A new (to me) Exhibition

Yesterday Wendy took Tina and I across to Uttoxeter to the British Quilt & Stitch Village which is a show organised by Traplet publications.  I hadn't been before so was interested to see what it was all about.  The show is housed in various buildings at Uttoxeter racecourse and we were lucky that it was a dry day so we only got blown from venue to venue and not rained on. 

I think these two were smiling because they'd encouraged me to spend more than I intended, more of that later.

The first three quilts are from 'Buy a Plank', a fundraiser devised by Helen Conway to raise funds for a clinic in Musa in The Gambia.  Helen cut up her 'No.1 African Quilt Shop' quilt and people took a piece and incorporated it into a new quilt that will be sold by silent auction. 

 I liked Annette Morgan's quilt above because it combines barkcloth with the cut up 'plank' sections. 

A section of Magie Relph's quilt 'Strip Village' is shown above together with her description which I hope you can read.
 

You may not be surprised to learn that the quilt above is by Janice Gunner and I particularly likethe fabric she has added and the way it is stitched.  The yarn that she couched over the joins is effective and is not, as I imagined, fluffy in any way and serves its purpose well.  It is titled 'And the Rains Came' which refers back to the incessant rain earlier this year. 

You can view all the quilts here.

 The wonderful Tentmakers of Old Cairo were represented (my photo was taken while the talented artist was on a break).  The speed of their turned applique has to be seen to be believed.  This video by Bonnie McCaffery will give you an idea of what the tentmakers do and how they do it.  There is a very interesting piece towards the end where they show how the design is transferred to the fabric.



 

There were two main rooms of traders and both were steadily busy.
 

I think I may have seen this coat before at Festival of Quilts but either way it is a beautiful coat.

This fantastic circular quilt by Birgit Schueller was the overall winner.  The quilting is very detailed and Birgit has won awards for her longarm quilting.  The quilt is titled Dreamcatcher Caught A Dream.  A detail is below.  
 

You can read more about Birgit here if you are interested.

Part of the quilt exhibition commemorated the First World War and I was particularly taken with this quilt, for which the photos have loaded in reverse order. Grrr!

I really like the little envelopes made of embroidered silk handkerchiefs which I think hold messages.  I'm sure I've read about this quilt somewhere but can't bring it to mind.  The details incorporated into the quilting are particularly poignant.
 

 
I'm sorry I don't know the name of the maker.

This cheerful little blue tit was in the embroidery display and is the work of Karen Grenfell.  Karen has a  Facebook page, a blog and a Pinterest site

Hilary Beattie was as usual very busy demonstrating to a rapt group and we took the chance of a sit down to watch her for a while.  Her style is very enthusiastic and free and easy and I love that she continually reminds people that there is no such thing as wrong, just add more until you like what you have achieved.  Speaking of Hilary I should show you my shopping as I bought some stencils from Hilary.

I thought all three of these stencils would be versatile and I had hoped to trial them today but life had other plans (not unpleasantones).  Maybe tomorrow.  The balls are wound strips cut off wool weavings and I plan to use them with my peg loom, hopefully before I am so old that I can't use my hands anymore ;-)  The yarns came from Ingrid Wagner who reminded me of Hilary with her enthusiasm and verve. 

I wasn't going to buy any fabric but these beauties came from Images of Egypt who sadly don't have a website but their prices are very reasonable, so much so that you couldn't buy and dye for the amount they were charging.  I have a plan for the red and blue piece!

This miscellany includes a lovely soft fat quarter of wool from Bobbin Patch that I plan to use with other textures in a scarf come table runner, the beautiful dyed silk scarf cost only £1!  I didn't plan to buy buttons but those bagfuls were only just over £1 each so I couldn't resist.  I was blown away by all the beautiful things on Janet Humphrey's stall and had to have the gorgeous dyed lace.  The little bundles underneath came from a bit box somewhere and the Stef Francis threads were from Batiks N Beads.  The book is Indian Inspirations by Gisela Thwaites which I had thought was out of print but apparently not.  I see elephants in my future!

I can't go without giving a plug to David Jaggs, a guitarist who I've seen at several shows and who always  has time to chat about guitar music.  He's thinking about bringing out a CD of Rock Ballads so I'll be looking out for that.  I succumbed to a couple of his CDs which I'm looking forward to listening to.  Here's a little sample of his classical guitar playing: