Three days at Littleheath Barn was time to really play! 

Learning new techniques like traditional indigo dying to just about every different type of printing, I got much inspiration from this time and can't wait to see where these new ideas take me and my work..

The influence for this came from the title "Contrasts". 

At the time, I'd been looking at the works of Sara Impey, and the use of text in her work. Using opposites in word form to create contrast,  brought me to this scrabble board piece.

Again, a Guild challenge, which I'm proud to say, won me an award, first ever!

The challenge title was "Pathways" and I ended up with this piece called "ParkRun".

Bojagi is an ancient functional craft from Korea, originally used for the wrapping, carrying and storing of food items.

It now has a modern reinterpretation and is recognised as an important textile art form. 

I like to use cotton organdie as it has a stiffness that lends itself perfectly to this type of work. I have grown so fond of the use of sheer fabrics as we have the light aspect that travels through the fabric creating a new dynamic.

These started life on a zoom tutorial with the very brilliant Carolina Oneto,a master of colour, curves and transparency.

Her methods of using tones and hues in overlapping shapes, create such incredible and surprising results of depth, dimension and perspective.

As is usual of me, the blue version here did go somewhat off piste, but still quite a striking composition.

Breakdown silk screen printing.

Still working away on this one, not sure where we are going just yet, but having fun...

This was a Guild challenge from the British Quilters Guild. A fabulous organisation that I'm very proud to belong to, and urge any enthusiasts to join up to.

This piece started off life as an orange cut into quarters in my fruit bowl!

Ongoing work: a beautiful project started in spring 2025, and one I have far too many ideas for. I'm waiting for warmer times and some sunlight to guide me on my way!

A course I did in Spring of last year with Littleheath Barn Studio found me such inspiration in a bowl of seashells, which spilled over into my summer family holiday, and has me itching to get my toes back in the sand.

Always an afternoon of superbly messy fun. 

Breakdown printing is a screen-printing process using water based dyes. Wonderful organic textures and marks are achieved that can never be wholly predicted or controlled.

Linen is an unstable medium, you will be warned of its freestyle behaviour! 

I was told of all the dos and don'ts, but what I love about this fabric is its natural behaviour and my inability to fully control it or its outcome. 

The colours of natural dyed linen have an intensity like no other fabric, and I love to handle the texture. So go with it and enjoy its ways.

This piece was born out of one of the most inspiring and freeing sew-along tutorials I've ever done. Cindy Grisdela is known for her fearless approach to colour, and disregard for rules when it comes to composition, making her much fun!

This was one of those bits of work that was not finished, until it suddenly was. I have since done so much work based on her daring approach, and often find her influence creeping in to much of what I do.

An example of free-motion quilting, here I wanted to express an outline using a heavy thread as you would a pencil. This works better on smaller block type work, as the line tends to get lost by the eye on larger pieces.
 

I was also experimenting with the trapunto quilting method, raising the outlined image off the fabrics surface.

One of my favourite projects to date, the Greatest Showman. The peacock is a symbol of strength, majesty and beauty.

Following on from Church Hall, I put together this 12" square piece based on observation work on the peacock. 

Through a series of screen prints I arrived with my chosen fabrics and palette. The result actually is a small 12" square printed tile, quite exquisite in its detail, but stuffed full of character.

Such a satisfying piece to work on, a true labour of love as every piece of fabric started life as a plain white cotton.

Through a series of breakdown printing, very carefully improved piecing, and the use of bojagi style overlays I arrived at this very detailed piece, which evolved from some very scribbly sketches I did of a gorgeous church in a tiny village in Sardinia.

Ten Green Bottles was born from a challenge set by the Quilter's Guild who are celebrating this year their tenth anniversary. 
 

Ten means Tin in years and we were all tasked with creating a 10" piece inclusive of a tin fabric. All made with scraps from my peacock work, and hopefully displayed at the Festival of Quilts!

Fondly named bonkers - No rules - No rulers!

A gorgeous weekend of cutting, stitching, cutting some more, and re-stitching. The result was unsure from the beginning, but it was a lot of fun playing.

