Out and about in spring

My blog posts are getting less frequent, sometimes I wonder if this blog has run its course? So much has changed since I started blogging over the past nine years! However, I have made so many friends and connections over the years maybe I will go on a little longer.

We have been out and about quite a lot, making use of our rail cards we made a trip to see an exhibition of Bedtime Stories at The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh that featured my Dream Quilt. This was an actual quilt made to accompany the book of the same name. Silly me, I did not check to see if the Museum would be open but fortunately the lovely curator opened it especially for us! The exhibition is still on if you are in the area, it had a nice review in the April edition of British Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

We celebrated my husband's birthday in beautiful Powys Wales, we had the most wonderful weather and enjoyed strolling round the hotel grounds. Primroses and wood anemones carpeted the woodland floor, it was truly a most beautiful setting and one we hope to return to soon.

I have been busy working on new paintings, this time for The Hilliard Society's annual exhibition in Wells later this year.

We had the family to stay over Easter, lots of chocolate was consumed and a fair few bottles of wine too. I hope you enjoyed your Easter too. X

The quilt of the book of the quilt!

The Dream Quilt, design by Valerie Greeley.

I am pleased to report that I finally finished making a mini quilt composed of images from the book I illustrated- The Dream Quilt. You may remember I wrote about the book here on my blog.

I have been putting the finishing touches to a small fabric collection to enable home sewers to recreate the quilt featured in the book. I am just waiting to approve some fabric samples and then I will share a link to my fabric store. The fabric will be printed as a complete panel all ready to quilt, so no piecing will be necessary, instead you can enjoy stitching and maybe adding a few decorative stitches of embroidery?

One of these days I will learn to use a thimble, the quilt shown here was stitched entirely by hand- my poor hands are in bits!

If you wish you can order a copy of the book here in my Etsy shop, it is £7.99 and you can have it signed and dedicated if you send me a note first.

If the little pink hare in the foreground looks familiar it is the work of Stephanie Boudazin who has a delightful blog here

I'll be back soon with news of a give-away to celebrate the eighth birthday of this blog!

The Dream Quilt

Some of you may remember last year I illustrated a small format, hard cover book called "Can it be True?" for Long Barn Books. Earlier this year I was thrilled to be invited to work on another title for the same publisher. This time for a book entitled The Dream Quilt by Adele Geras.

Perhaps just once in a lifetime a dream job comes along. For a textile designer who also illustrates books this was my dream commission. Each illustration represents one square of a patchwork quilt. Adele Geras's enchanting writing begins:

"I threaded silk through a silver needle to make a cover for your bed.
Rest your head, close your eyes. I’ll stitch you dreams and lullabies."

We start with a house, where everyone sleeps except for a child.....

This is the house, from The Dream Quilt. Illustration by Valerie Greeley

Although the book would sit happily in a Christmas stocking it is not specifically a Christmas title; some of the imagery is summertime, we have shells and beaches, fish and flowers. There are tigers and trains, bears and dolls. Each illustration makes up a part of the final quilt as the characters dream their own dreams.

The illustrations begin as black ink pen drawings; these are then scanned and made into a digital file. I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create the final images, layering textures and embroidered effects to complete the job.

This is the doll, from The Dream Quilt. Illustration by Valerie Greeley.

The publication date is December 12th, in the meantime I hope you enjoy a glimpse into the creative process. I hope to put some copies in my shop as soon as they arrive. I am also waiting to see some fabric samples, more about that later!

This is the ship from The Dream Quilt. Illustration by Valerie Greeley

Adele has written her own account of how she came to write the book, you can read all about it here-

For more information about Adele Geras visit her website, there you will find details of Adele's other works. I can recommend "Cover Your Eyes"- a story about a fashion designer haunted by her past. You may also be interested to know that Adele's daughter is an accomplished writer too, her name is Sophie Hannah. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this commission was that I got to know Adele a little as we discussed the book as it progressed. I have a feeling you will like her too.

To visit Long Barn Books please follow the link.