In my HND qualification, we were given a theme of  “Wellbeing”. So with this, I started researching how animals help our wellbeing (animal therapy) and in particular donkeys. I have such a soft spot for donkeys, so I was really excited to research more about them and make a piece inspired by this underappreciated animal.

 Donkeys are very intelligent and sympathetic creatures that are often overlooked for being stubborn and sad looking (which is all misinformation!). Donkeys, like horses have a 'flight or fight' instinct, since donkeys typically lived in the dessert where resources are scarce, to conserve energy they stay, and assess the danger first before wasting energy running away. (considered stubborn!) Whereas horses instantly have the flight instinct before even assessing the situation, which potentially wastes resources!

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So I created a quilted wall hanging to show some appreciation to donkeys!

I went around every charity shop I could find to gather a selection of fabric, I was very lucky and found a king sized duvet cover with a patchwork print for a fiver. The fabric had a selection of different florals which makes it look like I used lots of different fabrics, but its all from the one duvet cover and the colours all match beautifully!

My main source of inspiration was a book by Elizabeth D Svendsen called “Donkey Years” She founded the UK's most popular donkey sanctuary called 'The Donkey Sanctuary" I used this book for research and images of donkeys for my quilt, as well visiting some donkey sanctuary around me- The Donkey Sanctuary in Belfast and The Donegal Donkey Sanctuary- where I sourced my primary imagery (was a great excuse to go out and see some donkeys!)

I looked at different angles and personality traits of donkeys and stitched them onto fabric using applique and hand stitched elements. I used bright happy colours to counteract the negative annotations that donkeys get eg Eeyore. 

All the donkey panels were patchworked together then quilted- which was my first time quilting so I was super scared I would ruin it!
The entire piece took around 350+ hours and it’s about 6 meters long! It was a lot of work but its actually one of my favourite thing I’ve made- just due to my love of donkeys and the gorgeous pinks used which is a different colour palette from what I usually use!