Swifts are my favourite birds. The specified dimensions for the quilt allowed me to produce a quilt the exact shape of a swift’s wing. When young swifts leave their nest for the first time, their parents are not there. Neither do they accompany them when the young undertake their first migration to Africa. So for young swifts, their first flight is truly into uncharted territory. The colours of the quilt represent those of the seas, mountains, deserts and forests over which the young swifts will fly on their uncharted journey.
Silk, cotton and linen cloth and threads, hand dyed by me using woad, weld, madder and walnut from my garden. Many of the fabrics were old shirts and sheets. Most of the thread was from a hank of vintage silk. The inside layer is undyed cotton cheese cloth; the front fabrics were quilted to this for initial stabilization before the back fabric was added and further quilting undertaken through all three layers. Almost totally hand stitched. Although a machine was used for the hanging pocket and to ‘bag’ the quilt front to back before final quilting.
