Festival of Quilts Part 1

I have got soooooo many photos - about 80. They are all on Flickr here - no need to sign up for anything. So these are just the highlights.

First off, if you're not familiar with 'Festival of Quilts' it is run by the same people who do the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace and elsewhere as well as a load of other things. The company is called Twisted Threads and their website has details of the next and other events. In size it is like Ally Pally (i.e. same number of sellers) except the exhibition is mahoosive. Seriously. I got there at 11.30 and had a class booked for 3.30 and I was immediately panicked that I wasn't going to be able to see all the Quilts. There are a few different categories - classic, art, contemporary, non-quilts (i.e. clothes) and then a group and a children's section. There are also regional or national quilt organisation displays plus special guest areas (there was an inevitable Kaffe Fassett section, but meh, once you've seen 100 KF quilts, you kind of get the idea). If you are interested in sewing and fabric then this is a great show for you to go to for supplies and inspiration.

Quilts can be classic - for warmth and comfort. Or they can be art for art's sake. Or they can be a combination of the two. My personal taste is for lots of colour and tonal blending with an interesting pattern. So that explains why this one...

...is probably my favourite. 

The selection at the show was just breathtaking. The very traditional:

The traditional-twist:

This one shows the clever block that repeats to create this whole quilt:

The Art Quilt:

I loved this one. Such a simple idea but so skillfully executed.

Then the non-quilts. I saw this one from the back first:

That was amazing enough.....then I saw the front.

Wow. Almost worth giving up chocolate and....just about everything I have ever enjoyed eating so be able to fit into that kind of dress.

Then there were the oddballs, which always have a special place in my heart. Isn't this adorable?!


One of the things I really loved was being able to get up close and personal. You could really look at the surface decoration and there were even white-gloved stewards wondering about to display the backs if you asked nicely. This one looks impressive enough when seen as a whole.

But then look what the quilting adds.

So clever. There were lots of others like that. Some where maybe the piecing was fairly straightforward but then the stitching was key. The full version of this is on flickr, but this small piece (about handsized) is another example.

I'd love the be able to go through all of them one by one but I've already done that on Flickr so go over there for more. Just a few more here....

OK, I'm done!

One thing that really struck me was that the stallholders were all lovely. One even happily agreed to pause and pose for a photo.

The little bobbins bouncing about on her headband were so funny!

I think that's enough for one post, so I'll post more on Wednesday, since tomorrow is already busy with Tutorial Tuesday - which coincidentally enough is a fabric tutorial!