My soul is stirred by the creative process. My inspiration comes from many sources - nature, family, text, travels. But for me it is the act of colouring fabric which provides me with inspiration to create. I saturate cloth with colour in the form of dyes and paints and then further design the surface using colour removing agents along with stamps and screens, embellishing with foil or stitch. This creates art cloth which then becomes an exciting palette with which I create my art quilts. I love the visual tension created by the interplay of commercially printed fabrics in combination with my painterly hand-dyed cloth so I often choose to incorporate more traditional quilting cottons in my work. I also love the structure and restraints of the quilting medium - three layers stitched together, the design of the quilt top and the final layer of drawing through quilted line.
Each of my quilts dictates which construction method to use. I move easily from machine piecing and quilting to more labour intensive hand-appliqué and hand-quilting depending on the personality and design of each piece. I enjoy working freely and spontaneously - fusing and machine quilting, but also love the endless meditative hours that handwork involves.
