In Teresa Matheson’s home, she has a stack of quilt tops that aren’t finished. They may never be finished, but that’s OK. Matheson was trying out an idea.

That’s what the Albert Lea woman does. She puts her creativity in each quilt she makes, rarely using a straight lines and dyeing her own fabrics.

Matheson is one of several quilters being featured this month during the Albert Lea Art Center’s “The Art of Quilting Show.” The open house is Saturday and the show runs through Sept. 30.

Matheson took her first quilting class 25 years ago, when she and her husband, Joel, were living in the Twin Cities.

“My grandmother was a quilter, and I’d sewn clothes forever, so it appealed to me,” she said.

She took her first class at the Country Peddler Quilt Shop and ended up teaching there.

“I did mostly traditional quilting then, and I did machine quilting right away,” Matheson recalled.

She took her first fabric-dyeing class in the early 1990s.

“That’s when I really started to experiment more,” she said. “To make my own fabric was pretty exciting for me. Then I started to experiment with designs.”

The colors she uses tend to be more mottled, she said. “Even the solid colors have a texture to them,” she said.

She also gotten away from using straight lines and all pieces are cut individually.

“It’s a lot harder, because nothing mathematically will fit together,” Matheson said.

“It takes a lot more time, but that’s when I can really play, adding more curved lines,” she said.

The result is something totally unique.

“My favorite part is the magic of dyeing the fabrics, then putting it all together,” Matheson said. “The quilting part adds another whole level of interest.”

She uses a regular sewing maching for quilting the front and back (often pieces of dyed coordinating fabrics) together with a cotton batting in between.

Among her favorites is a red quilt that hangs on the wall in her living room.

“The color combination really works for me and it wasn’t a pattern. I had no set plan before I started,” she said.

Matheson doesn’t have as much time these days to quilt as she’d like, since she works full time and has a handmade jewelry business as well.

“It’s pretty tough to find time,” she admitted.

She said she has no idea how many quilts she’s made over the years, but has given many for gifts.

“I tell people that they have to use them. If they wear one out, I’ll make them a new one,” she said.

All her kids have them on their beds, as well as a couple extras for fun, she added.

“There’s just something about a quilt. I want to cuddle up with one,” she said.

She stresses that people won’t be able touch the quilts in the show because it is hard on the fabrics.

Matheson will have four quilts in the show.

The Albert Lea Art Center’s quilt show will feature grandmothers’ quilts as well as different trends through the years, up to today’s quilts and quilted accessories.

The open house will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. There is a $4 admission charge to attend on open house day. There will be quilting demonstrations by local quilters. Jan Hintermeister will demonstrate embroidery work on the Bernina sewing machine for The Calico Hutch in Hayward. Christina Waldhoff (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Joan Holland (2 to 5 p.m.) will demonstrate on the Janome sewing machine for A-Best Sew & Vac.

Coffee, punch and goodies will be served to guests as they leave.

The exhibit remains open through Sept. 30. Gallery hours are from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Cost for the show only is $2.