Monday 10 August 2015

Festival of Quilts

Last week I spent 3 busy days in Birmingham at the Festival of Quilts.  As ever it was a really enjoyable time spent walking miles (exhausting!), meeting lots of friends from far and near (lovely) and viewing all the beautiful quilts and artwork on show (inspiring and tiring).  Unsurprisingly there was some shopping too.

So what did I see?  Lots of photos following.

 My very dear friend Carolyn Saxby's beautiful work, "Watching The Dark Sky".  Carolyn will be blogging about this quilt soon.  It was lovely to meet up with Carolyn and Margaret Garrood who had travelled up to the Show from Cornwall.

 Annabel Rainbow was on her Through Our Hands stand painting her latest quilt during the Show.  It was interesting to stand for a while and watch her process.




These beautiful and enigmatic portraits of her mother were also part of the Through Our Hands display and are so poignant.  These were only two of a much larger collection.  If you click on the detail you will be able to see that they are made with wool sewn onto net/tulle.


This is Susan Lenz's Wall of Keys and it took her 9 hours to assemble on site.  She brought it across from America in two suitcases.  She gave a very enjoyable and thought provoking lecture on how a series of work might develop with regular references to The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  If nothing else it made me realise how many ideas for potential work pass in and out of my head while I'm working without ever being captured. 
 


I was on the lookout for different ways to display your work and this nifty sletchbook hanging caught my eye.


There was a huge amount of work in this beautiful piece by Lin Crompton called Shallow Waters.  The individual pieces were all hand cut (I was told) and I love the flow of colour throughout.  The quilt had been juried into the Fine Art Quilt Masters section.


 I loved this piece by Australian quilter Cathy Jack Coupland entitled "Australia My Way".

 Another Fine Art Quilt Master "Sharon & Co" by Ann Smith.


My Facebook and blogging friend Amo House made this wonderful quilt called "Dragons Ho" and won her a Highly Commended!  Well done Amo on your first outing at Festival!


These wonderful creatures are by Vladimir Telnykh who had his own gallery.  Some of the works, like the fish, were mounted on wood.


I love this fabulous Fish Monster by Daisy May Collingridge.  "This is the fish monster that wished for legs and walked himself out of the water evolution complete".  You can see more Quilt Creations behind him.



Mavis Walker made this wonderful Chess Set and it won her First Prize in Quilt Creations.  It was almost impossible to photograph it for all the people admiring it.


As my mum remarked this morning when I described it to her, you need to see it in real life to appreciate this superb coat by Marijke Van Welzen, who you can find on Facebook.



Equally popular was this winning quilt in the Pictorial Category.  It is by Claudia Pfeil and is called Turtle Bay.  The photos don't show up the crystals that cover it and give it flecks of light.

Don't give up, we're nearly through it all.

 Another blogging friend, Frauke Schramm, entered this quilt titled "Passion Always Wins" into the guild Challenge category.  

Finally a little shopping including an apron I bought from Alison Hulme.



Yes, I could have made myself an apron but I liked the screen printing on this one and you have to support fellow artists, don't you?


Well done if you've got this far.  I think you deserve a drop of your favourite tipple.  I did take even more photos but I'll spare you them.  



PS Here's mine on display

That's yer lot!

10 comments:

Linda B. said...

It was good to see you albeit briefly at FoQ.
I should have known that this quilt was yours, every time I passed the aisle it was on I promised myself a closer look ... because the colours reminded me of St. Ives. Sadly I didn't get back to it so thanks for posting here.

Unknown said...

I was hoping you'd share photos of the festival! I haven't been to one in years. :((
thanks so much for doing this!
xo

Amanda said...

Great photos! I love the chess set. Thank you so much for photographing my quilt, still in shock it got a HC. I will make it there one year, I will have to pick your brain about the best way of doing it!!

Heather said...

Fabulous post Julie and I love your quilt. Don't know how you managed three days taking all that in but it was worthwhile. Wonderful quilts as usual - the new ideas keep coming year after year. I particularly like the chess men and that amazing coat, and your shopping looks very interesting. Hope you aren't paying too dearly for your visit. No pun intended there!

Art2wear said...

Thank you for sharing my coat here. You can also find me on Facebook or my blog www.artwearblog.blogspot.com

Wendy said...

I don't know how you survived three days, two wore me out :) Admiring your shopping, you didn't own up to all that when I saw you...Your quilt looks great, pity it wasn't hung in a nice spot but we will get to see it again soon x

Emma said...

You look great in your new pinny! Thanks for sharing all this, great to see peoples different interpretations - so many fabulous quilts & 3D oh & that coat!! £ days is a great way t do it, a reasonable amount each day.

quilthexle said...

Thanks for taking us along on your visit - wish I could have seen my quilt there myself ;-)) Thanks for posting a pic of it !!

Take care, Frauke

Anonymous said...

Spectacular work. And you look fabulous in that apron. xox

Anonymous said...

I really must get to the NEC sooner rather than later. Your tour is just so tempting. Love the Cornish colours on your quilt - makes me long to be back there!