Page 106 - The Digital Cloth issue 2

I have always loved turtles, and on a family
holiday in the Galapagos Islands, I had the
opportunity to snorkel with them. I already
knew I wanted to make a turtle quilt so I took
heaps of photos with my underwater camera.
My first idea was to get the ‘perfect’ picture of a
turtle swimming straight towards the camera, as
I didn’t want the so-often used bird’s-eye view
of a turtle. After taking hundreds of
rapid-fire pictures, I realised that front-on is
not a very flattering angle for a turtle, as they
appear very grumpy. So, I changed tack and just
took as many pictures as I could. One day I gave
my mother the camera and she ended up taking
the only photos of turtles with sun streaming
in, which looked great. I chose this photo, even
though it’s blurry with lots of flecks in the
water!

If you are interested, you can see more of my
textile art on Instagram
@karen_mcgregor_artist.

I wanted to use trapunto on the turtle so I had to stage Karen McGregor
my thread painting. Each layer of thread painting was
done on thin batting. I used 100-weight silk thread
(Superior Threads Kimono Silks and YLI Silk thread)
to add texture, first to the shell. I then added a layer of
trapunto batting under the shell. I added texture to the
segments on the
To make my pattern I traced the main elements turtle’s flippers and head, and added another layer of

from the photo and extended the right flipper trapunto batting to the entire turtle. Finally, I sandwiched
for a more pleasing composition. I had it the quilt and quilted the ocean, the remaining areas on
printed to size, and covered the paper with clear the flippers and head, the wrinkles in the neck and the
vinyl. I placed my thin, tightly woven white grooves of the shell. It was a massive challenge quilting
fabric over the paper pattern and began the ocean, as the quilt is much heavier on the right side
painting. I used Jo Sonja’s acrylic paint and (with five layers of batting!) and kept wanting to fall off
textile medium and mixed most of my paint my extension table. I also broke around seven needles
on the fabric. I haven’t had painting lessons so sewing the wrinkles in the neck, as it was so thick, and I
didn’t realise this isn’t the recommended needed to use fine needles for the thin silk thread so any
method until I destroyed the top of my paint holes created in the painting weren’t obvious.
brush! It was exciting seeing the turtle come to My quilt was selected for the Houston International Quilt
life on the fabric. Festival competition and received an Honourable
For the background I chose a contrasting Mention. I was totally thrilled!
colour to emphasise the turtle, all the while I love how my turtle, affectionately known as Todd, looks
terrified it was the wrong choice. I only as though he is swimming along, and I can imagine I
managed to convince myself to paint the am snorkelling next to him. Green Sea Turtles are listed
background because I knew if it didn’t work, as Threatened worldwide. I would be devastated if they
I could cut out the turtle and appliqué it to went extinct and others couldn’t experience the joys of
another background. Fortunately, I loved the seeing and swimming with them.
colour.