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 :-)

Festival of Quilts 2010 - Part 1

Here's my first photo report from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.  The next one will show you where my credit card got battered.
I travelled to NEC with quilting/textiles friend, Trish, who did a brilliant job with the driving (especially in the torrential rain all the way home after an exhausting day) and Pam and June, excited to be attending FoQ for the first time.  We had a great day but today I am shattered and ache in places I didn't know I had (not just my purse).

There are some whinges about the show - particularly why was the trading area so cramped and also confusingly arranged in blocks rather than rows?  Overall though it was a good show with a rich variety of quilts and textile creations on display (fewer than usual I thought, maybe somebody will correct me on that one).  Here are my photos of the day:

Susan Denton's atmospheric landscape quilts attracted my attention.  Here are "Field Walk" and "Winter Allotments"

It was a delight to meet up with fellow blogger, Suzan, at lunch time (and very welcome to sit down and chat for a while).  I have to say I was impressed with the way the catering was organised, no table-bagging but rather a table made available as we got to the till with our lunches and drink.

The next piece to thrill me was this gorgeous piece by Lia Flemings, delicious.

Time for another sit-down and Trish and I went off to stand E42 to make a Morsbag.  How brilliant this project is, take a look at the website for all the information, patterns and ethos.

"Mission:  Impossible 2" (below), exhibit 764, was the amazing work of Kumiko Frydl of Texas, USA, the winner of the Miniature Quilts class.
The judges' comments read:  "Stunning!  Precision personified.  Wonderful detail" and many people spent a long time peering at this exquisite work nearly unable to believe the 128 point Mariner's Compass was really pieced (paper foundation), reverse appliqued and then freemotion quilted.

Added 23 August from "comments":
Dottymo said... Thought you would like to know. The miniture quilt 'Mission Impossible 2' won BEST IN SHOW. 

Exhibit 822 caught my eye, probably because of the Japanese influences initially.  The garments, "Gifts 'Round the World'" by Elizabeth Shapland of London included curved piecing, applique, beading, hand-quilting with speciality threads and Japanese-style knotted insert strips.

One of the quilts I would have loved to take away with me, one I could both admire and live with, was "Moonstruck", below, by Jean Chesnek.  I found the colours, curves and quilting to be very pleasing and was interested by the idea of rust-dyeing.

Finally today then, Christina Henri's "Roses from the Heart" project.  Since 2003, Christina, a conceptual artist from Tasmania, has focussed on the lives of convict women transported to Australia.  Her mission is to gather and exhibit 25,566 bonnets, one for each woman and including those women and babies who died on the way.  I'm sure you will have read about this project but to see all those bonnets spread out on the floor initiated an emotional reponse and I was moved to contribute.

 

If you're off to the Festival of Quilts this weekend I hope you have a great time and I look forward to reading all your thoughts and responses - it's a very personal thing isn't it?!