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This quilt was entered into The Great Northern Quilt Show,Harrogate 2006 in the theme category of “African Dreams”My dream for Africa would be the gift of constant running water,which could be irrigated in channels throughout the land and would solve a number of problems instantly.I have used as the base, a collection of Manchester Wax Prints which have been printed for export to the African market for over a hundred years. I was born in Bolton which is quite close to Manchester and have always had an affiliation with textiles and in particular cotton which was a prominent industry in Lancashire while I was growing up.
The colours of the Wax Prints create a distinctive African feel and signify the land in my quilt, while the blue areas which wind their way through the quilt are indicative of the water channels in my dream…..if only dreams could come true.
Inspiration came from work by the American quilter Michael James.
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We all have projects which when finished fall short of our expectations and this is one of mine.The backing fabric I chose was too thick and the sheer density of the free motion stitching and machine embroidery caused the quilt to warp and not hang as flat as I would have liked.This has to be accepted as a learning curve and believe me there were a few challenging curves in the piece!
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This quilt was entered into Quilts UK Malvern 2006, in the miniature category. It measures 20″ by 23″ and won me a judge’s merit.It was made using some new fabric to co-ordinate with a bag of Liberty scraps,sold as 1930’s and bought for £2 at an antique textile fair.I used traditional paper piecing for the Dresden Plate, hand stitching,machine applique and free motion machine quilting. The pattern originally came from Val Thomas.
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A close up shot showing free motion quilting on a small scale,hand applique and a little Broderie Perse thrown in for good measure!
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These two very old blue trees at the bottom of our garden,were the inspiration for making Pen Elm Pines.
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Pen Elm Pines – This quilt is made using a design from an American Quilting Magazine for the pine cone stitching. It is free motion quilted and machine pieced and is an unusually large quilt for me as I normally only go to lap-quilt size because I have so many projects running through my head I am always waiting to get onto the next one!The photograph below shows the pine cone stitching which runs the length of the quilt.My apologies for slight distortion on this quilt but the wind would not oblige and kept the quilt on the move.
“Pen Elm Pines” was made in 2005.
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This quilt was made for my elder son who took a gap year after university and visited as many places as possible during that time.While he was away I “nagged”him to send me back fabrics from the places he was visiting and when he came back I made the quilt with the various pieces.The quilt features;cotton and braid from India,silks from Thailand,Aborigine cave painting prints from Australia,cotton fabric from America and beads from Nepal, and although it is not a true reflection of all the places he visited it was certainly enough to form a quilt.
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The tassels are made from Mexican Worry Dolls.
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The back of the quilt is covered in fabric, tea-dyed labels showing the different countries he had visited,which made it a permanent memento of his travels. The fabrics sent home also form the flying geese pattern around the outside edge.
“Robert’s Gap Year” was made in 2003.
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This quilt is a classic and very simple Roman Stripe pattern and was made with my sister in mind because she lives in Sicily and has done for 29 years. Lots of sunshine colours in this one.
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The backing fabric dictated the quilt which is unusual because when we make a quilt the backing is often an after thought. My sister Judith and her husband Salvatore,have a house out in the country where Salvatore grows everything including lots of lemons which you just pick off the tree when you need them.
“The Sicilian Connection” was made in 2005
