Journal Quilts 2012 |
A ’eureka’ moment while cutting a red cabbage. Fruit and vegetables have such brilliant colour and pattern possibilities. This year the Contemporary Quilt Group Journal quilts are A4 sized and colour themed
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January - Cabbage Red
A good subject for marbling, I added further paint and applied Markal oil stick after quilting. |
February - Pomegranate
Luscious juicy reds. As it slowly dried out, the seeds became more pronounced and the cavities opened up. Felted wool, organza and silk appliqué; quilted with two threads through the machine needle. |
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March - Rhubarb……after Hockney
Just loved the drama of his ‘logs’, and the amazing colours. I set the rhubarb out on a lime chopping board and enjoyed the observational drawing.
Gutta resist and painted silk habotai.
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April - Strawberries
Strawberries are early this year, so a good excuse to try some! I made a ‘soft’ lino block of two and discharge printed onto dyed cotton. Some areas are padded first, more wadding added and then densely quilted. |
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| 'Weather or Not' |
For a number of years I have visited the Mill at Mill Green in Hertfordshire to share my textiles with visitors inside; now I am thrilled to be able to join together with other members of the Herts Visual Arts Textile Group in our Indoor / Outdoor exhibition 'Weather or Not', between April & June, to test my fabrics outdoors in this delightful setting. |
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In Global Shearing I have used natural fibres and celebrate their unique qualities. The wealth of England and Australia were both, at different points of time, founded on Wool. As synthetic fibres become a declining resource, there are signs that the qualities of wool are being revisited, both in useful everyday objects and in high fashion and contemporary crafts. Felt making is a very simple process that offers such exciting and diverse results; a cobweb of delicate wool can trap silk, bamboo or even fibres sourced from banana or crab!
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Goodbye to Plastic further emphasises this thought; I have collected plastic bags for many years; some held a kind of status, like the purple Liberty bag or the memory of a visit to a Museum, Gallery or a trip to the tennis at Wimbledon. But now, I try to say ‘no’ to plastic bags and here I am letting them go!
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May - The Zest of Life
Lemons have such vitality and versatility; culinary, medicinal and cleansing. Segments were discharged with bleach on cotton sateen, and I used painted tyvek to create the characteristic textured peel. An unexpected outcome was the further shrinkage and fusing of the smaller pips, melting them into the fabric. |
June - Courgette Flowers
The courgettes flourished indoors outgrowing their allotted space; the delicate paper like flowers suggested silk paper, so I revisited this technique and made a sheet in yellow for the flowers and another in green for the background. Bonded applique with bamboo/silk wadding.
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July - An Apple a Day
Marbled silk habotai for the apple sections. I wanted to sketch with the thread, so it had to be a dark contrasting thread.
Cotton sateen and bamboo/silk wadding.
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August - Pineapple
Worked on holiday in Queensland – ‘The Sunshine State’ where pineapples grow in abundance.
Silk paper, silk scrim pieced over silk paper segments. Machine Quilting.
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| Cross Roads EQA Challenge - May 2012 |
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Dreamlines
20 x 50
Red earth and a big big country. Outback Australia where cross roads might be a meeting place after travelling for hours or days alone. Hand quilting on textured silks.
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September - Cassowary Plums
Just These intensely blue Rain Forest fruits are becoming rarer as is the Cassowary, a huge flightless bird whose habitat in Northern Queensland is increasingly threatened.
Silk papers, applique and machine quilting.
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October - Blue Strawberries
Why not? Just tidying the strawberry bed for Winter. I used the same lino block as for April, printed with screen ink and quilted only the background.
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Palms Australis
210 x 30 - 20
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Inspired by the Palm bark patterns found in tropical Queensland and the Australasia collection at Kew . The textures and patterns suggest a long scroll. I painted a variety of fibres including bamboo mixed with silk. Strip patchwork, machine quilted with a bamboo/cotton wadding. |
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Indian Summer Quilt
210 x 180 |
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Block print samples from Rajasthan, pieced with a light loosely woven silk/cotton mix and quilted with ice wool wadding. A light and airy summer quilt.
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November -
Blueberry Tart
Machine quilted berries on tea dyed cotton, using wool wadding. The berries were painted after quilting with screen inks. My favourite ’rib’ weave silk-linen fabric made a perfect pastry crust.
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December -
Travellers Palm Seed
The seed of the Travellers Palm is unusually Blue: the lemurs of Madagascar see blue –black (not red-green as is usual) and propagate the species. Wet felted background. The seed pod case is made from needle felted silk and the seeds are from needlefelted silk & wool fibres, applied and quilted. Tea dyed silk couched threads.
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