Trudi Griffin is dedicated to her quilting and is a first-time resident at the Artist Colony of Moose Mountain Provincial Park.
Griffin was born and raised in Saskatchewan and began sewing at a youthful age with Barbie clothes that she stitched by hand. This progressed into quilting.
She comes from a family of seamstresses. Griffin’s grandmother, mother and aunt all enjoy the art of sewing.
Griffin received her teacher’s degree in Saskatoon and taught in B.C. for 12 years. Material was readily available, as Vancouver has an abundance of material shops. Her passion for quilting grew deeper.
She also had the opportunity to teach overseas. While teaching in Egypt, South Korea and Mongolia, she had material shipped in or purchased from the local markets. A sewing machine was needed, so she purchased a Chinese unit that had Korean instructions in pictograms.
Although she does not make large quilts, she makes an array of different runners, wall hangings, pillows and bags, while using a large variety of colour.
Griffin enjoys working with colour, and often dyes her own material to get the perfect outcome.
She uses stencils, colour marks and embroidery for added touches to her designs.
One method of dying material that Griffins uses is hand-dying with snow. It does not get anymore Canadian than that.
Once the fabric has been prepared, it is manipulated and arranged on a screen. Powdered dye is then sprinkled over the fabric, and snow is packed on top at a depth of three to four inches.
When the snow has melted, the fabric is rinsed, washed, dried and pressed. It becomes a beautiful piece of colour that is completely original.
Griffin is enjoying her time at the colony. She has set up shop there for the time being, creating more of her quilted pieces and greeting the visitors that come to her cabin.
