My inspiration for this piece was the seed heads of Nigella, also known as Love-in-a-mist because of the wispy spikes that surround the seed heads. I wanted to show the seed head forms, but I also wanted to create a misty feeling to the background (as a nod to the common name of the plant).

I used Bondaweb painted with diluted acrylic paint then fused to white cotton on the left hand side of the piece, and contrasted it with soft commercial cotton on the right. I added purple Tissuetex to the Bondaweb, and I experimented with collograph printing of the seed head shapes to give me the square pieces for the right side. The green seed heads are made from dyed felt, and the purple ones are more Tissuetex.  To create the wispy effect, I added strands of dyed merino wool and silk. Because the painted Bondaweb retains some of its ‘gluey’ property, it was possible to bond the various elements directly to the left side, while I used MistyFuse on the right side to attach all elements.

The veins and the spiky parts of the seed heads were hand-stitched, and I also added hand-stitched seed heads of sweet cicely (which is one of the motifs that I am using through my series). The hand-stitching gives detail to the piece and acts as the quilting stitches.  Finally I wrote the common name of the plant in white ink on the dark Tissuetex.

Close up views:

Quilt Series – Seed Heads

Quilt 1                                Quilt 2.                              Quilt 3