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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
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This quilt started out as a panel for a bag at a workshop with Jean Stetson. Once I had made one girl I wanted to make another and so the bag became a quilt, and the quilt grew in size!
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It was my son who said he didn’t like the figures with blank faces as they looked dead, so each one was brought to life! This quilt combines machine and hand quilting.
“Myomi And Her Sisters” was made in 2003.
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The fabric for this quilt was dyed at a workshop with Nicky Perrington, using a brights palette and lots of plastic bags!It was my first attempt at dying fabric and I was really pleased with the result. I think the design looks like a church window and the colours are really jewel-like. The tassels on the corners are made from hand spun variegated yarn.
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This close up of one of the tassels, shows the hand stitched head with the coloured slubs in the thread pulled out for effect.
“Colours to Dye For” was made in 2002
