Quilter Mai Lo Vue was born in Laos and now lives in Akron. She came to the U.S. in 1979 at the age of 14 and started quilting 10 years later. Vue learned the art of quilting from a friend in Pennsylvania and started with what that friend made, Amish-style quilts. Vue started her own business, Ohio Hmong Craft, in the late 1990s to sell her quilts and other handmade crafts. She now makes quilts in both Amish and Hmong styles; her most striking creations blend the two cultural traditions in a unique and compelling fashion. These stunning quilts, which straddle the hazy line between functional and decorative, help preserve the folk art traditions of the Laotian Hmong, hundreds of thousands of whom had to leave the country after the American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975. Mail Lo Vue sells her quilts at arts and crafts shows in northeastern Ohio.