Festival of Quilts 2015 - In The Spotlight

I have a quilt in the exhibition called 'In The Spotlight' which is a small gallery showing up and coming quilters at the show and it is not part of the competitions so it is not judged at all.  Trouble is that not all the quilters are up and coming, some are well known and it is stretching the term a bit.... I will say no more.

Anyway, this is the first time I have ever had a quilt put up at a major show and so I thought I would post a photo of it.  This is the one I took at home because the show organisers have put a spotlight shining onto the middle of the quilt and I think it is too bright so the photo of it I took at the show is not as good as this one I took in my spare bedroom at home.  The theme we were given was "Adventures in Wonderland" to celebrate 150 years of the Alice in Wonderland book by Lewis Carroll.  I liked the rabbit because of its heart heraldry.  I think if you look closely you will see I have tried to inject some humour into the theme.  I am pleased with the quilt but think I should have quilted the background, so I ordered Diane Gaudynski's book called 'Guide to Machine Quilting' just now because I think it will inspire me.  When I receive the quilt back I may have another fiddle with it.  After all, I am an up and coming quilter and I am still learning.

Quilting Time!

This cuckoo clock was on the wall at the NEC last week and it was very cleverly made with a mouse on the top left which you cannot see in this photo from the front.  The reason I loved it was because I often place a pink sugar mouse on my kitchen clock at Christmas on the top left too.

I did photograph some of the quilts on show but it was one of those days when my new camera phone and I did not agree.  Some shots worked and others did not and I don't want to post up inferior photos so next time I go to the Festival of Quilts I will take a camera......

I was not helped by the placement of some of the winning quilts in a corridor which was the main thorough fare of the show mind. Every time I tried to line up a shot it was pandemonium and there was not enough space to step back to get the quilts in.  I saw one woman contorting herself with her head actually leaning against a winning quilt trying to line up a shot of a quilt on the opposite wall.

I expect some professionals managed to photograph them but I failed.

Feathers?

A spine made with twisted chain

This is my first attempt at a quilt with machine feathers, I had to practice first. Anyway, I have another fifteen of these to do and its only for my bed so I hope by the last one that I shall either a) be smug, b) be relieved its all over, c) vow never to do it again.  Sound familiar?

On another note, I am now Quilters' Guild Regional Co-ordinator for Cumbria; lets hope it is an easier job than machine quilting feathers.....   

Farfield Mill - Margaret Townsend quilt

Great minds think alike, I bought this material too.  The one with the hearts on it, except I thought it would make some great table mats, funny how different the two uses are and yet the hearts are very apt on the edge of this quilt.  I love the whimsical feel this work has and the way she has made the work come together with the use of narrow strips of fabric, a technique which I sometimes employ.  I began to think that sometimes when we go to a quilt show there is so much to see that we pass each quilt by far too quickly to move onto the next one instead of settling down for a really good look and think about the one infront of us.  So take your time and have a good look at this one just like Margaret did when she designed it.

I also like to make tabs on the top of smaller quilts for hanging them by and often use a stick or piece of bamboo as the pole. I chose to photograph a close up of the dog becaue I like dogs in quilts.  My own piece on show in the same room had several dogs on it too. But not like this one which appears to be a fox terrier or Jack Russell. I love the change in 'pace' which the night scene with the owl brings to the quilt and also the way the bars of fabric interact to give subtlety to the fowls and animals which might appear too crude if not sympathetically framed.  Yes I think this is a fun quilt.  Underneath I have reproduced the text from the card displayed with the quilt.

Margaret Townsend

Daisy’s Birthday Pieces

Margaret’s grand-daughter, Daisy, gave her a bag of small pieces of fabric for her birthday, which she brought from a local quilt sale. Shortly afterwards, Margaret came across the work of Janet Bolton, and then her book, My Grandmother’s Patchwork Quilt - so she felt she had to make the quilt! The wall-hanging is hand stitched using needle turned appliqué onto a background fabric, quilted onto a wool batting foundation, with surface embroidery, it falls into the category of Folk Art.

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh quilt exhibition

Two ladies admiring my Wainwright quilt I see

You may recall that last Sunday I went to Sedbergh to see some quilts which were being exhibited at Farfield Mill and that I was unable to post photos of them because of a problem with blogger.  Well they fixed it and so I thought I would make a start this evening. I don't have all of the photos ready yet so you will have to make do with these two.  The first photo gives a general view of the space allocated to the Quilter's Guild members and is at the very start of the event so more people were supping wine than actually viewing..... I quickly downed mine and put the glass back empty because wine and quilts don't mix in my opinion and when I saw that they had placed some of them really low on the floor I was pleased I had not wandered about glass in hand.....

