Festival of Quilts - photos

We had four very good days at Festival of Quilts. Visitors certainly liked a lot of the 'new' vintage fabrics.  The quilt on the front of the table is a vintage Japanese piece, in similar fabrics to those I sell, and for once I didn't take any of my own quilts. The big book launch this year was the 1718 coverlet book, sold on the Guild's sales stand - dozens of quilters brought them back to me for signing.  We couldn't have fitted the books AND the fabrics onto a 2m x 2m space.

This was the stand on setting up day -

 

Fully loaded up with fabrics!

 

 The main Guild stand was opposite the entrance, as usual.

10 a.m. on Thursday - visitors waiting for the show to open.

A glimpse of the 'Mosaic Patchwork' exhibition from the Quilt Museum.  I love the historical quilt exhibitions at Festival of Quilts.

 

The 'Unfini-sheds' Guild fundraiser stand run by Jan Allston for Region 2.  There were over seventy pieces made for this project and many were sold via the website before the show started.  I'll do a separate post about some of those I bought.  No idea how much this has raised for the Guild, but at £25 a piece, it should be quite impressive.  I suggested the idea to Jan when we were having a bit of a brainstorming session while shopping at Letham Crafts last year, and she has done an amazing job promoting them.  Her husband Keith also came up with a rather neat reusable framing system for display as well.

I had two Unfini-shed's in the pipeline, made from a couple of tote bag panels I made for 'The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook' but didn't use (there wasn't enough room for the patchwork instructions).  Both were unfinished when I set out for the show, but I got the first one completed on  Friday - this shows it on Thursday morning -

And here it is finished, with the happy new owner.  I gave her a bundle of sashiko threads, as my idea is that these little boromono-inspired pieces can be added to by their new owners.  The second one was bought by my friend Lorchen and she is going to add to it while travelling around Europe over the next few weeks - I'll post photos of progress as I get them.

There was a bit of a boromono theme going at the show this year.  I love this version of the zip over rucksack from my '21 Terrific Patchwork Bags' book - I think it is better than the original.  Glyn loved it too.

Among the quilts, I spotted a version of my 'Time and Again' pattern called 'Autumn Bounty' by Jane Whittles, in the Contemporary Quilt section.

I love the textured stitching and couched threads.

Here are some other quilts that I particularly liked this year.  First is 'Calabrian Courtyard' by Jo Coombes.  The irregular block shapes and sizes and the batik fabrics work so well together.

'The View From Here' by Karen Farmer was selected for the Art Quilt Masters category.

'Holkham Beach' by Cherry Vernon-Harcourt, from the same category.

'Mass!' by Jane Ayres, same category.

Linda Turner's 'Casting the Ironbridge', Contemporary Quilts.

Ann Johnston's exhibition, 'The Contact', was beautifully displayed, with a mixture of pieces shown as banners and wallhangings.

I've managed to totally burn out the label on this one - it was #817 - does anyone know the quilter?  It got 3rd prize but I can't remember the category - probably Contemporary Quilts.

Ethelda Ellis, 'Forest', Contemporary Quilts -

Liz Heywood's 'Southampton Strippy' got Highly Commended in Contemporary Quilts.

'Forest' by Barbara Bragg, Contemporary Quilts.  There seem to have been quite a few quilts inspired by forests/woodlands this year.

Abeer Al-Khammash was awarded a Judge's Choice by Verena Lenzlinger for 'Snowing', Pictorial Quilts.

'Best in Show' was awarded to Ruth Parker for "Eloquence and Integrity'.  It is a two sided piece and it was a shame I didn't see it before it was moved to the winner's section, because only one side could be seen there.

Mags Ramsay received a Judge's Choice award from Sandra Meech for her pictorial quilt "Weymouth Waves'.  I love the way Mags interprets seascapes in stitch.  She had another piece on show but I didn't manage to find it - we only had a little time each morning to look at the quilts and I know we didn't see everything.

Finally, I liked the idea of this piece very much - like a collection of slides! Kjersti Thoen's 'My Garden (box) of memories' was entered in the Guild's theme category.

 

There will be lots of other photos shown around on the internet I'm sure - already Fiona Garth has blogged quite a lot of pics - so have a search for 'Festival of Quilts 2014'.