A bit later than planned but here is a visual round-up of my day out to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC last week.
I had a fabulous time but there is so much to see (buy & do too!) that by the end of the day my Mum & I hadn't seen everything but we were exhausted! I can see why people make a trip out of it and stay for a few days.
There was a huge array of quilt entries this year, lots of art /contemporary quilts which weren't all to my taste, I generally liked the traditional pieced quilts and getting to see them up close and appreciate the skill, time and patience they must take to complete, makes me very envious.
553: Snowflakes Four
Patricia Boult
Hand pieced & quilted
573: Wholecloth One
Robyn Fahy
Trapunto & hand machine quilted
555: Blue & White
Joyce Dorsett
Machine pieced & quilted
558: For Tom
Jannat Messenger
Hand stitched
559:Square Deal Variation
Birgitta Debenham
Machine pieced & quilted
586: Log Cabin Flowers
Liz Cornish
Hand sewn, machine applique & quilting
580: Snow Plum Quilt
Yukiko Ayres
Hand stitched wedding ring design
105: Heartache & Hope
Jackie Smith
Inspired by a visit to a Foundling Museum
270: No Info in the show guide!
It was a very striking piece of Green Day front man Billle Joe Armstrong
143: Polonaise
Ruth Singer
Hand stitched
145: The Fragility of Friendship
Linda Barlow
Applique, embroidery & quilted
161: Stash Findings
Jenny Hubbard
Applique, embellishments
238: Spoon Fed Love
Maria Thomas
Recycled fabric and paper, quilting, patchwork & applique
233: Spring
Chloe Redfern
Hand stitched felt
304: Double Delight
Pauline Kloof
Hand knitted quilt top
435: Yesterday
Annedore Neumann
Machine pieced & quilted
411: Samplers
Kate Crossley
Machine embroidered, hand & machine quilted
452: Turbulance
Jane Appelbee
Machine stitching, beading, hand dyed
327: Becky's Dresses
Rosalind Gregory
Hand smocked dresses, hand appliqued & quilted
629: Everyone's a Star
Ouse Valley Quilters (11 members)
Machine pieced & quilted using Liberty Tana Lawn
603: Sybil Liberties
Alington Quilters (25 members)
Paper pieced, hand quilted, Liberty fabric
606: Val's Legacy
Val's Friends (10 members)
Machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand embroidered. Machine & hand quilted.
605: Townlands of the Glendarragh Valley
Ederney Quilters (3 members)
Pieced & free machined. Professional lettering & quilting.
662: Hexagons & Stars
Lucie Summers & Jenny Spencer
Screen printed fabrics with reverse applique. Freehand machine quilting.
Miniature Quilts
845: Blue like a Wedgewood
Kumiko Frydl
Trapunto, freemotion quilting
869: Seaside
Julia Gahagan
Pieced background with shadow applique & machine quilting
843: Journey
Nina Davis
Hand printed fabric, hand & machine stitched
Apologies for the patchy photography, the lighting varied from tungsten to fluorescent, glaring to dismal, so it was hard for me to keep up!
If you've never been before I would highly recommend it, even if you're not a quilter you'll appreciate the craftiness and then there's the shopping!
Next years dates are: 16-19th August 2012
I haven't had chance to photograph my purchases, I WAS restrained, I find it best to go with a wish-list of things you need (!) and a budget! The array of fabric on sale is truly mouth-watering though, I was severely tempted by the Liberty FQ's & kits - maybe next year!
I'll try and remedy this with pics shortly.
