this quilt to mirror the confusion a dreamer might experience when awakened by a bat swiping past her head in the middle of the night. The bat might appear gigantic, dwarfing the attic window and the moon. At night, reality becomes surreal, distorted. This bat is featured in front of wood panel print to further allude to the attic where bats are commonly found.

This headboard (or wall hanging) is hand-quilted on 100 percent cotton. At 26 x 60 inches, it fits behind a queen-sized mattress. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

“You know what you should make?” My husband said one night. “A fly quilt.” I liked the idea. Flies are all around us, yet rarely do we take the time to observe them up close. In fact, we try to escape them whenever we can. When looking at photographs of shit flies—because that’s how I am—I was surprised by their beauty: their multifaceted shimmering bodies, their big, red, extraterrestrial eyes and their delicate transparent wings. Suddenly, I didn’t want to ever pick up the fly swatter again but instead lean my tired head on their bodies. And so the fly pillow was born. With the exception of the sparkling golden thread lacing their colored bodies, the pillowcase is 100 percent cotton. It is 18 x 18 inches, has a zipper in the back and can be hand-washed and line-dried.

SOLD

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

I’m not gonna lie: A box full of colorful fabric scraps led me to look online for “the most colorful mammal.” That’s how I stumbled across the mandrill. Just look at that face! How is this even possible? Sadly, the amazing mandrill is hunted for bush meat and sorely affected by deforestation. Wanting to preserve the spirit of this beautiful animal, I got to work right away. As I was researching the mandrill’s habitat, the dense, tropical rainforests of West Africa, I thought of the paintings by Henri Rousseau, the French Post-Impressionist famous for his jungle scenes. One of his paintings featured a group of small brown monkeys devouring oranges. I decided to “steal” Rousseau’s oranges but hang them from a vine-like plant from the top, next to a palm tree.

This hand-stitched quilt is queen-size, 79 x 85 inches. It sleeps two adults comfortably. The front and back are 100 percent cotton; the batting is 100 percent wool, making the quilt soft and cozy, perfect for cold fall nights. The quilt can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Currently on view at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

I have long been fascinated with octopuses, their eight long tentacles, their countless suction cups, their bulging eyes and their ability to change color. I could deluge you with octopus trivia! Did you know, for example, that octopuses have nine brains and blue blood? That their arms have a mind of their own (two-thirds of an octopus’ neurons are in its arms, not its head). An octopus can problem-solve how to open a shellfish with one arm while another arm is busy checking out a cave for more food.

My hand-quilted pink octopus rests on a background of uneven stripes in shades of blue, green and grey. Its suction cups are tiny pink buttons.

This Queen-size quilt is 78 x 82 inches. Its top is 100 percent Kona Cotton. While it doesn’t contain batting, it has a super soft, high-quality 100 percent flannel cotton backing. It is lightweight and made for the summer months.

SOLD

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

Ever since I saw a possum hanging on my neighbor’s chain link fence in the pouring rain I’ve had a soft spot for this animal. Even as babies possums don’t really look cute. They are scruffy, with fur that defies shininess (the only thing that’s shiny, albeit a bit rubbery, is their large black ears). The possum’s tail is naked, which doesn’t help its outsider status. When the animal opens his mouth, teeth and gums take up the better part of his face. Its large, pointy fangs belie the fact that possums are by and large friendly and harmless creatures. Because they aren’t “cute” and many people consider them vermin, possums often become the victims of animal cruelty. But possums help keep our homes and gardens free of mice, snakes and cockroaches.

This hand-quilted grey and white possum is featured in front of a “wooden” background, indicating how the animal’s habitat is interwoven with our manmade, human environment. The quilt doubles as a wall hanging, a bathroom rug or a blanket for a small infant. It is 32 x 30 inches and 100 percent cotton. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

My friend Leslie recently sent me a photograph of a red kitten. Not a ginger, mind you, but a fire-red cat. She said an acquaintance had taken the picture in Jordan. I was intrigued, particularly since I was planning a trip to Jordan. I promised her I would bring back a bunch of red cats so we could begin our own large-scale red-cat-breeding operation. We would be rich!

In Jordan, where I walked around with hard-boiled eggs in my pocket to attract needy cats, I showed the picture to the woman guarding the Dead Sea Museum. As if I was going to put a curse on her, she proclaimed shocked: “Not in Jordan!” Maybe the picture was Photoshopped, the cat had a genetic mutation or, god forbid, someone had dyed the poor thing. This red cat pillow honors the fabled red cat(s) of Jordan. It’s hand-stitched, 22 x 22 inches and made from 100 percent Kona cotton. It has a zipper in the back and can be hand-washed and line-dried.

SOLD. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com if you’re interested in a similar, custom made pillow.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

Admit it. You have a closet that has an ugly door or no door at all. Maybe you have a window that needs a curtain. When making a long, rectangular quilt, one must choose her animal carefully. To be honest, I was trying to find an excuse to make a seahorse quilt because I am madly in love with these curious creatures. There are so many cool things about seahorses: their horse-like faces and long little noses; their tiny fins; their bony armor.

