Hell Fire!

 

It is finished! My middle right hand finger is a bit red raw- I don't like wearing thimbles and in the end it took a lot of sewing but I do like how it turned out- the texture of the hand stitching really adds something to the whole. It measures 33cm ( 14 inches) by 53 cms (21 inches) It is forsale- for $300 US. If you ar einterested please contact me .

This piece is part of an ongoing series of Hellfire quilts. I have made 19 big ones and a some little ones- I just make one when one drops out of the sky. My husband said at one stage- you have probably made enough- but then one keeps turning up- sometimes 2 or 3 will come in a rush, but this time it's been 18 months waiting. I don't sit and work at them as a series as such, just make them when they call. I have sold all but one half of a diptych ( someone who lived on a houseboat bought the other part of the diptych) and one which is on display at La Bourboule. The title of the series came about by accident. I was invited in 1995 to be part of an exhibition with some wellknown Victorian quilt artists. At the time I was preganant and must admit vegetated a bit until the baby was nearly due ( the exhibition started 6 weeks after she was born). Anyway I dyed some fabric for a quilt, and when it was dry brought it inside and put it on the table. I had lit a small candle and forgotten that I had and the fabric I had brought in I put on the candle. Of course it started burning- and as I had just waddled off somewhere and was on my way back I came to the table with the fabric starting to burn. I yelled out " Hell Fire!" to get my husband to come and help and so was born the title for the series- beceause we did manage to stop the fabric burning- but I found it left interesting holes which I could immediately see as fire quilts.