Festival of Quilts 2019 Report

Amazingly a week has already passed since this photo was taken! I am finally getting round to writing my Festival of Quilts 2019 Report post.

Okay guys, sit tight, let’s get going, we have a lot to look at!

Yes that’s me above being a steward for the first time at the Spotlight@40 gallery. If you missed the post all about my special quilt (behind me) then you can read it here. I got to wear the white gloves and everything, and I TOUCHED ALL THE QUILTS!! I felt so powerful! 😉

After all my info about my entry to the Spotlight@40 quilt in that previous post I knew you would all want to see some of the other quilts in the gallery and how quilters had interpreted the theme.

The quilt above ‘QGBI Excels’ is by jeni Rutherford and I love the 3 dimensional nature of this piece.

I think my favourite was ‘Sermilik Fjord’ by Lis Tate, region 14.The inspiration for this came from photographs taken whilst trekking in East Greenland which happens to be 40 degrees west of the Prime Meridian.

The map border was hand painted using Markal sticks. I loved the way she had pieced the sea and ice.

On the right is a close up of a powerful and personal quilt by Kira Wither-Jones (region 12) called ’40 years to become me’.

This next piece really appealed to the improv quilter in me and I love the use of greens. It is called ‘Region 3 from the air’ and is by Grace Meijer.

Two very different ones below.

A patchwork crossword quilt by Anne Gosling, region 13, and ’40 endangered in 40′ by Melanie Missin-Keating of region 9 which depicts 40 animals plants and insects that have been endangered to the point of extinction during the 40 years that the Guild has existed. A very powerful message I’m sure you’ll agree.

There are so many quilts to see, both in the competition and the special galleries, and with my teaching and lecturing schedule there was no way I could see them all, but I have managed to include a few favourites here from most of the main sections.

I spent most of my time looking at the modern section of the competition. ‘The Future’s So Bright’ above by Janet Bottomley was especially appealing and fitted the category perfectly. This lone star variation ‘I’m NOT A-Lone’ by Tracy Aplin was so bright and cheerful with fabulous modern hand quilting.

I’m sure you will recall the mini I made using the triangle technique from Nicholas Ball’s Inspiring Improv book a few weeks back. Well here’s Nick’s full sized quilt in all it’s glory (just one of a number of these he has made). I’m just so in love with this colour palette and was delighted that the quilt got a much deserved judges choice award.

Two very different versions of a modern quilt, on the left by Ruth Case and on the right by Carol Harrison. There is always much discussion before, during and after the show about the quilt categories and whether the quilts fit them or not. I am not going it to this too much here (it is contentious and requires a lot of explanation and I am sure you would rather see more quilts!) but I think both of these are perfect modern quilts (despite what the judges thought!).

I had no idea just how big Katy Cameron’s ‘super scaled small world’ was until I saw it IRL – it really does do what it says on the tin and is absolutely stunning!

Some really amazing quilts are just too difficult to photograph well even though they are fantastic in the flesh. I loved these giant hexies leaking out of the frame in Eunsoo King’s ‘Hibiscus’ on the left and Chris English made a really amazing modern whole cloth quilt which I was particularly inspired by (I have been wanting to explore this idea for a while) but which looked like nothing on my phone! So here is a close up instead.

Rachelle Denneny ‘Modern Movement’ quilt was another favourite from the show and it won 2nd prize in the modern category. I especially love the quilting.

This version of an iconic Emily Cier pattern was made by my quilting and karaoke pal Tatyana Duffie.

Tatyana had loved this quilt so much when she saw it at QuiltCon Savannah that she made an almost exact copy BUT she quilted it in her own unique style, so very differently from the Angela Walters original.  One of my absolute favourites from the show.

Moving on to the Contemporary section and one of my favourites  was this very scrappy improv quilt by Alice Jones called ‘We are European’, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with!!

What’s that you say? Two Prince quilts?! Well yes I thought I was seeing double too, especially as they were both made by IRL friends of mine!

The one on the left was in the Modern section and is by Angie ‘Heart of Charnwood’ and the one on the right was in the contemporary section and is by Cat Haggart. As a mahoosive Prince fan that still doesn’t really accept his passing, I adored them both – thank you for making and sharing these beauties Prince Fan Quilters!

My absolute favourite from contemporary was this very striking quilt, ‘Sundials’ by Moya Geraghty, though I think this could have easily been in the modern section (let’s not get started on that again!).

Here’s a close up alongside another fabulous modern quilt in the contemporary section, ‘Logwood Mill #3’ by Helen Grist.

Below are a few more from this section that really impressed me with their impact.

The first below is ‘Only One’  by Sylwia Ignatowska.

