Dotty over spots, plus the hard sell

Quilt in progress

I like to think that my love of spots predates Damien Hirst's. I still have a newspaper cutting in my "inspiration" files dating from the late 1980s that shows him in front of one of his now ubiquitous spot paintings - the first time I had come across him or his work - and I thought I recognised a kindred spirit.

So, like the avant-garde composer Erik Satie in the Radio 4 play this week, I claim that it was in fact me who started the trend and, like Debussy, Hirst simply followed in my wake. He probably owes me some money.

My kitchen shelves

Since then I've seen spots appear on everything from coffee mugs to Thames river boats and a spacecraft to Mars http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2522417.stm and I've amassed a collection of spotty china and, of course, spotty fabrics. A quilt is not a quilt without spots on it. I haven't checked, but I'm willing to bet that all the patterned quilts on my website www.valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk, apart from those in the Island Collection (into which I've smuggled a few subtle stripes instead), contain spotted - and indeed dotted - fabrics. There is a difference, apparently, spots being irregularly shaped and placed and polka dots regular in both, but let's not quibble here.  And two quilts that I'm currently working on have, among all the florals and squiggles, a few discreet spots and dots.

Quilt in progress

Incidentally - or rather not incidentally but vitally - I have recently realised that my blog was set up to help SELL MY WORK. And I have not tried very hard to do that. So here's the hard sell: if you love spots like me, why not buy one of my throws or bedquilts? Or commission one with as many spots as you can take? And if you don't like spots, well I do plain ones too. Prices start at £345. Visit my website, www.valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk, contact me by phone (020 7515 0701; 07518 885960) or email (Valerie@valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk), or you can visit me at the Country Living Christmas Fair http://www.countrylivingfair.com/xmas/. And tell all your friends.

... A few minutes' pause while I indulge in a trawl through work done for my textile degree in which I explored my obsession - and looking back after several years I can acknowledge that it was an obsession - including a photograph of my husband's bare torso covered in Smarties. And no, I didn't eat them; they melted and he had to take a shower. However, that was more successful than when I covered my black cat in fluorescent stick-on spots: she fled through the cat flap into the house next door before I could take her photo. I may well post some other spot-related pictures at a later date. In the meantime, here's a photo from St Martin's, Isles of Scilly.

Visit my website at www.valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk
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Handmade textiles for stylish interiors, off the shelf or to commission

email: valerie@valeriehugginsquilts.co.uk; 020 7515 0701 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 020 7515 0701 FREE  end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 07518 885960