A quilt by Nicola Howell our Quilter's guild Regional Coordinator

This second quilt was the largest in the exhibition and the colours were lovely and vivid, it was a shame I could not find a catalogue anywhere to bring away so that I could name each quilt and I resorted to taking a photo and then speaking into my camera's microphone to say who made each quilt. I did not have time to also say what they were all called, sorry. 

This exhibition runs for another 10 weeks and finishes on the 7th April so you have time to go and see for yourself.  Their are plenty of other exhibits and more quilts in other rooms by professionals.  You will find ample parking albeit a bit muddy and the outside of the mill does not impress, but inside is a different story. There is also a very good cafeteria which sold lunches and the usual snacks and home made baking.  We did not have long to spend there because the snow was starting to lay and we wanted to head back before dark, but we are planning a trip back for the day and you really could spend several hours at the mill, it's so interesting.

I will post more photos soon.

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh

Hi all,  sorry I have not posted for a bit, don't know where the time has gone. Anyway, I will try and make amends with the next couple of postings. This will be short tonight as time has flown again.  But sneak a peak at these......

Oops, blogger will not let me load my photos from my computer, so that's the end of that then.  I was going to post some quilts up....

Does anyone have the same problem, when I click on the photo link it does not come up with the option to upload files from my computer anymore.....and I don't use the picasa option its offering me, I don't like Picasa and I don't like being forced to use software I don't like....... annoyed.

Threlkeld show continued

My wool wadding winter quilt, usually on my bed.....

I was pleased with the hanging arrangements at Threlkeld, especially with one of my quilts which they had hung infront of a window which gave it a jewel like quality.  I must admit I thought seeing the construction seams through it would have been a problem but no I quite like the effect.

Gloria's appliqué
quilt

Val Osborn

Maureen Rushton

Liz Beresford

A Baltimore by Gloria Walker - took over 3 years to make

I cannot find any information on these quilts at the moment because we did not produce a catalogue for the show which, with hindsight, is a shame.  It's always good to have a keepsake and it comes in handy for the typist when she is doing her blog update  .........

There are more quilts, embroideries and knitting to see at Threlkeld and tomorrow is the last day, so if this small display has wetted your appetite go along before it is too late. I think the show closes at 4pm.

Threlkeld in stitches

Today was day one of a three day show of quilts, embroidery and knitting at Threlkeld, a small village which nestles under the mighty hill Blencathra. As I arrived this morning the rain was falling but the forecast was good so I quickly attached my banner to the wall and made a dash for the dry hall.

 

The place is a typical village hall and the exhibition was organised to raise funds to keep it from falling into disrepair.  Like so many public buildings in Cumbria the local people have to do a lot of work to raise money if they want to keep their facilities going.  Threlkeld village hall is no exception to this rule and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm from a few had gone into organising and staging the exhibits.  Whilst I am on the subject, that means that the ladies have to ask their husbands to hang the quilts and to help with the lifting and carrying and in this case even taking the money on the door.  So before I forget, well done chaps! We could not do it without you.

Once inside it was not long before I too was given a few jobs to do, but it was all for a worthy cause so I was happy to oblige. There was a good atmosphere even though in the early stages we had to wait for the customers to appear. But by lunchtime the place was buzzing. One of the events organised by the ladies was to help make a Linus quilt and in the photo below you can just see the quilt pieces on the left pinned up prior to assembly.  Members of the public were invited to sew a square (quick cathedral window) and this was where they were placed ready for making into the finished quilt.





I was stewarding all morning and I am back again on Monday, if you are in the area, why don't you call into the exhibition, it is well staged and the exhibits are lovely.  I will show you some of them in my next posting hopefully tomorrow.

Regional Day last Saturday

Some of this was bought at the Regional Day

I forgot to take a camera along to the Braithwaite Institute last Saturday which is a shame because we had Ferret showing us her quilts in the afternoon and they were astonishing. She is a very good speaker too so if you have never been to one of her talks I would encourage you to go.

She showed us many of her award winners as well as others she had made and they ranged from large double bed size to quite small. I had a close look at some of them as I was on the stage at the end and helped her re-pack them all. If ever you are asked by a famous quilter to help pack make sure you pay attention because they like it done their way and know exactly how they want you to fold and pack so that its easy for them to get them all out again for the next show. I learnt a lot, not just about packing quilts but also some very useful tips which she gave without prompting. Ferret is loquacious and she is not at all fazed by being asked how she does things because she wants people to learn from her and from her mistakes which she points out too. I appreciated her altruism and hope to be a better quilter for it.

I also volunteered to make a panel for the North West Regional Banner which is going to be completed and hung at St. Anthony's Hall in York. As luck would have it the subject I fancied doing had been chosen as one of the panels they needed and yes it is going to be another lighthouse, yippee!  I will need a Cumbrian one of course and I just happen to have passed the very one I fancy on  my recent Coast to Coast journey at St. Bees. So it will hopefully be one of my next projects. I will keep you posted of course as to progress.