I have knitted and sewn for as long as I can remember. First for my dolls, then for myself and finally for my children. My grandmother was a tailoress who passed her sewing skills on to my mother who, in turn, taught me. I started quilting about ten years ago. My eldest daughter lives in America and when I spent time with her after the birth of her first child in 1998 we came across a patchwork shop. We were both overwhelmed by the colour of the fabric in that shop and the quilts on display. My daughter succumbed immediately and signed up for classes. It took me a little longer. After a few basic classes I taught myself piecing by making a Lynne Edwards sampler quilt top (which is still a UFO!) and made a couple of traditionally pieced cot quilts for grandchildren. Then I saw the work of Pat Archibald which opened my eyes to Art Quilting. Her workshops and Creative Journey course have been my starting point.
View Jennifer’s Quilts
Click on the thumbnails to view enlarged images of Jennifer’s quilts.
Arctic Cathedral 2021
Jennifer Welsby
Trømso Cathedral is one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen. It is sometimes known as the ‘Toblerone’ cathedral because of its repeated triangular structure. It is particularly spectacular at night as the internal light emanates through the glass roof panels and the amazing stained-glass window above the altar glows with light. Often in winter all this is complemented by the Aurora Borealis dancing across the sky.
Machine pieced using hand dyed and commercial fabrics. Bonded appliqué. Machine quilted.
36″x36″
Structures 1 2022
Jennifer Welsby
Arctic cathedral. At night the colours of the stained-glass window shine out as does the light through the roof accentuating the triangular structure of the building.
Bonded appliqué. Confetti background. Machine quilted.
17.5″x17.5″
Structures 2 2022
Jennifer Welsby
Trømso cathedral. As you look through the glass frontage there are so many combinations and permutations of geometric shapes created by the physical structure and the light shining into the building through the glass roof panels.
Bonded appliqué. Machine quilted.
17.5″x17.5″
Structures 3 2022
Jennifer Welsby
Trømso Cathedral. As you look through the glass frontage there are so many combinations and permutations of geometric shapes created by the physical structure and the light shining into the building through the glass roof panels.
Bonded appliqué. Machine quilted.
17.5″x17.5″
Lindisfarne Reflection 2020
Lindisfarne is a special place where the divide between the material and the spiritual seems very thin. For me, never more so than as the sun sinks behind the castle and the amazing colours in the sky and the shadow of the castle cast rippling reflections over the water.
Raw edge bonded appliqué using hand dyed and commercial cotton fabric. Machine quilted.
24″x48″
Ghost Apple 2019
Ghost apples are created when freezing rain settles on the fruit and ices over immediately, creating a frozen coating. Apples have a lower freezing point than water, so when it gets a bit warmer the apple defrosts before the ice does. The rotting apple falls out of the bottom leaving its icy ‘ghost’ behind.
My daughter lives near Chicago and experienced the polar vortex of February 2019. The ghost apple phenomenon occurred as a result of the arctic temperatures.
Confetti background using commercial and hand dyed cotton fabric. Voile appliqué with threadpainted lace and raw edge bonded appliqué with Angelina fibre. Machine quilted.
36″x36″
Thistle 2019
Made for a challenge entitled ‘Contemporary Scotland’ for the Quilters Guild Scotland Region. 16.5″x 23.5″ A2 size
Colours Abstracted 2019
Inspired by a photograph from the Scottish Western Isles and made using a log cabin technique created by Katie Pasquini Masopust. 36″x36″
Colorado Fall 2018
The Rocky Mountains of Colorado are spectacular at any time of year, but in the autumn or ‘fall’ the slopes turn to gold as the leaves of the aspen trees take on the glorious hues of autumn. At closer quarters the leaves shimmer in the breeze, yellow, orange and sometimes red and, if you look carefully, you can sometimes see the mountain bluebird.
Second in a Colorado series inspired by my daughter’s wedding in Frisco CO. 20″x 60″
Kenmore Rose 2017
I have always loved flowers and close up photographs of flowers which go beyond the first impact. This quilt was inspired by the wild flowers growing in the hedgerows around Kenmore. Digitally manipulated photograph printed onto A3 cotton sheets. Machine pieced and thread painted and machine quilted. 24″x40″
Evening reflection 2017
This is the second quilt I have made inspired by an overnight boat journey through Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. As the sun went down over the Tasman Sea after a glorious cloudless day, the light danced over the gentle waves and the intrinsic peace of the place intensified giving rise to physical and spiritual reflection. Hand dyed cotton, machine strip piecing and raw edge piecing. Machine quilted. Bonded appliqué and Angelina fibre. 24″x 40″
Northern Delights 2017
Sometimes the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights can be seen over Northumberland. The combination of that sight with the famous ‘Sycamore Gap’ on Hadrian’s Wall is, for me, the essence of Northumbria. 36″x 36″
Carnival Kaleidoscope 2016
I love colour and the organised chaos of kaleidoscopes. The relationship of colours around the colour wheel combined with a kaleidoscope, create my colour carnival.
The Quilting Show Glasgow 2016 Bronze award winner – Themed Quilts – Carnival Colours. 42″x 42″
Thread hearts 2015
Made following an Academy of Quilting workshop exploring the many possible ways of using threads.
Celtic Elements 2015
Inspired by Lindisfarne – Holy Island, home of St Aiden who founded the monastery there, and St Cuthbert. Here, land meets sea and sky and there is a deep sense of peace. Earth, water, wind and fire of the Holy Spirit.
Third place – Scottish Quilt Championships 2015 – small wallhanging category
Everything Belongs 2013
Inspired by the poem ‘Hills, Woolcraft, Stone’ by George Mackay Brown. The poem inspires thoughts of creation and relationship. Everything came from nothing and everything is related to everything else. The earth emerges from cosmic dust and the order and beauty of fire, earth, wind and water emerge from apparent chaos. Then man, as part of that creation, in his turn and through grace can create order and beauty from within God’s creation.
‘To make things is to do well
And to do things in harmony,
all trades and images cohering,
is to catch time and form in their flight,
until all cry Gloria.’
George Mackay Brown
30″x 30″
Colorado Wedding 2013
Created to celebrate my daughter’s wedding in Colorado in September 2012. Inspired by the glorious golden fall colours of the aspen trees and the thistles which grow there and which also were a significant part of the wedding theme celebrating my daughter’s Scottish roots. 36″x36″
Silent Surrender 2011
Reflections on Doubtful Sound, New Zealand
Beautiful, remote, silent.
Dolphins play in the bow wave.
The sun sinks over the Tasman Sea.
Stars shine out undimmed by human interference.
Golden dawn rises luminous between dark crags.
Strange reflections ripple in cool water.
New day. New beauty. New silence.
God is.
24″x40″
Beach Strata 2013
Experimental quilt which emerged from an abstract watercolour painting following a Katie Pasquini Masopust workshop. It reminded me of sand dunes after the tide goes out.