© QuiltGem Greeting Cards are created by artist Melissa Ward Carroll. These cards can be found in retail gift stores such as Lancaster PA's Quilt and Textile Museum and Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum Store. They were a featured item at the Mario Lemieux Foundation's Fundraiser Luncheon 2011.

To create these cards, artist Melissa Carroll begins by taking a fine art photograph of a gem, rock or mineral from the extensive collection of her late father, John M. Ward. The artist uses each mineral's natural cubic, conical, pyramidal or hexagonal geometry as the basic shape and inspiration for each image. By manipulating the mineral's colors, textures and natural shapes, the artist uses these shapes as a guide—and "stitches" portions of detail from the photograph to create the repeated, quilt-inspired design to create the final art for this QuiltGem Card.

“My father possessed a lifelong passion for nature, geology and photography. His vast rock and mineral collection is as diverse as it is beautiful. He had a wish: to photograph these beautiful minerals—their colors, textures and shapes—to show their natural beauty in an original way. Unfortunately, his untimely passing meant that his dream of producing original images would go unfinished. Our shared love of photography and the beauty in nature has called me to photograph his collection and design these cards in his memory.

Thank you for viewing this portfolio. It’s a dream come true.”