There are many influences that inspire me to stitch and although I don’t consider myself a dedicated quilter, I love hand sewing throws and coverlets, pillows and cushions, satchel bags and totes. Its my ‘go to’ stitching when I want some quiet time on my comfy couch watching a movie with a cuppa. I enjoy the mindfulness of hand stitching and the gentle flow of bringing fabric shapes together in an unplanned way and watching where they end up in the design.
I am inspired by both traditional and contemporary quilting and patchwork design and find myself immersed when working with colours and floral themes in particular. I have come to appreciate the essence of what makes ‘a quilter’ and how cutting up tiny pieces of fabric and sewing them back together again can be an addictive pastime. However unlike traditional quilting, I rarely use patterns, preferring the slow process of piecing and constructing simple blocks as I go. Not one for mass production or working for the sake of consumer demand, each project I start finds a way to evolve in its own time in a meditative spirit and over time Ive adapted traditional techniques to suit the way I like to work. I love it even more when Ive finished an item and it includes an artistic element, such as a piece of painted fabric and includes a great story.
As a visual artist I like to incorporate a palette of color, prints and patterning and to do this I use a variety of printed fabrics, applique and simple stitching techniques and most of my work incorporates the use of some preloved/repurposed fabrics along with the new. I do not see myself as a quilting or appliqué purist therefore I feel its okay to ‘break rules’ and not waste precious creative time fault finding. To the contrary I believe flaws bring personality and creative interest to the work at hand.
My favorite applique techniques are needle turn and raw-edge. I enjoy paper piecing when I want something a little more precise and I have a weird fetish for hexagons at the moment ……... who doesn’t? Although I have a keen eye for perspective and composition, I couldn’t sew a straight line if I tried, so I prefer to hand stitch to gain better control. I love the use of applique as I can cover up all manner of stitching sins and in the process form unexpected texture and dimension to my work. The three embroidery stitches that I use often are continuous line tacking, blanket stitch and chain stitch. They are simple and effective and lend themselves nicely to the naïve patchwork look I like so much.