And yet more Hyper

Actually I am beginning to calm down but I have had an amazing day full of special treats and surprises spent among friendly people and wonderful artwork.

We had a good coach drive to the NEC at Birmingham and were inside the Festival of Quilts by not long after 11. When you first walk in you feel assailed by colour and creativity on all sides. It's a bit like the rabbit in the headlights, you don't know which way to go. Our first decision (my friend Lynne came with me) was to head to a cafe, commandeer a table and peruse the brochure over a cup of tea to make a plan of action. Actually there was so much info about stallholders etc that we didn't get very far with the plan.

The first great pleasure of the day was to meet up with Gina. (Thank God for mobile phones and the magic of text!) I have only known Gina through her blog previously so it was an absolute pleasure to meet this talented lady in person. We had a rare old time having a chat before going our separate ways to soak up the festival. Great to meet you, Gina!

I have to admit that the selling stands were extremely busy and I only got round a small portion. My shopping list got ignored and I bought several pieces of material that I didn't know I needed but which I will enjoy even if I don't yet know what I'll do with them! I didn't realise till I got home that the lovely ladies from Double Irish Quilts had put a teddy bear square of fabric and some sweeties in with my fabrics. Thank you ladies!

I bought the seaside themed fabric from DIQ and the aboriginal inspired cloth from Aussie Dreams aren't the colours wonderful?

My DH is going to kill me..........I've bought another magazine subscription! I succumbed to Quilting Arts but then, they did give me a complimentary canvas bag to carry the current issue away in! Bargain!

Surprise of the day number 2 came when we were resting our weary limbs having cuppa number 2 and some lunch. My former art teacher from home went past our table and would have carried on if I hadn't finally managed to choke out her name - why does your brain always desert you just when it's needed? Ooh! I forgot to say (case in point lol) I caught sight of Maggie Grey obviously enjoying herself and surrounded by plenty of people. I had a quick word just to say a blogger Hi.

After lunch Lynne and I decided that we really should have a look at some of the quilts as time was flowing away. These small quilts were from all over Europe (I think - poor memory again).

I particularly liked some in this group which coincidentally were from the UK - no bias honestly. I really like the subtle landscape style quilt in the middle.

An artist called Jo Budd had an exhibition of large textiles which you can see in the background of this photo:

Her work is beautiful. I think work spanning different periods were on display here. The piece you can see here looked like very fine materials which had been dyed and had been stitched by hand to provide surface texture. The edges of the fabrics were frayed where they overlapped. I thought her work was inspirational with great textures and I will be looking into her work some more.

Oh yes. I nearly forgot. Kaffe Faassett was there too - quietly knitting away. I have never seen his work before. The pieces on display seemed all to have been sewn by hand. I wonder if he ever sleeps? My photos of his quilts all seem to be blurred so I don't have anything to post - he'd probably be after me for copyright anyway!

Our time at the FOQ ended all too quickly - you could spend at least 2 days there without any trouble. Hmmmmm. Shall I nip back on Sunday??? Maybe not.

When I got home I found 2 more surprises waiting for me. The first, which I will blog about tomorrow, was a very generous parcel from Gina which she had already posted to me yesterday. I have already thanked her privately but Thank you again Gina. You are much too kind!

The second surprise was a present from National Savings and Investments! My premium bond had come up and I've won £50! I don't feel so guilty about spending now!