Like several other of my CIC quilt mates, I have decided to make Round 4 a series, or related body of work.   In line with the theme for the round, Change, my series will be called ‘Same, Same, But Different’, which recognises the similarities, as well as the differences when change occurs.

The importance of the historical basis, the past, the ‘where’ we came from, can be valued, cherished, mourned or even reviled.  Sometimes, change is imperative and we are grateful to cast off the past and embrace a new, bright, clean and exciting future.  But change can also be instinctive or necessary and the pace of the change can be slow, over millennia, such as occurs with evolution, or can be rapid, seasonal and immediate, such as the change by a grub or caterpillar into a moth or butterfly.

In this quilt, I started with the reflection within scenery, musing about the change in our lives as our grandson moved to the UK for 6 months.   I have many photographs of our river and location and used a picture I took of the river bank whilst kayacking as my initial inspiration.  It shows tree limbs and reeds, both fallen on the riverbank and reflected in the water.  When viewed vertically, the picture appears as a form, maybe human, maybe insectivorous.

Working in the horizontal, I constructed my chrysalis body in outline on my riverbank background, then added the emerging wings of my made-up, abstract butterfly.  I then flipped to the vertical and laid in the water ripples and other effects, and the foliage and plants, some of which are endemic to the area (and a couple of fantasy ones too).

The quilt hangs in the vertical plane to meet the requirements of Cloth in Common for a 40” height, but I am thinking about putting an alternative hanger on it so that I can hang it horizontally which provides a completely different perspective.  An occasional change might be nice

Commenced:     July 2023

Completed:        July 2023

Dimensions:      1020mm H X 625mm W

                        40” H X 24.5” W

Materials:          A ground of pieced commercial printed cotton fabric; applied surface of strips of new and recycled cotton batik; Hi Viz vest, Vliesofix; thrift shop find cotton backing.

Technique:        Raw-edge appliqué with applied vliesofix in various sizes and shapes. Freehand stitched quilted pattern over the entire surface using a small long arm.