One of my joys as a child was watching ants. Whether just in the garden going about their frantic activity or in ant farms where I must admit, I was never very successful and they usually turned into ant cemeteries.

I thought I would base my Ecosystem quilt on the incredible society that ants create but my mind started moving towards the images you see of hundreds of people scurrying over intersections from above – just like ants. 

So I decided to create a combination of an ants nest and a busy city.

Lots of little hand dyed squares pieced together in earth tones.

Then I created the ant trails using Decolorant which takes out the colour of dyed fabric creating another interesting effect.

 I really liked the changes in colours created here

Just to reinforce the thought of Life in the City, I hand wrote the text all over the outside of the tunnels and then quilted horizontal lines all over the areas.

Thinking about all those little eggs the ants lay, I quilted circles throughout the tunnels

Life in the CIty

Size – 30″ x 40″

Hand dyed & painted fabrics