Seahorses can be as small as a fingernail and as large as a banana. Many types are monogamous for life, some greet their partners with a little dance and a change of color. Male seahorses carry the developing seahorse embryos in a kangaroo-like pouch. What’s not to love? The aqua-green and orange colors I chose for this quilt were inspired by Italian movies from the ’60s. (Think café awnings and ice cream parlors in picturesque little fishing towns on the islands of Capri and Stromboli.)

This seahorse curtain is made from 100 percent Kona cotton. It measures 30 x 79 inches.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

The minimalist design and symbolism of this quilt reflects my admiration for the Asafo flags created by the Fante people of Ghana. The flags are visual representations of military organizations, the Fante’s “Asafo,” or “companies.” Each Asafo has its own flag with a wide range of animal imagery representing and identifying it.

I can’t think of another animal that exhibits more cunningness, elasticity and shape-shifting distortion than the snake. In Christian mythology the snake is a symbol of sexual desire and diabolic betrayal. What better place for it than on top of a bed, I thought? I placed an apple next to snake to allude to the Garden of Eden and a lightning rod above to indicate the (bedroom) trouble to come.

This hand-quilted quilt is 100 percent Kona cotton. It measures 84 x 86 inches and fits a King-size mattress. It can be machine-washed and line-dried. It is perfect for transitional periods, such as spring and fall.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

This one-of-a-kind pillow is inspired by the ancient designs of Tibetan tiger rugs. Once, Tibetan tiger rugs were made of real tiger skins to symbolize its owner’s power and status. When tigers in that part of the world became extinct, the Tibetans adjusted their tradition by weaving “tiger” rugs. Today, only about 200 of these antique rugs exist, but their patterns continue to inspire. I like the awkwardness of the tigers’ faces, their improvised style and how they are abstract distortions of the real thing.

This 18 x 18-inch tiger rug pillow is 100 percent Kona cotton and machine quilted. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

SOLD. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com if you’re interested in a similar, custom made pillow.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

If I had to describe my sense of home décor, two things come to mind. Our house is furnished sparingly to allow for ample space for our two rabbits and two cats to roam and frolic. Second, we own a small collection of Tibetan tiger rugs. This quilted headboard encompasses these two sensibilities. We don’t own a bed—our mattress just lies on the floor—which calls for a special kind of headboard. I liked the idea of a headboard I could just roll up and throw in the washer and dryer. My fascination with Tibetan tiger rugs completed the equation.

Once, hundreds of years ago, Tibetan tiger rugs were made of real tiger skins to symbolize its owner’s power and status. When tigers in that part of the world became extinct, the Tibetans adjusted their tradition by weaving “tiger” rugs. Today, only about 200 of these antique rugs exist, but their patterns continue to inspire. I like the rugs’ awkwardness, their improvised style, the way the tigers’ faces are abstract distortions of the real thing.

This king-bed-sized tiger rug headboard or wall hanging measures 31 x 77 inches. It is made from 100 percent cotton. Machine quilted, it can be machine-washed and line-dried.

SOLD. Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com if you’re interested in a similar, custom made pillow.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

It was the day of the Kavanaugh hearings. I was in between big quilts and needed a break. A bathroom rug with a giant water mammal would do, I decided. As I was flipping through pictures of whales online I came across one with a giant penis. As the Kavanaugh hearing continued I grew more and more frustrated. I decided the whale needed a long, red tongue indicating not only his horniness but also his brazen impudence.

This hand-quilted rug or wall hanging is 100 percent Kona cotton. It measures 22 x 16 inches and can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

Photo: Rebecca Krasnik

This little wall hanging was inspired by a past animal situation in our own house. My husband and I own two rabbits and two cats. For the most part everyone gets along. An exception was our little lion-head bunny Peanut—may she rest in peace. Peanut would grunt at and chase after cats and rabbits whenever they would dare come too close to her territory. While one cat sometimes overstepped the invisible line, the other cat mainly watched from a safe distance.

The wall hanging’s design reflects my admiration of the Asafo flags created by the Fante people of the West African country of Ghana. Asafo flags are visual representations of military organizations, and each Asafo (“company”) has its own flag with a wide range of animal imagery representing it. I felt like these two narratives—Peanut’s and the Fante people’s defense of what they considered dangers and property—were made for each other.

The wall hanging has a jeans background and is made from mixed, repurposed fabrics. It measures 25 x 19 inches and can be dry-cleaned.

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik

As a lifelong rabbit enthusiast—I’ve had bunnies without interruption since I was six years old—it was a real challenge for me not to make them look too cute. In contrast to the many adorable pictures of fuzzy bunnies online, I wanted to show the creature’s wild and vulnerable side. This throw-sized quilt shows two male rabbits Kung Fu-fighting for a female. (OK, I admit, it also looks a little bit like they are dancing.) Rabbits can get hurt badly in this mating ritual, in which they harness all their strength to punch, bite, scratch and ultimately defeat their opponent. The butterfly, carelessly floating between them, indicates the vulnerability—and possibly pleasure—that’s at play.

This hand-stitched, 100-percent-cotton quilt is about 58 x 61 inches, making it perfect as a cozy couch throw or a bed quilt for a child. It can be machine-washed and line-dried.

Contact me at sabineheinlein@gmail.com for price.

SOLD

Photos: Rebecca Krasnik