During my HND qualification one of the given themes was based in the location of college - Derry/Londonderry! (Yes where Derry Girls is based/filmed!)

With this theme I wanted to add some sort of animal accent, instead of focusing on the long history of Derry. I looked into the city animals that are often overlooked or often abused in the city life.

Animals featured:

Hedgehogs: These prickly creatures often get stuck in gardens by the fences, so people have created a hedgehog highway. This is a wee gap in the fence to allow the hedgehog to potter along at night.

Also featured is a fox, badger and mouse who find food their in bins and litter

Along with Derry’s most seen animal the faithful pigeon! I always see these gorgeous and understated birds on my walk to class, so I felt I ought to include them! I often see them injured and attacked by people, which is so wrong especially since pigeons helped carry important letters during the war which contributed to winning.

The final animal is the red and grey squirrel who are seen hopping along the fence. Grey squirrels carry diseases which kill red squirrels and causes them to be endangered.

The whole piece is made from an old duvet cover where I dyed (procion) all the fabric to the appropriate colours needed, I then patchworked the background and appliqued animals over the top.

The piece is finished with some hand embroidery and sparkly accents for an extra element of interest.
The making took around 200 hours and most of my Christmas holidays!