Introducing - The Dream Quilt

York is home to the UKs only quilt museum and gallery and a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of working there as a volunteer. Getting up close to the historical quilts was a real inspiration, especially one African pictoral quilt that showed scenes from the maker's life. Like a textural graphic novel each patchwork square had it's own story, from bathing to visiting the medicine man. I had an idea that I would like to make something similar, but with each square showing a different dream of mine.

I'm sad to say that since then I've shevled the idea. The enormity of the project intimidated me. Apart from the fact that I've never had any experience of quilt-making I have very strange and frequent dreams that I knew would be difficult to keep track of and depict. At the time I also lived in a very small shared house and didn't relish the idea of assembling a quilt in the tiny rooms. I noted the idea in a notebook and concentrated on other ideas instead.

Thankfully I'm no longer living in a very small shared house, but in a lovely little house with a lot more floor space. I still have no idea about the technicalities of assembling a quilt, but I've never a let inexperience in a craft stop me from trying it before. I've also worked out that if I just have a good system for drawing and recording all my dreams then I can happily transfer them to fabric in my own time. It might take all year before I have all the squares I need, but I'm really excited that I've finally started work on this huge project. So I'm happy to introduce the first square of the quilt.


1. The time-traveller's ring


Dreamt on the 1st Febuary 2010. This dream was about a ring I found that had the power to slow time for the wearer. A sinister figure was trying to take the ring from me, and while time rushed around me he sat and waited, ageing before my eyes.