WHEN Susi Bancroft’s mother became ill, an unfinished quilt from the 1970s provided them both with a meditative focus.

“My mother had over many years collected lots of bits of Liberty fabric to make a quilt for her bed,” she said.

“When she was ill, in those lasts six months, I promised her that I’d do it as a project for her bed.

“Because I was caring for her, I was always running around doing things. I thought it’d be nice to be just sitting, chatting, so she could look at what I was doing, so that’s how it started.

“She loved that the quilt had holes in it. She had some dementia and she used to look at the holes and say ‘that’s like my brain, look it’s got holes in it’.

“We carried on making the quilt and as she got worse she used to lie just looking at me. It was like she was almost stitching it with me by watching. It was lovely actually."

Susi's mum Pattie died in November 2010, and the family decided to wrap her basket woven coffin in the quilt.

“So it actually went with her, but I had a lot of pieces left, and that’s when I started on this body of work.

“The pieces I’ll be showing at Ruskin Mill are from the fragments made by piecing fabrics and papers with reflections on the grieving process. - Some are stitched to the original hexagons stitched by my mother, others are made from papers, wrapped wire, using stitch, dyes, wax.

“It’s quite a personal piece, but I think it’s sometimes good to share personal pieces, and I’m very happy to talk about it.

"I think that’s also a way of doing art - to be able to talk to people about these big things that happen in life.”

Susi is exhibiting with the Brunel Broderers, , a group of textile artists from the southwest, in Curiously Enough at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth, from Saturday until June 14.