Karen McGregor

Textile Artist and Ecologist

I love nature and textiles…

I began free-motion machine embroidery in 2015 and since then have been developing my unique style of representing predominantly Australian flora and fauna in a range of different textile techniques. I use a mix of paint, threads, fabric, fibre and water-soluble fabric to create dimensional textile artworks that use colour and texture to realistically depict plants and animals.  I studied and worked as an ecologist for 12 years, and I regularly use this scientific knowledge to inform and enhance my artworks.

My textile art has received national and international awards and has been exhibited around Australia and in the USA.

Recent news!

I won the Viewer’s Choice prize for my quilt ‘A Feast of Nectar’ as part of the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) Challenge - ‘In Full Bloom’. What an honour!

Artist Statement: When Ironbark trees are in full bloom, they attract many different animals. Nectar and pollen from the flowers are vital food for lots of Australian birds and bugs. These Eucalypts have striking colours with stunningly bright pink flowers, deep reddish-brown furrowed bark and beautiful teal-green leaves. The flowers host a hive of activity with cheeky Rainbow Lorikeets hanging in seemingly impossible positions, as well as delicately beautiful Imperial Jezebel Butterflies. See if you can find the Noble Eucalyptus Leaf Beetle (golden), Hoverfly, Leaf Katydid (like a grasshopper), Cup-moth Caterpillar, Emerald Moth and Eucalyptus Tip Bug (blue).

Teaching and Guest speaking

I enjoy sharing my passions with others so if you are interested in learning from me about my textile art, quilting and/or thread-painting techniques, please look at my available classes and guest speaking pages and get in contact!

See my art

If you are interested in seeing more of my work, see the gallery page for detailed photos.

You can check out my most recent posts from Instagram below:

Happy Wrensday everyone! (So apparently Wrensday is a thing in the bird nerd world, I love it!) 💙 🪶🐣Here are my first Blue Wren artworks, I had completely forgotten about them but my dad reminded me. As a young child I made my mum a female, my da
Making some progress on this ginormous bill! 🦖🦕🪶 🧵🎨😁 Reference photo: Rob Drummond #animalartist #wildlifeart #wildlifeartist #natureart #natureartist #textilewildifeart #threadart #threadartist #textileart #threadartist #fmq #embroideryart #
Did you know that Cassowary’s are the closest living example we have of a feathered dinosaur? 🦖🦕🪶 I didn’t! Makes them even more awesome! 🤓 Now I’m basically🧵🎨 thread-painting a dinosaur! 😜 Reference photo: Rob Drummond #a
Yes! It is a Cassowary, well guessed by many 👍. More specifically it is a Southern Cassowary which is one of three living species of Cassowary (and the only one to live in Australia). The other two species, the Dwarf and Northern as well as the So
My next big project, can anyone tell who I’m sewing? I’ll give you a clue: It’s an Aussie bird 😜. This one is going to take a while, I’ve already used 11 thread colours 😱 🧵🎨🪶 #animalartist #wildlifeart #wildlifeartist
I'm back! I've had a couple of weeks rest and now I'm ready to get back into it all! 🧵🎨 Starting with a Mother's Day Market next weekend, organised by Rebecca Wolske - Textile Artist 😀 🗺Where: 6 Forest Park Road, Upwey ⏰Day/time: Saturday 13th M
Hi all you amazing supportive people, I’m taking a well deserved and much needed holiday and heath break! I’ll be signing out of social media and my emails until I am healthy enough to purse this passion and career in a sustainable way.
The best thing about the show was the people I met. I know that’s a bit cliche but I consider myself a serious introvert so it’s the first time I’ve said that! 😜 I was absolutely thrilled that @2sewtextiles and @alisoncharlton_tex
I didn’t think I could be any happier and then this happened! Viewers Choice for my quilt “A Feast of Nectar” at the Australasian Quilt Convention. I was a little overwhelmed and may have started crying (like I said, so much happine
Another amazing day, I had so many great chats with people, learnt so much and have lots to look forward to! To everyone who has come and said hi, thank you! I’m more inspired and excited than ever ☺️🥰😁 Thank you @electric_needle_girls for
Wowie!! I’m so stoked!! What an amazing second day as Guest Artist at the Australasian Quilt Convention, I met so many more lovely people and caught up with old friends as well as getting to use three of my red dot stickers for the first time!
What a fantastic day! At the #australasianquiltconvention2023 I met so many familiar faces and a whole lot of lovely new ones! Thank you to everyone who stopped by, it was so enjoyable talking about sewing 🧵and birds 🦉and sewing birds 🧵🦉with ev
And just like that my artwork is all hanging and my stand is organised for the start of the Australasian Quilt Convention #aqc tomorrow! Huge thanks to my dad who helped me set up (and took this pic 😁) I hope to see some of you there over the nex
Here we go with the last bird I’m trying to get finished for the exhibition! I’ve packed just about everything else so it’s time to get this Kookaburra sewn! Reference photo: Leanne Bakker #animalartist #wildlifeart #wildlifearti