Folk-tails SS77

The story of 'Folk-tails'...

'Africa is deep in my soul.

Childhood memories continue to fill my thoughts... the beauty of the country, rich in wildlife and pristine nature. I feel the hot African sun and the dry breeze on my skin, the warm, rough sand under my bare feet, the scent of the bushveld – dusty and dry and filled with the scent of the animals that live there. I see the sky so clear and so blue. At sunset, a huge river of twinkling stars appears, spanning the sky. The land is dotted with dense trees; the bare branches of the baobab look like roots reaching towards the sky. Masses of tall grass camouflage the seemingly endless numbers of animals that live there. During the day I hear the song of thousands of birds, and the silence of a pitch-black night is sometimes broken by the roar of a lion, which shakes my body and cuts right through my soul...

For years I have wanted to make a quilt filled with these memories, but every sketch I put on paper fell short. It was important to me that this work would encompass all my memories, and that, once finished, it would form a grand canvas that told my story without needing a single word.

Besides the design, I wanted to incorporate everything I have come to love as a designer over the course of twelve years: my love for bright, vibrant colors, hand-dyed wool, creating depth by combining velvet and fabrics with different textures, and my newfound passion for creative embroidery.

Driven by this need, I sat down with pen and paper in October 2014 and sketched 'Folk-tails', a piece of my soul.

Sue

Published by Sue Spargo under: #SS77

#ISBN:978-0999-39-0276