The Cottage Quilt by Dorothy Russell

 

 

For as long as I can remember I have loved cottages, their external environment and the space within them. One of their most endearing features is the door they open to an older world and one cannot spend time in an old cottage without wondering about the lives of the people who inhabited them in years past.
I treasured happy family holidays spent in a stone cottage in the Yorkshire dales. The influence of that time is enduring and was the inspiration for Cottage Quilt.

 

 

Cottage Quilt began as a drawing of a Gwynedd Bwthyn (Cottage), transferred to lino which was cut away repeatedly to build up the image in layers of colour from the palest cream to the deepest brown, giving detail to the building and depth to the forest behind it. The floral border, also cut in lino was treated as a mono print with all colours transferred to the cotton fabric in one process. Oil based media were used throughout.

 

 

The Cottage prints and their yellow and floral borders were pieced to form the top of the quilt, then layered over wadding and a cotton backing fabric. The quilting was done entirely by machine, freely following the detailed lines of the prints, and with 'vermicelli' in the yellow sections of the borders. Final touches of leaves, flowers and grass, giving warmth and colour, were added with free motion stitching. Cottage Quilt hangs on the kitchen living room wall of Coed y Berclas Holiday Cottage Anglesey, our Holiday Cottage available at Coed y Berclas.

I am an active member of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles and work alongside members of the Embroiderers' Guild; two organisations which have profoundly influenced the development of textile art.

I gain inspiration from giving talks, workshops and lectures, to encourage artists, craftworkers and members of both Guild groups, to further their work.

I hope Cottage Quilt, which you will find in Coed y Berclas Cottage, will give you at least some of the warmth it has given me.

Dorothy Russell