The warm and the cold: inspiration

We are starting to flesh out our plans for the forthcoming project the warm /&/ the Cold. One element is the gathering of fabrics for the quilts, at the weekend I filled the boot of my car with donated blankets from Branwen a very generous member of Freegle.

Another part of the planning is updating my knowledge about what other artists and designer makers are doing in the world of quilt making... Here are some of my findings. (Thanks to Sam and Matty for pointing me in some interesting directions...)

The V&A exhibition in 2010 of quilts was one of the museums most successful exhibitions. 'Quilts are comforting, intriguing, intimate and heavy with history' (Perri Lewis) The show showed historical and contemporary pieces by artists such as Grayson Perry, Tracy Emin, Jo Budd.

Detail from An A-Z of love, Maker unknown 1875-85 Photograph: V&A images

In a project where the majority of the participants will be men (70 percent of homeless people are men) its fascinating to read about 'mens quilts'. Historically soldiers were encouraged to take up embroidery to stop them drinking and gambling and made military quilts.

Military Signature Quilt 1930-1949

The all male quilting group in HMP Wandsworth made a quilt to articulate the reality and experience of incarceration through stitch.

Detail from Quilt made by prisoners at HMP Wandsworth

Other inspiration Quilts and Quilting group on Flickr. The Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire has the largest collection of British folk art in the Uk. (I must try and get there) Have a look at Primmy Chorley's work

Have a look at Sara Impey's wonderful work for inspiration. (Thanks Sara for giving me permission to use your photo)

Sara Impey, detail of Quilt Blog 2007

Detail from Passing Down, Quilt Lynn Setterington, 2010

and of course there's Lynn Setterington who will be giving us all a masterclass in quilt making later in the project.