Festival of Quilts - Post 5

Today I'm going to share some of my favourite "proper" quilts (the type that hang on walls or go over beds) from the FoQ but firstly I want to say a big hello, "HELLO" and welcome to my new followers, it's great to have you along for the journey.
Proper quilts then, because some of you have been amazed at the range of textile creations on show at the festival that are not actually quilts in the traditional sense.  Here we go, enjoy:

Will You Stay With Me - Pauline Barnes

A Slight Murmur of Starlings - Janie Harvey-Douglas

Orange Tip - Rita Dijkstra

Streets of London - Kreativt Sanatorium, Oslo

Transported - Herma de Ruiter

Suspension Cables - Sarah O'Hora

Flight - Jill Exell

Flint Stones - Yvonne Brown

Decorative Spirals - Sheena Norquay

Horizons - The Contemporary Quilt Group Challenge 2013

Festival of Quilts 2013 - Post 4

The first quilt I photographed at the festival was this one by the children of the Burgess Hill School for Girls.

Transport - Route Map to your Future

I thought you would like to see a few more photographs from the collection of historic Indian textiles by Jan Petranek that I mentioned in my first post from the festival.  I also photographed Jan's information about the Banjara as I knew I wouldn't remember it all and it was interesting:

I also want to share two quilts, with a details photograph, that were in the Crossroads exhibit of quilts from the Middle East.

Babylon Flowers by Christine Plowman

Lunch at the V&A by Ruth Archer

Finally, for this post, some of the wonderful three dimensional textile creations that I admired at Festival of Quilts this year, feast your eyes on these:

Linzi Upton - The Quilted Coracle

Roberta Le Poidevin - Habu Kimono

Marion Robertson - River Nairn Pebbles

Kate Crossley - Together We Are Whole

Tuula Makinen - Celebration II

Kate Crossley - Book at Bedtime

Festival of Quilts 2013 - Post 3: Wearable Art

I took a few photos during the very enjoyable fashion show, "Wearable Art from Around the World" at Festival of Quilts.  There were wonderful creations to enjoy.  Angela Daymond appeared in two of her own beautiful dresses and Jennie Rayment closed the show with her bedtime reading of "Fifty Shades of  Fifty Ways with Calico" and a risqué striptease!
(My camera battery had had a good workout during the day and so I dared not use the flash, the pictures are a bit grainy but I hope you'll still enjoy them).

Festival of Quilts 2013 - Post 2

Sorry, I didn't get very far with my daily posts from Festival of Quilts.  The wireless in my hotel room was VERY expensive and the free connection was in the bar downstairs, the last place I wanted to be at the end of a long day at the Festival.  Anyway, here I am now, and trying to decide where to start...
Well, I think I need to start with Mandy Pattullo, I was blown away by her work, by the whole ethos of it.  Mandy works in Northumberland and "refashions, re-cycles and reuses very old and often disintegrating quilts into new patchworks."  Her exhibit was entitled "Thread and Thrift" and, of course, it reminded me of boro and the Japanese concept of wabi sabi.

Blue and white quilted dress

Lost and Found

The Blues

http://www.mandypattullo.co.uk/index.html

Gorgeous eh?  Several of my friends exhibited quilts in the FoQ.  I showed you Janine with her bright take on the date palm in my previous post.  Here are a few more:

Julie Mackinder's, Always the Sea

Carin Saga entered Bellaflora and the miniature Bella Knotty

Ros Peedle entered this quilt made with African fabrics

It was a delight to meet up with friends at the show.  Unfortunately there were some people I knew were there but I didn't see them.  A lot of time was spent chatting, sharing meals/drinks and just enjoying being together and surrounded by quilts and quilty things.  More later.

Festival of Quilts 2013 - Day 1

I'm just having a little pause and taking the opportunity to post a report on my first day at Festival of Quilts 2013. This year I am staying for the full four days and thought I would therefore have plenty of time to see everything but, with lectures and workshops (and the limitations of having a foot in a pot), I'm not sure that even four days will be long enough. This is an incredible show with a wonderful variety of exhibits, to say nothing of the traders (yet).

Yesterday I heard Alice Fox speak about her work, and especially her artist in residency at Spurn Point Lighthouse. It was lovely to learn how her work developed and today I hope to see her again in the “virtual studio” where she will be demonstrating some of her mark-making techniques. I am inspired to go to the beach and see what I can find to use in textile projects.

I met up with several friends and bloggers yesterday which was lovely. Julie Mackinder pointed me in the direction of the exhibition of Banjara: Historic Indian Textiles, collected by Jan Petranek. These were intricate and aged pieces of cloth, created for everyday use and now preserved by Jan. I took a few pictures but please excuse the reflections of the lights.

I was delighted to meet up with Janine, one of my Indigo Sisters. She was with an interesting collection of quilts entitled Crossroads – A Middle Eastern Festival. There was a wide variety of quilts reflecting this area of the world and demonstrating dynamic colour choices and themes. Janine was able to tell me some of the history of quilts in the Middle East and I was especially interested to hear how all the cotton filling was removed from her quilts during the summer and aerated and left in the sun, fresh and ready to be put back into the quilts, which were then re-quilted, for the winter.  

Lots more to share but it's time to eat :-)

Went to London to see...

I've just been in London for a few days with Sara and Sam doing touristy things and also seeing the fabulous Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition in the British Museum.  My broken foot and debunionised toe took a bit of a battering on public transport (why are not all Underground stations required to have disabled access these days?) but we had a good time.  We have a lot of ideas of things we want to do on several return visits to our capital city.  I won't post all the photos (say "thank you, Lis") but I will share three that I rather like:

It's very nearly time for the Festival of Quilts.  This will be the first time that I've stayed for the whole festival and I'm very excited.  I've booked several workshops and talks and I have a little shopping list.  I hope I will be able to blog while I'm away and share some of what I see and I hope I shall meet up with some of you.