Popular Patchwork October 2017

Now autumn is here I am loving this landscape, but when I was working on it, in the midst of summer, I questioned the wisdom of standing over a hot iron fusing pieces of wool suiting. However, it was for a magazine and they work several months ahead, so, at my desk sultry autumn landed in sunny July.

This design is based on photos taken on a walk in Pyecombe earlier this year. At A1 size it is the largest one I have worked on so far, but wasn’t much more difficult - in some ways sizing it up made it easier as there were less tiny pieces to mislay. I am feeling like I am suffocating under wadding scraps so it was good to make something that made a little dent in the pile. The fabrics are a mix, and I didn’t buy anything new for it. Some of the things I used include old suiting and shirting, lovely Irish 100% wool that I bought at Festival of Quilts in 2016 and some Liberty from a swatch pack dated 1986. Somehow it all fits together well, and I like the calm feel it exudes. I left out the windmill on the hill as I wanted it to stay fairly abstract. The quilting is simple, echoing each piece of fabric and and extra line or two in the middle of the larger sections.

Styled beautifully 

A close- up. This was taken as I made it, so excuse the stray threads.

I was thrilled that Emma asked if I could write a little more about my landscape work and she took some lovely photos of me at work. It felt good to share a peek behind the scenes at the creative process that leads to these landscape pieces.

Designing/doodling

The magazine on display with my work at Hailsham Arts Festival.