Quiltfest - workshops and Trading Day roundup

Ferret's wholecloth class was on Saturday in Gresford - she's written it up on her blog here, with some photos of quilters' work. It was fascinating to see how these small pieces progressed over the course of the day and I think she has given people a lot of confidence in playing around with quilting, both freehand and with the walking foot. It will be interesting to see some of these panels finished.

Today's class (photo at top) was run by Ario in Llangollen and focused on using various techniques to produce a piece of fabric inspired by memories. They use a lot of techniques that have crossed over from other crafts like scrapbooking and printmaking, building up pattern, colour and texture on fabric which can then be used for all kinds of special projects. Everyone had a lot of fun with making printing blocks and decorating fabric in many ways, including using the computer printer/scanner to work over previously hand printed materials.

So although one workshop was for machine quilting and the other looked at ways of creating special fabrics, both gave people a lot of freedom to play and discover something new. We will be planning next year's Quiltfest workshops very soon!

Trading Day on Sunday went down well, with several hundred visitors. Sorry, I don't have photos - I seemed to be so busy on the day, it wasn't until the end of the afternoon that I remembered the camera! If anyone who attended trading day has any pics, could you let me have copies please? I have photos of the gallery quilts of course - it's things like the main trading hall and the longarm machine in the foyer I don't have.

Yale College and The Cotton Patch joined forces and brought a longearm machine for quilters to try. The college has the same machine and is currently looking for an artist in residence to use the machine to develop their own work. It will be an unpaid post but could be a great opportunity for the right person.

We will be continuing with the tradition of Trading Day, so next year it looks like it will be on Sunday February 10th, probably with the Quiltfest exhibition running for a week on either side at the Pavilion and for a little longer at the Museum.