Quiltfest VIII is open

Quiltfest VIII opened today, as February 1st coincided with the monthly Sunday antiques fair at the pavilion. We had a lot of visitors for the first day and a little celebration at 12 o'clock.

Quiltfest's format is probably unique. Val Shields (right) had the idea for a quilt show in an art gallery and it is now in its eighth year, with many visitors returning year after year to see yet another stunning collection of quilts, hand picked from the best. Not only is it about quilts displayed as art in a gallery setting but we also have daily craft demonstrations every day that the exhibition is open. So whichever day you decide to visit, there is always a live demo to see or a new technique to learn.

Today's demonstrators included Debbie Gordon of Wrexham Quilting Circle, who was working on a kaleidoscope design in patchwork -

Dilys Fronks, author of several books on specialist applique techiniques and known internationally for her "garden gate" quilts (among other things) showed a machine applique technique.
The "Yamagata" quilts by Peaceful Heart Quilt Group are displayed as a group in one quarter of the gallery - there are more picture of their recent work on Reiko Domon's website (a slideshow should start when you click the link, showing the exhibition at the Yurari in September 2009 - hopefully the link should take you to an automatically translated version of the site too).

I'll be there on Tuesday demonstrating sashiko, along with Barbara Howell who will no doubt be making something adventurous and highly tactile by machine - I always look forward to seeing what she is doing next.