Quilts to warm a winter day: FIRE

From Australia, here is a red-hot quilt inspired by volcanoes. The expanding waves, which diminish in intensity as they are farther from the core, bring to mind the searing heat and energy of molten lava as it explodes from the earth's core. 

Fire by Dianne Firth (Turner, Australian Capital Territory, Australia)

Dianne Firth says: "This quilt was part of a set created for an exhibition called 'Elements' which focused on the four Platonic elements of the fire, earth, water and air. Fire was inspired by the volcanic eruptions that occurred in Iceland in 2010."  The expanding rings were created by reverse applique and were machine stitched in concentric curves.

Dianne, who is a landscape architect, says: "Environmental conditions such as drought, fire, floods and the urban/rural divide strongly influence my work. My training as a landscape architect and involvement in teaching design students at university provides me with a language to interrogate such phenomena and respond to them through my work. Topography, geology, hydrology, vegetation, settlement patterns and constructed environments are my dominant themes." To see more quilted textiles by Dianne Firth, please visit Craft ACT and the Ozquilt Network.

Image credits:  The photo was taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2013 Houston IQF. Dianne Firth's art quilts are held in public and private collections in Australia, Europe and USA including the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, Museum of Australia - Canberra, University of Canberra Art Collection, Wangaratta Gallery Victoria, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.  In 2013 she was awarded the McCarthy Memorial Award at Quilt National.