Almost Quilted Out

If you sew then Festival of Quilts ought to be on your 'must see' list each year. This was my third visit (last year is here on this blog) and I think it was bigger than ever, regardless of the recession.

The Quilts were once again extraordinary and I took a tonne of photos, all of which are on Flickr here. The ones in this post are just highlights. As usual there were categories and winners and commendations in each category. What always surprises me is the ones that don't win an award. This for example.

It's about double bedsized and made entirely from hexagons in black and white novelty fabrics.

And that didn't win an award? Amazing. There were hundreds of quilts and hundreds of stands and I was with Mater which made it all the better as I always prefer having someone to share things with. She is not keen on photos so here is a rare reverse shot.

You can see where I get the hair from although she is only about 5'2". As Mum remarked several times, it was very busy and you couldn't help bumping in to people but everyone was just so polite. There was a real ambience in the hall at the NEC because everyone was pleased to be there and knew that they shared their interest with everyone else. Bumping elbows with someone you apologise only for the other woman to say "Don't worry - wonderful isn't it?" with a huge grin on her face.

Union Jacks proliferated but it was a number of the small quilts - 12"x12", circles from quilting groups around the world, or the actual 'miniature quilts' section which really caught my eye.

The stripes in this one are each about 2mm across. The whole thing was about 14" square.

I came away with some lovely fabrics....

Plus some goodies. The Kanzashi tool is one I have seen Sister Diane use and I thought I'd have a play.

Then lastly I brought home this little guy who is less than 2cm tall.

 

Got to love a chinese china chicken.