This textile artwork is free-style machine stitched and embroidered.


This quilt is dedicated to the many young people who have lost their lives to cancer and to their families and friends who love and miss them.
For all those unfulfilled dreams.

She casts away her earthly shroud to join the butterfly in transformation.
“The butterfly is nature’s way of reminding us that there is hope in grief. When the caterpillar is no more, the butterfly exists in ultimate beauty and freedom”. - Tanya Lord

I must say this quilt had a will of its own. It is not what I first imagined and planned for it to be. In fact, the only thing that is, as I saw it in my imagination, is the figure in flight.
I struggled along for ages with this quilt and had all sorts of disasters. The breakthrough came in the form of a lovely lady who visited my shop while on holiday. I don’t normally show people my work in progress, but her friend was a keen quilter and was interested in my technique. As soon as she saw the quilt, her eyes lit up, and she said, “Oh, it’s my daughter, just after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 32”. She then showed me a picture of her daughter in very much the same pose. Sadly, her daughter had passed away. This made me realise that the quilt was about transformation and everything just fell into place.
I wish I had got her name because I would love to share this with her.

This quilt is a completely original design composed primarily of freestyle embroidery and appliqué. The figure, background, Ulysses butterflies, and feathers are all freestyle embroidery. This took well over 150 hours and approximately 3500 meters of thread. Hand-dyed batik and commercial fabric were used in the top. The sewing was mostly done on my Sweet Sixteen, but some of the butterflies and feathers were created on my domestic sewing machine.
Quilt size 113cm x 82.5cm

In loving memory of my dear brother Ross, who passed away in his early 30’s from cancer. He lived his life to the fullest and gifted me with the passion to follow my dreams.

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