This piece was made following a visit to my son, who lives in Florida. During a road trip to New Orleans, we stopped at Mobile, Alabama, to see the Botanical gardens. I loved the Koi pond, and chose a water lily and my 4 favourite fish for this lively wall hanging. 25 inch square, 55 hours to make, stitched cotton.
When you can't decide which colours to use - put them all in! 27 different fabrics and colours of thread, 25 silks and a metallic gold fabric on a black cotton background. 19 inch diameter circle, this took 25 hours to sew, and another couple of hours in total to re-thread the sewing machine with each new colour.
The hedgehog in question visited my garden some years ago, and I was able to take the source photo. There are only 3 fabrics in this piece - green background, brown for the body and black for the eyes, ear and nose of the creature. The details of the spines and face come entirely from free-machine stitching (and a small amount of marker pen). Mounted on a 9 x 12 inch canvas, 15 hours to make, stitched cotton.
Having taken a photo of this marble horse head (one of those who pulled the chariot of the Moon Goddess Selene) in the British Museum in 2010, it then took another 13 years before I felt ready to start on the piece. It is drawn with 6 different colours of thread on a calico background, no other fabric is present. Mounted on a 12 x 16 inch canvas.
The inspiration for this piece is the ancient stone wall surrounding the cathedral grounds in St Andrews. I took photos of many different sections, chose my favourite stones, and rebuilt them into my very own piece of wall. The stones are all scraps of fabric with extensive free-machine stitching. The colours may look odd, but you can find all of the stones in the original wall - just not all in the same place! Mounted on an 8 x 20 inch canvas, 30 hours to sew and design, stitched cotton.
I have combined a sequence of silk circles with a spiral design - often found in the Celtic art that I love. The white cotton background and the circles themselves have been quilted free-hand to give an organic feel to the piece. Framed 10 inch square.
I included a small puffin in my Staffa piece, but it turned out to have a mind of it’s own, and demanded it’s own picture. I have scaled up the original bird and it gave me the opportunity to add much more detail. My sisters think it looks thoughtful, so Pensive Puffin it is. Sewing time for this was 17 hours.
Last in the peacock series (for now anyway) is simply a feather. The eye is silk, the rest is free-machine stitched. This is the perfect technique to reproduce the sense of movement and fluidity that I wanted. 8 x 10 inch frame.
Number 2 in the peacock series, this has just one bird, but I have added a feather. The body of the peacock and the eye of the feather consists of silk with small scraps of cotton. The crown and the rest of the feather is created using just free-machine stitching. Framed with a mount (no glass), 12 inches square.
This rather ornate piece was made for my son and his husband, whose favourite bird is the peacock. It is made from cotton and silk, and the blue background is quilted with a free-style heart design. This started me on a peacock series...
Like Snake and Boss, this is inspired by another carved stone in Iona Abbey. I have used the same fabrics, but there is a lot more quilting in this piece. The hand-drawn Celtic knotwork patterns are stitched using Trapunto - a technique where the background is stipple quilted to leave the design in relief. Mounted on a 16 inch square canvas.
Based on a view from the top of the island, with sea, sky, grass and the famous basalt cliffs. Heavily stitched cottons, several of the fabrics were bought in Oban specially for this piece. The bird is a puffin, there is also a dolphin playing in the water. 22 x 25 inches, unframed