When I think of Seasons, the first thing that comes to my mind is colour – light and bright in summer and sumptuous and rich in autumn. These are the two seasons which I think of immediately, so these form the basis of my piece.  This time I wanted to make my quilt to be fairly abstract, and to convey the feeling of the summer and autumn seasons, rather than make a definite picture. I also wanted to show the contrast between the two seasons, and how they blur into one another, as I find this quite fascinating.

Having found a selection of patterned fabrics which remind me of gardens in the sunshine, I decided to use these as the basis for my ‘summer’ section, by piecing small squares of them. Somehow, to me, these say summer picnic outdoors. Next I gathered together all the autumn colours in my stash, and since I wanted these  to be more random than the others, I simply bonded them down leaving the edges raw. To me, this reflects the way that formal summer planting softens and breaks down as the season turns into autumn.

I machine quilted a leaf design in gold thread to bring the autumn background together. I added stylised summer flowers (I think these are a ‘hybrid’ of daisy and dandelions), in my summer picnic cloth, with some seeds flying above them, heralding the end of summer. I added leaves made from silk paper and needle felt in autumnal colours, with a few greener ones at the edge of autumn. I included some beaded blackberries as reminders that autumn is not just about fading colours, but also brings bounty.

Close up views: