Festival of Quilts - winding up

I've been meaning to finish off my review of the Festival of Quilts for days now but somehow it keeps getting put on the back burner.  So, tonight's the night!

I have long been interested in the work of Dijanne Cevaal, especially her Traveller's Blankets and it was wonderful to be able to get close up and view the stitching.  

This piece was part of the Beneath The Southern Sky exhibition, a travelling exhibition of 30 works curated by Brenda Gael Smith.

The second piece below was part of the Through Our Hands exhibition curated by Annabel Rainbow and Laura Kemshall which I have mentioned previously.

 

The colour change across the silk surface is beautiful but it is the stitchwork that brings it to life.  The piece is entitled 'Reef'.

A fellow Contemporary Quilter, Mags Ramsey, made this piece in response to the Guild's 'Transported' challenge.  It is titled 'Shinkansen' and is based on photos taken at speed from Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Yamagata.  The fabrics used include vintage kimono and silk organza scarf and the detail photo shows (I hope) how the surface has been twin-needle quilted to enhance the effect and impression of speed.

  

Just next to Mags' quilt was the work of Terry Donaldson, also in the Transported challenge.  My photo below is of just a section.

I love the marks across the surface of this quilt and especially the great swooshing arc across it.  When I read the description I understood why I had been attracted to it.  The title is 'Full Circle' and is inspired by the south west coast of the UK.  Terry has blogged about her quilt here.  

A quilt creation that I failed to show previously was this Layers Triptych by Sam Brundish, "layers of fabric trapping secrets of the past,  inspired by peeling wallpaper, frayed vintage quilts hand-written notes and threadbare textiles".  

 I continue to be interested by layers and sheer fabrics so found this quilt particularly interesting.

No account of a trip to a Quilt Show would be complete without admissions of shopping and I am not going to disappoint!

I couldn't resist buying some fabulous buttons from Textile Garden.  This lady's buttons are sourced all over Europe and are very different from the usual run of the mill buttons you see so often.  That cricket/grasshopper is destined for a jeans bag I am in the middle of making.  Seeing it in this photo just reminded me that I'd got it.  Next thing is to find it!

I succumbed to two books, Alice Fox's account of her Spurn Point residency which she had shared with us in an inspiring lecture, and Hilary Beattie's first publication.  Hilary's book is just like her, vital and brimming over with ideas and information.  Opening it is like having Hilary chatting at your elbow.

I think I may have said I helped out on the Bookwraps Tombola run in aid of the Quilter's Guild and Quilt Museum.  After my stint I was lucky enough to win 3 wraps one of which was made by Sabi Westoby, whose work I have admired for some time, and another by Chantal Guillemet. I don't know the maker of the third bookwrap which was very pretty but I've passed it on to my friend to spread my luck around.  The tombola raised an amazing £7808! Thank you if you made a bookwrap or bought tickets.

 

 Finally, I couldn't resist these fabulous hand-dyes from Farne Designs in Cornwall.  My excuse was that I needed fabrics for the workshop I was doing with Linda Beach but in the end we didn't get any further than sketches so the fabric came home intact.  I've been a good girl though, I sent some to my friend along with the bookwrap and some buttons.  My halo's slipping!

Well, I think that about wraps up Festival of Quilts till next year.  Next time, cruise continues to Norway!  If you're in the UK I hope you've enjoyed the long holiday weekend.

Festival of Quilts 3 - The Exhibition Stands

You will have probably seen some of the exhibition stands on other blogs and probably with better and more detailed images than I have but I will share the things that stood out for me.  

For the first time this year there was a gallery dedicated to Art Quilt Masters.  

Dorothy Caldwell entered this large piece entitled 'How do we know when it's night?'  It's surface is wonderfully marked and has the addition of areas of fabric and stitch.  The little flashes of colour move the eye around the fabric.

Also in the Art Quilt Masters was this very moving piece below by Christine Chester

The title of this piece is Portraits of a Memory.  On closer inspection you slowly realise that the memory of the man is disintegrating, fading away.  I found it a very powerful piece, made more so that its message is brought home gradually.

SAQA introduced its new exhibition Metaphors on Ageing at the Festival.

Maggie Vanderweit is pictured with her triptych.
 

 Susan Lenz, who I have met previously, made Lift and Tuck shown above.  You can read about it here.  Susan and I met up for a coffee and had a very pleasant hour chatting.

 Meredith R Grimsley made Knit Together In That Secret Place shown above and below.  

Nina Lise Moen who has a blog, featured in the the 25th Anniversary exhibition from Norway.  

Nina Lise also entered an individual quilt which gained her a Highly Commended award.

Mandy Pattulo works in Northumberland with very old and often disintegrating quilts and clothing which she unpicks and reconstructs into new textile collages.   I was entranced by her work and savoured the link with the Banjara textiles mentioned previously.

I was delighted to see Annabel Rainbow at the Show and to get up close to her wonderful series of quilts which form part of the Through Our Hands exhibition which she is curating with Laura Kemshall. 

Annabel had brought part of her studio with her together with parts of Laura's.  I can do no more than direct you to Annabel's and to Laura's blogs for more and better pictures of the quilts.  You may need to scroll down through more than one post. 

I particularly liked work by Esther Bornemisza which created interesting shadows as it hung,

I am fascinated by textiles that allow you to see through them in a partial way or which are changed/affected by light passing through.

One other piece of work that allowed shadows to fall behind it was Red Stones 2 by Dianne Firth:

 Hopefully I have linked to the correct artist. 

That's all for today.  I've almost finished but I'll be back with one more post about Festival before I return to our recent cruise.  Then maybe I'll get back to my own creative efforts which have been put on the back burner just lately.
 

Festival of Quilts 2 - The Young Ones

I was a bit disappointed this year to see that the Young Quilters' and Young Embroiderers' quilts were being displayed in the far corner of Hall 9 instead of alongside the main quilt displays.  I think the idea was probably to site the quilts next to the Childrens Workshop area but they were in danger of being missed.  Happily I ventured across and was delighted by the imaginative work I saw.

Clodagh Leavy from Meath in Ireland made Happy Hot Air Balloons High in the Sky as part of the Transport theme.  I love the little houses and I love the idea of happy balloons.  (Age 9-11 category).

Another quilt from Ireland in the 9-11 age group, Travel In Style by Dora Wynne-Morgan won third prize.

The children of Mother of Fair Love Special School in Kilkenny Ireland made this prizewinning quilt with its cradle to the grave journey.  

This joyful quilt was made in my region by Rufford Primary School and is described as 'A mix of everything we can do.  Embroidery, embellishing, printing, weaving, photography......a riot of techniques, colour and materials.  We (had) fun creating it!'

Another joyful quilt with every form of transport imaginable.  (Sorry, I don't know who made it).

This wonderful shirt and the group below were inspired by Gaudi and a visit to Barcelona where the pupils of The Chase, Malvern heard how Gaudi was knocked down and killed by a tram.  Gaudi's philosophy was 'Waste nothing' and the children used recycled shirts and scrap fabrics for thier work based on the mosaics in Parc Guell.

I love the vitality and fun in all these young people's quilts.  I don't know what the young people thought about the location of their work but I for one hope they are placed in a more obvious spot next year.

Festival of Quilts

It was a week earlier than last year but last week saw me heading off to Birmingham for the annual beanfeast that is the Festival of Quilts!  This amazing mecca for all things quilty and textiley provides a great focus for all manner of ladies and sometimes gentlemen and, despite a change of promoter, excelled itself again.  You will probably have seen some reports on line already and I would recommend you to look at Maggi Birchenough's blog and Lis Harwood's blog for their view and favoured pieces. (Maggi has a particularly good report on the Horizons exhibition).

I took over 250 photos so I won't put them all up but will give you a flavour of the things that caught my eye.

As ever, there was a keen sense of expectation and excitement as people queued to get in.  I had bought a so-called VIP ticket which meant that I didn't have to queue (that was its main benefit in my experience).

I did of course make a bee-line to see my own quilt which was in good company hanging next to Bailey Curtis's Cornish Memories a&b based on a residency in Cornwall and visits to standing stones and Newlyn.

 

 Hilary Gooding, a fellow Contemporary Quilter, was awarded a Highly Commended for her piece 'Straplines' which featured many familiar sayings.

This quilt by Kathy Unwin titled 'Shieling' appealed to me both for it's colours and for the surface texture achieved by the added fabrics and stitch.

Inspired by music, Allegro Ma Non Troppo by Merce Gonzalez Desedamas.

Hilary Beattie's On The Edge which started as a seascape but evolved into an expression of Hilary's feelings about security, stability and safety.  It won her a Judges' Choice Highly Commended award.

Hilary worked like a dervish on her stand demonstrating her creative skills and promoting her new book.

My lovely friend Sandra Wyman and her beautiful Dragonfly which earned her some excellent comments from the judges.

This double faced offering by Spanish quilters won the Group Quilt category.  It was inspired by the changing electronic street publicity banners that are so much part of our cities.

This amazing, broken surface is part of a quilt in the Banjara Historic Indian Textile collection on display in one of the 'white' exhibition spaces.  All the textiles on display had had long and hard previous lives and bore the evidence of their use. This particular surface made me think of the natural lines on the beach when the tide has gone out.  Thoughts of trying to achieve a similar surface by exposing fabric to the elements are buzzing in my head.

Another piece by a friend, this is Bowled Over by Wendy who blogs as Emmelines Place.  I watched parts of this flower bowl being made and I think it's beautiful.

This is Uta Lenk's Quilt Creation 'Euro Blues' which contains the word, blue, in about 25 languages and the single block log cabin folded symbolises the House of Europe visible from different angles.

  This fabulous Quilted Corracle by Linzi Upton won the Quilt Creations category.

OK.  Enough for one post.  I'll leave you with this very colourful lady I spied in the aisles:

More soon!