My Beyond Blue quilts were first displayed at West Kirk, Dumbarton as part of The Loch Lomond Quilt Show 2008. Following on from my solo exhibition Out of the Blue in 2004, this collection of quilts is a move into integrating colour, and African and Japanese fabrics with my hand dyed indigo Shibori fabrics. The quilts you see here combine a variety of techniques including piecing, applique and quilting with several of the pieces worked as whole cloths featuring machine quilting with hand stitched embellishment. Smaller pieces have been worked before being mounted on a canvas as an alternative method of display. Enjoy!

A Special Chemistry

Made for New Horizons exhibition "Alchemy" at Wimpole Hall, Cambridge in 2007. The magic of indigo dyeing told in a strippy quilt!

60 x 90 cm

Not for sale

Greening I - Deconstructed

An "Inspired To Stitch" exnibition piece. I was inspired by the simple geometric shapes of triangles and squares that were used to frame the many motifs and texts in the Mary Greening coverlet (Luton Museum), together with the instantly recognisable paisley motif. I thought about how the piece was made. Was it planned or did it just happen? Imagining the pieces of patchwork scattered on the table, waiting for the maker to decide how to put them together or had they just been taken apart after a change of idea?

Hand dyed cotton wadding using indigo, hand dyed wool pre-felt, cotton scrim and silk & viscose velvet. Layers constructed with an embellisher machine, machine quilted and hand printed. Mounted on canvas.

50 x 50 cm

For sale: £250

Greening II - Paisley

An "Inspired To Stitch" exnibition piece. Inspired by the paisley motif in the Mary Greening coverlet (Luton Museum), a design found in many different cultures, I wondered why the maker had included this in the coverlet. Was it a memory from a once precious garment or shawl or just because it was a particular favourite design?

Hand dyed cotton wadding using indigo, hand dyed wool pre-felt and cotton scrim. Layers constructed with an embellisher machine, hand quilted with hand dyed silk thread. Mounted on canvas.

50 x 50 cm

For sale: £250

Tranquil

This piece evokes gently rippling water, with the light glinting on a calm surface. Indigo dyed Arashi Shibori, whole cloth quilt. Machine quilted. Metallic threads included to catch the light.

51 x 65 cm

For sale: £250

Serendipity I

A chance experiment stitching fabric with the sewing machine before indigo dyeing produced this piece. A complete serendipity moment!

70 x 54 cm

For sale: £450

Three Continents

Woad dyeing - Europe, Indigo dyeing - Africa and Chinese natural dyed yellow/brown fabrics bought in Japan. Why was I not surprised that they would all work together!

85 x 59 cm

Sold

Sublime!

So much for the old saying "blue and green should never be seen". I love these colours together. Indigo "Log cabin with attitude" and a dash of lime! African fabrics (Three Cats, Wax prints & Adire) and my own hand dyed shibori.

49 x 51 cm

Sold

Catching The Light

Inspired by sunlight shining through a modern stained glass window in West Kirk, Dumbarton. Indigo fabric challenge between Magie Relph, Shirley Course, Kate Smith and my self from a recycled linen bolster case.

64 x 54 cm

Not for sale

Magic Carpet

Experiments with stitching to distort the shape of stitched resist shibori. Hand and machine quilted whole cloth, mounted on painted canvas.

40 x 32 cm

For sale: £80

Threads of Life

More experiments with stitching into stitched resist shibori. This piece reminds me of DNA - the thread if life. Hand and machine quilted whole cloth, mounted on canvas.

40 x 32 cm

For sale: £80

Serendipity II

More of the same fabric as Serendipity I, including some kaki-shibu (persimmon) dyed fabric from Japan and flashes of bright colour to contrast with the indigo. Another serendipity moment as they all came together in this piece!

131 x 70 cm

For sale: £600