The next one is ‘Slightly Blue Christmas’ by Joanna Holomiej.

The next one ‘Hummigbird’ by Kristine Selbman needed to be viewed from a distance to get the full meaning.

Fabulous use of fabric in this bright cheery quilt, ‘I’m not a Farmer’s Daughter’ by Belinda Jeffries.

A couple from the group section now.

Om the left a stunning applique quilt by the Jersey MQG.

On the right a quilt that I contributed a block to, this is the Friendship Star quilt that lovely Nicky Eglinton and the team behind the Siblings Together Quilt Drive made (with blocks from all those who have contributed quilts in the past) to help publicise this wonderful cause.

Moving on to the two-person category and this is my favourite, which was made by Jessamie Self and quilted by the legendary Trudi Wood. Can you see the moths she quilted in the corners? Amazing! 

On the right is one from the Novice category by Mary who attended our recent Thread House Summer retreat where she worked on this beautiful striking quilt while we all cheered her on.

The quilt below is from the QGBI challenge section and is by an Edinburgh MQG pal, Sheena ‘Auburn Stitches’. I just love how original this is! And the amazing hand quilting (all done a few weeks before the deadline!). And the orange  too of course 😉

Lets move on to some of the special exhibits and I am going to highlight just a few of these (or we really would be here all day!).

First of all the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibit ‘Dusk to Dawn’.

I am a recent new member to SAQA having joined while at QuiltCon and this was my first opportunity to meet other members from Europe at a special dinner on the Friday night.

And I was especially keen to view their juried gallery. I was very impressed! The quilts above are by Kristin La Flamme on the left and Terry Aske on the right.

I think ‘Strange Attractor #2 – Solstice: The Light Returns’ by Niraja Lorenz, above, was my favourite.

Here is a close up on the left.

The piece on the right is ‘Dusk to Dawn Indigo’ by Diane Sheckells.

I also loved this stunning owl quilt by Pat Baum-Bishop.

Probably the most impressive special exhibit was the Baltimore Album quilts from the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska.

I’m sure anyone who is familiar with my quilts will see how inspired I have been by these traditional quilts over the years so it was incredible to see them in person.

They were so beautiful that it was almost overwhelming to see so many of them in one place. I have just included a few close-ups here as I knew my phone camera could not hope to do them justice.

Just two more special exhibit mentions before we move on…

I was especially drawn to the Bojagi gallery curated by Sara Clark and I have her book on the subject on my wish list.

I also loved the colour and texture of the Michael James exhibit. Michael was the after dinner speaker at the QGBI 40th birthday dinner and I was lucky enough to have him and his wife on our table (alongside one of my all time quilting heroes Jen Kingwell!!). But enough name dropping 😉

Time for a few pictures of me! I totally failed to get any photos of my two quilts hanging in the competition or my mini in the Bloomfield Challenge gallery. I failed to get any photos of my 5 workshops and one lecture and I failed to get any photos of the ‘apres quilt show’ fun and festivities!

Despite any photographic evidence I can confirm that it was all wonderful, I loved teaching the classes and meeting so many gorgeous students and I loved all the evening fun with my pals and my sister (and room mate) Jane – also nowhere to be seen in the photos! I even managed to meet up with my cousin and my niece during the show!

Usually I always get a photo standing in front of my quilts but this year I have had to steal a few photos from other people’s IG feed to prove I was actually there!!

Above you can see me doing my  demo at the launch of my Modern Crewelwork thread collection on the Aurifil stand. And to the right is a wonderful shot of all of the UK Aurifil designers who had new boxes launched at the show. From left to right: Sarah Ashford, Karen Lewis, Nicholas Ball, Jenni Smith, Sheena Norquay, myself.

On the right is me and my friend Marianne from Sweden. One of the best bits about FOQ is being reunited with international quilting friends.

Do you like my new green top? I clearly do!  I seem to have been wearing it all weekend!

Oh no, here I am wearing something different, phew. Only problem was two other ladies chose the same day to wear identical White Stuff tops! Much to the delight of many other visitors who all helpfully came up to inform me!

Here I am with some new friends! That’s Helen ‘Hen House Homemade’ on the left and Judy Newman ‘A Very Fine House’ on the right. I also met some other wonderful people from my phone for the first time IRL including Aneela Hooey, Sarah Edgar (of Pretty Fabrics and Trims) and Rachel Hauser ‘Stitched in Color’.  What a treat! If I met you and have forgotten to mention you here then apologies – my brain is still much!

I’ll leave you with this last photo of me and Rachel (taken from my IG story) which sums up the real joy of FOQ, not the quilts, no matter how awe inspiring they are, but the quilting friendships and community that underpins it all.