Barbara Weeks - Portfolio19

Portfolio 2019

Back to Gallery menu

Journal Quilts 2019 My theme for this year is Beachcombing. A celebration of coastal walks in Western Australia and a closer look at things found and collected. An opportunity for further reaearch at the Natural History Museum in London and to look for contextual links with other artists. Journal Quilts this year are A4 (29.7 x 21cm)


January: Beachcombing Found and collected ghosts nets, shells and coral fragments. Applique on pieced and quilted fabrics dyed with tea and indigo. I carefully couched and splayed rope ends and the unintended outcome found that this degraded and part-disappeared on ironing!


February: Beachcombing, Mussel Shells Rust dyed and wax resist silks, bonded applique. Hand quilted footsteps along the beach.



March Rock Scramble. The Cape Naturaliste coastline is a geologist’s delight, grippy granite and jagged limestone. A scramble along the rocks adds another dimension to the beach walk. wool, white barkcloth, seacell and tussah fibres, wet felted, layered and quilted with linen thread.


April Mussel Shells rearranged. Printed on rust dyed linen, embellished with natural shells.


May Driftwood. Always looking for interesting beach finds, potential for hanging a small piece or wrapping to take on a new form. Felted Shetland wool. Alpaca and silk fibres. Applique with coarse silk cloth, frayed threads used for couching. Quilted onto wool wadding, raw edge finish.


June Spray. Foam and froth, a display of power, attracting the early morning surfers. A very fine layer of Shetland wool, Wensleydale locks, lace- like to reveal backing layer of dyed wool viscose wadding. Embellished with iridescent shells.


July Out in the Deep Blue. Started as an experimental ‘white on white’ piece incorporating superfine merino wool, silk, bamboo and seacell fibres. When dyed with acid dyes the plant fibres do not take. I like the incidental marks appearing in the blue suggesting movement in the water.


August Footprints in the Sand. Washed away overnight, to reappear each day. The early morning surfers, dogs & walkers, birds, small crabs and more. Their marks are purposeful or wandering, marking time, marking journeys. The layout design here is the same as July, exploring mixed fibres before dyeing.


September Beachcombing: Shells. Indigo and rust dyed silks and cottons. The ‘shells’ were created from resist dyed silk, tied over aduki beans. All cloth discovered while sorting my stash and stitch therapy while house hunting in Oz.


October Rockpool. Fascinating what the tide brings in. A favourite pastime for all ages, exploring the infinite crevices and pools of water. Another discovery while sorting my fabric stash; of marbling on silk habotai. Stitch therapy on silk wadding to follow the given lines! Bliss.


November Busselton Jetty. Viewed a mile away on my early morning walk. The longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. A mile-long exhilarating walk with an underwater observatory at the end. Wax resist on fine cotton, wool laminated and hand quilted.


December Underwater. Marbling on silk. The close weave and linear structure demanded machine stitching. When in doubt about the style of quilting, I often choose a simple linear design.

Back to Gallery menu