Katrina Williams

When most people think of art it is usually painting, drawing or sketching etc. I’m interested in a different art form; that of textile art or more specifically, patchwork and quilting. Patchwork is basically cutting up material and sewing it back together to create something totally new. Quilting is the method of holding together the three layers of top, wadding and backing fabric. Quilting can be achieved in a few different ways, hand-quilting, machine quilting, long arm quilting or just tying your materials together in different spots to hold it together. My happy place is when I am hand-quilting my quilts, usually with perle 8 thread which is thicker than sewing thread.

I have been a quilter for just over 30 years and in that time my style and ideas have changed. I have been a little bit of a “wild child” in the quilting groups I have been apart of, often not following rules or not knowing there even were certain rules! This has led me to do my own thing.

I love creating my own designs, and have discovered along the way that I also enjoy visiting Op Shops and buying second hand clothes and materials and incorporating them into my quilts. I also like dying my own fabric (usually chemical dyes) these I then sometimes print with lino prints that I design and cut myself. These designs are quite basic as I am a self-taught lino printer but these pieces of fabric that I have dyed and stamped myself I feel give my quilts (or wall hangings as some are) a sense of uniqueness.

The quilting world is a wonderful place filled with like-minded people that all just want to create - whether for themselves, their families or the wider public. They like to give ideas and input into whatever is being created , either at classes, camp, or just quilting with a group of friends. I get ideas for my quilts and the lino prints that I make from everywhere - sometimes a painted picture, an etching design on a window, even just a flower in the garden.

I am quite haphazard in my approach to patchwork and quilting and this has led to one of my dear friends having to provide solutions to some of my weirder ideas and unusual methods! Lizzie of Patchwork Pear, I will always be grateful for all the help and support you have given me over the (many) years we have known each other. It is she who has dubbed me the “organic quilter” because she knows me so well.

I hope you enjoy looking at my quilts which I have created over the last 30 years.