Seven for a Secret explores the theme of the large black birds seen in the Staffordshire/Shropshire border country where I live. Whether calling raucously from treetop rookeries, tearing at roadside casualties, or hanging dead from a farmer's gibbet as a warning to others of their kind, their beauty fascinates me.

I wanted to capture that moment when a sudden sound or movement startles them into flight. They take off, all noise, ragged feathers, blue, black and sinister.

Hand dyed linen with spray dyed cotton fabrics. There is piecing, appliqué, drawing with dimensional paint and fabric crayons, acrylic painting, free machine quilting and hand stitched embellishments.

This quilt was selected for Quilt 99 as part of the Knitting and Stitching Show which toured to London, Dublin and Harrogate.