Festival of Quilts

Despite the fact that our household has been completely consumed by our production of 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' I couldn't miss out on the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham! I went with my friend Pauline, who had never been to the FOQ before, and was suitably impressed. Our first task on arrival was to find the German quilter Regina Grewe as she had contacted me about the old hexagon top I had finished. She was doing a workshop on English Paper Piecing with a Twist and wanted a good photo of the quilt to display. I went one better than than that, and took the quilt for her class to examine, along with some of the papers. She had sent a photo to help with identification, and she was easy to spot ot the Quilter's Guild stand by the entrance.
She is a lovely lady, and was delighted to see the old quilt, and the papers. I popped up to collect the quilt while her class was busy sewing, and the technique is intriguing. I wanted to buy a pattern from her, but she gave me one as a 'thank you present'. Quite unnecessary, but much appreciated! Thank you so much. When I get a sewing evening, I'll look forward to trying this technique.

Pauline and I spent most of our time looking at the traditional quilts (and shopping) so most of the photos represent this bias. This one is very traditional, but appealed to me, as it's a sampler quilt of stars. Looking good.

This one is a stunning choice of colours, and techniques range from log cabin to applique. Sumptuous.Not everyone agrees with the judges about the winners, but I loved this quilt. It's beautifully designed and constructed.This was a double whammy for me. I love strippies and I love writing. At first glance this one just looks like a strippy, but a clser investigation reveals that the strips are covered with writing. The quilt celerates a gap year adventure, and the writing is taken from emails received by an anxious family.

I wish my handwriting was as neat as this, never mind my free motion quilting!

Here is another strippy with applique in the plain strips.

I was intrigued by this charming alphabet quilt, as I couldn't work out what there was in the seaside scene which began with 'rh' (or why you would put 'rh' on an alphabet quilt at all! Then I looked in the show guide and found it was a Welsh alphabet quilt. What a super idea, and very intriguing.

This fabulous scrap quilt looks stunning from a distance. (Sorry, but we felt the border didn't enhance the quilt as much as one in a plainer fabric would have done. Isn't it easy to 'improve' other people's quilts?)

A beautiful quilt with a simple pattern which relies on colour for its impact.Here is part of the Bayeaux Tapestry beautifully rendered in applique. Unfortunately there was no entry in the show guide, as I wanted to know something about it.This quilt was inspired by a visit to the Foundling Museum in London, and seeing the tokens people left with their babies, in the hope of identifying and recovering them in the future. Some of the inscrptions were heart-rending.This art quilt was especially striking when viewed from a distance.Then we did some shopping, and as I asked if I could reach past someone to get a bolt of red fabric, said person enquired, 'Is your name Lynda Hill?' and it was Loulee who had flown over from the Isle of Man! I had been more focused on the fabric (which turned out to be the perfect colour) than meeting blogfriends! It was great to see her in the flesh! After the shopping and lunch we marvelled over the tentmakers of Cairo and their work. Here you can see some of their fantastic work and a craftsman just visible in the checked shirt. Their work is exquisite, and their designs amazing.Then to the Fabric Creations, which had some wierd and wonderful exhibits. These cakes were particularly eye-catching!And to end as I began, with hexagons. This pictorial quilt is made entirely from black, white and grey hexagons. Wow! Despite all the time we spent shopping, I was very good, and only bought what I needed. Red fabric for a bag lining, blue batik for sashing my leaders and enders, blue reproductions for 'Dear Jane' and some nice threads. A lovely day in lovely company. Thank you Pauline, Regina and Loulee - you made my day!