"Chameleon Coffee" Inspired by a recent trip to Africa, Chameleon Coffee is a quilted fabric collage made up from hundreds of fabric scraps. Detail was highlighted with fussy cutting, and the whole structure was designed and based on the swirl created from a stirred cup of coffee.

A very lengthy project but very therapeutic! 

Focusing on light travelling through fabric, and as a 3D project, I am constructing a series of lampshades in various techniques to learn how different fabrics behave with illumination.

Using different textural methods of fabric manipulation, layering and bojagi patchwork techniques, I'm working on mini lampshade mock ups to understand how light travels through fabric, and the effects that occur.

Continuing my research into the ancient art form of Bojagi I scaled up my mini mock-up lamps to make this full sized shade. I used traditional Korean hemps which allowed the light to filter through highlighting the organic grain of the fabric.

Perfecting the art of inserted circles, and indeed working with linen, which can be most temperamental.

Inspired by the brilliant Sarah Hibbert, these 4 pieces began life as a pile of paper scraps. 

Playing around with placement, shapes and colours, I arrived at 4 paper collages which I then translated into fabric. 

Inserted circles was a new technique, slightly fiddly but a great skill to learn.

"Autumn Tartan" was my first submission as an assessment piece for my coursework. A lengthy process of hand dyed fabrics, combined with a rich autumn design theme, she is bright yet warm, with a symphony of coloured mark makings that result in an eye dancing light show.

The fabrics are hand-dyed using breakdown screens to achieve my autumnal palette.

Inspired from a sunny autumns afternoon march in the woods

100% made from the offcuts of a larger piece I’m working on from a recent sew along.

Keep your scraps, grow your stash, the offcuts and waste material generated when making a quilt will begin a new project, an evolution, a new story.

This piece was so pleasing and came together very quickly, and is still one of my favorites.

Inspired by light refraction on glass, and explored in a design module for my studies, these images were based on broken glass in a skip, and bubbles in my glass tumbler of gin and tonic.

Initially designed to be 4 independent blocks, I found they worked far better nested together. This was one of my earlier geometric improv creations.

This piece is my absolute comfort blanket. I’ve probably been working on it for 4 or 5 years, and often revisit it for an uncomplicated afternoon of sewing.

Inspired by a boat trip in Amsterdam through the winding canals serving as back streets, and a view into the gorgeous townhouses and private lives of the locals.

I even bought the fabric there from a gorgeous shop tucked away - .working on this piece brings back such lovely memories, I almost never want to finish it!

This was a sewalong, a brilliant rainy afternoon spent making a huge mess.

An improv, scrappy approach to making fish units out of scrap fabric, and an even scrappier, more improv style joining them all together. 

There is something truly regular about the irregularity of this piece. A calming underwater scene, that currently has pride of place in my downstairs loo.

Fondly known as The Recovery Quilt, I made this in a four week period off work following surgery when I was supposed to be convalescing in bed. A cheerful, happy quilt for my son's newly decorated bedroom.

Sticking with the one blue, interest was added by using 11 different shades of yellow. Great practice at perfecting circles and curve sewing.

This piece was the result of a sew-along held by the brilliant Rachel Richardson, a modern maker. Although it looks very thrown together and bonkers, this piece actually required a lot of thinking with regards to placement and composition, it was very difficult to know when to call it a day and finish.

Always such a joy to participate in the teachings of others, we are always learning..

This was a very early paper pieced work which came at a time before I discovered the freedom of improv quilting.

Bursting with colour and brightness, this piece is made up of 12 identical blocks, independently rotated.

Inspired by the brilliant Tula Pink, this was my first ever quilt - my gateway drug into the fabulous world of quilting. I was never prouder than the moment this was finished and dressed my 2 year old son's bed.  This puzzle of pirates and dinosaurs and all things “BOY” will always leave a warm, fond place in my heart. 

For me, this epitomizes the true meaning of quilt making, and the history they keep. A family heirloom