My "Freedom" and "Evolution" quilts

Unfortunately I didn't get as much time to work on these quilts as I would have liked too (story of my life!) and someone did say to me the other day, "Well why did you make so many?" And the answer to that is that working in a series gets the ideas out of my system. It allows me to exhaust all the possible options for that particular idea so that I can let it go and move on. Sometimes ideas have been waiting for years to get aired and so need a little time and several options to get expressed fully.

The 1916 centenary was an opportunity for me to explore some ideas I've wanted to play with for several years. I had two exhibitions to make quilts for and I knew I wanted to make triptych's using the Irish flag, it just seemed to make sense in my head.

I had some dyed fabrics from several years ago, and had made a key lino block and printed onto the green fabric so that was sitting there waiting to be used. I adore old keys, they represent the hidden past, locked memories, secrets and they are just so god damned beautiful.

Here's the lino blocks I made. The hand grenade blocks were made because I found out a few years ago that I came out of a shed at home as a kid with a hand grenade! Found in a box my Dad had been asked to mind and forgotten about. I don't remember any of this but the story sums up for me what living during the "Troubles " was like. I thought it was normal to see soldiers up north and it was only when I brought someone from way down south up north to Belfast for a weekend and saw how scared he was by the British troops that I realised how strange it was growing up during that time. What we grow up with we perceive as normal until we learn different.

I love history and think it's vital that we know where we've come from. So when I saw that old papers from 1916 were being republished in a weekly paper I was thrilled ( the hoarder in me would be satisfied for awhile) These would become my white sections. I used my latest and new favourite photo transfer method.

This is the piece I struggled with the most and still am not happy with it visually. I did enjoy the quilting of it and thread painted with my long arm for the first time on it.

The "Freedom" triptych 

"Freedom is a State of Mind 1-3"

The "Evolution" triptych

"Freedom is a State of Mind 4-6"

The tricolour union jack is an image I've wanted to use for a long time. I have a big of flag envy!
I think the union jack is a really good design and I love the way it's used in various items. You can't do that with the tricolour, just doesn't have the same impact!
I also grown up listening to a hatred for England and the repression that was forced on the Irish people yet so many people I know lived there, making much more money than they would of here. Just seems a bit hypocritical to me!