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390 Dunshire Drive,
Gabriola, BC
V0R 1X2
Canada
Phone 250-247-7656
kristinmiller@shaw.ca
www.kristinmillerquilts.com
Artist Statement
I want my quilts to
startle and delight, to wake you up, not put you to sleep. Even so, I have
made many bed quilts--or works of art to sleep under. And I make smaller
quilts too, of course.
I do not plan or design
my quilts--I just start sewing. Scraps of fabric are my preferred medium,
and reacting to their non-linear shapes is often my primary inspiration.
Scraps are more suggestive and evocative than whole fabric, and convey
motion, meaning, and emotion more readily.
At present, I am
following half a dozen paths with my quilts:
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medallions, often elaborated and re-structured
- spirals
developing in free form patterns
- abstract
designs with dynamic motion and vitality
- message
quilts, memory quilts, and commemorative quilts
- scrap
and raveled-thread pictorials and landscapes
The actual quilting
stitches are of great importance to me. I do both hand and machine
quilting. Quilting by machine is a job, something to be accomplished
competently. Quilting by hand is a slow and meditative process that etches
an added layer of beauty and meaning into the quilt.
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Jake's Quilt
85" x 85" - NFS
A bed quilt for my nephew Jake's graduation, machine pieced from new
and recycled fabrics, hand appliquéd, and quilted by hand with DMC perl
cotton. What a pleasure to work without a pattern, building outward from
the three central medallions to create shapes full of energy and
vitality. As I sewed, the forms came to suggest flowers and a butterfly,
so I used my hand-quilting to enhance the sense of liveliness and
growth.
Mountains In Autumn
19" x 15" - $200.00 Cdn
Layered and sculpted landscape made
from varied scraps, threads, and fabric ravelings. A Patrick Morrow
photo inspired this ephemeral thread embroidery, sewn mainly by hand
with invisible stitches that barely hold the elements in place. This
delicate textile invites touch, and the three-dimensional foliage can be
subtly rearranged. This piece could be framed and protected under glass,
but I prefer it accessible to touch and to the effects of time.
Tendrils
35" x 45" - $1,200.00 Cdn
Drawing a spiral with a pencil only takes a second, so it may be hard
for the non-quilter to understand how difficult and exhilarating it is
to sew free-form patchwork spirals without a pattern. Each spiral
developed its own unique shape and energy, then intertwined with the
others, like tendrils reaching for the sun. Extensive hand-quilting
accentuates the design. Machine-pieced using cotton and rayon fabrics,
hand appliquéd; and quilted by hand with DMC perl cotton.
Andy's Quilt
75" x 95" approx. - NFS
My nephew Andy picked out rambunctious fabric for his
graduation quilt, and I had great fun piecing together this very modern
and colourful double-bed-sized quilt. I worked without any particular
expectations of how the quilt would turn out, arranging new and recycled
fabric by eye as I added border after border concentrically around the
medallion. I outlined fabric motifs with elaborate hand-quilting
stitches, using bright-coloured DMC perl cotton for my quilting thread.
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