Tiger Quilt

Hundreds of tiny squares sewn together. You have to stand back to appreciate it, but I think it works. It took hours and I still have the quilting to do.

Cat illustrations

Today I've been working on some cat illustrations...

I have some ideas, but I'm not sure of the story for this cat yet, but this a character I would like to develop into a story at some point.

Tiger Quilt

I'm working on several new quilts at the moment. This is the early stages of one that will hopefully turn in to a tiger. I say hopefully because this is a new method I am trying and I'm not sure how effective it will be. I am constructing the tiger from 1 inch squares pieced together. Here are some of the squares, cut and ready to go:

I stitch them together in 4 by 4 squares.

I then stitch 4 by 4 squares together and so on...

There are obviously lots of different ways to piece it together, but I am doing it this way, so that I can make sure the pieces line up as closely as possible. I have not yet joined the bigger squares together because it will make it easier if I need to make any changes later on. It doesn't look much like a tiger yet, but this is only a small section of the overall design.

New Illustrations

Having finished the roughs for one picture book. I am trying out ideas for the next. I've been experimenting with drawing on black paper. This is my first attempt:

Actually my idea has already evolved since this first attempt. A bit more work and hopefully the idea will come together.

Art Gallery

Although over the last few years I have been experimenting with a different artistic medium my origins are from elsewhere. This is a selection of my other artwork.

Pencil drawings...

Watercolour...

Coloured pencil...

Mixed media (watercolour and coloured pencil)...

Red Squirrel

This quilt was created for a 'Patchwork and Quilting' competition, completed in July 2014. It is 25 x 25 inches, as specified in the rules.

I didn't really feel like I had any chance of winning the competition. Art quilts are not popular in the UK, it is not technically perfect in terms of the piecing and my quilting is quite simple. Putting that aside I definitely benefited from the process. It is quite good for developing creativity making a quilt for a theme in this case 'red'. I was really pleased with aspects of quilt. It is my most detailed quilt relative to the size of the quilt.

Movie quilts

Midsomer Quilting 12 x 12 quilt challenge last year was 'Movie', so I made the following 2 quilts for it last November. 

I was happy with concept for each quilt, but was short of time and think the designs could have been improved on. The pictures on the film reel were drawn, scanned and printed on to fabric. However ideally I would have liked to have made them bigger and pieced them too.

Pop Cats Quilt

Work took me out the country for a while and finding time for quilts was difficult. However I did find time to make one quilt inspired by pop art. The first pic shows it when I was a the free motion quilting phase; the second the finished quilt at an exhibition. It is probably my largest quilt to date, 32 x 36 inches.

I would really like to do this again sometime making the cats smaller and having 9 colour combinations, but with so many ideas for new designs I'm not sure when I'll have the time.

Minnie

This quilt was completed December 2012. Inspired by the amazing quilts in the Art Quilt Portfolio book 'The Natural World' I wanted to step up my work to the next level. In order to help me achieve this I increased the scale, making it easier to add detail. I also wanted to try fusing the art quilt imagery with more the more traditional technique of piecing for the background.

Unity

Continuing with my photo inspired quilts I created 'Unity' in July 2012 for a Patchwork and Quilting Magazine 'Diamond Dreams' competition. I enjoyed creating my image in an abstract way, I think the layering has created quite a striking image.

From photo to quilt art

In Spring 2012 having successfully completed a few small quilts I wanted to take my work to the next level. To guide me in that process I bought the book 'Point, Click, Quilt!' By Susan Brubaker. This excellent book guides you through how to turn photos into quilts from both a technical and creative perspective. 

I picked out a suitable photo from my collection and got to work. The result was 'Foxgloves'.

I increased the scale of my work with this piece it's dimensions are 16 x 23 inches roughly. Unlike my previous attempts the layering did not result in stiffness, as I only used small overlaps between different colours. Another development in this work was my use of stitching to add detail to the work. However probably the biggest change was the fact that I started using the raw edge appliqué technique. This continues to be my preference for most of my work. I think that the appliqué technique you use is personal to you. I like the raw edge technique because it is a quick and easy method to create a relatively clean outline. Although you don't get such a clean line as you would get with other techniques where the material edge is turned under. However I like that slightly rough around the edge look, it can add character to your work.

Early quilts...

Inspired by the success of my first quilt I decided to develop my skills creating a few more simple designs over the next few months in late 2011 and early 2012. 

I stuck with the 12 x 12 dimension as that is a nice size to work with when you are just starting out. The Ammonite with its simple abstract design was easy to create. However I wanted to create pictures. With the Tiger and Squirrel I started layering the fabrics to create an image. I bonded the fabric to my background then secured it with zigzag stitch. I had some degree of success with these early attempts, but the multiple layers of fabric I used caused the finished quilt to be really stiff. I have subsequently changed my technique to overcome this problem. I also wanted to get more detail into my work. When I share my newer work I hope you will agree I have achieved this, but it continues to be one area of focus for development.

My first quilt..

This was where my passion for art quilts began, my first quilt completed in October 2011 for Midsomer Quilting's (that is my local quilt shop) 12 x 12 challenge. The theme was fruit. I was amazed the striking images you could create with creative use of fabric.