FoQ 2012 - Focus on Quiltmarks

 Back From 2 days at Festival of Quilts - my 10th  annual visit! No prizes for my quilts 'Red Flotsam' or 'Rules The Waves' but lots of nice comments, particularly from all those people from TVCT and retreats who've seen its progess and offered advice

 I didn't take too many photos among the competion quilts but I've noticed those that drew my eye  had distinctive use of stitch as marks. My favourite was 'Gridlock' by Marian Hall - it's a shame I missed her other piece in Pictorial Quilts, that too looked interesting.
I  mainly concentrated on the galleries - I loved the landscapes of Kate Dowty and  quilts by Australians  Margery Goodall and Pamela Fitzsimmons in the SAQA Masters Exhibition along with a gem by Dorothy Caldwell.

My favourites , which I visited several times, were those of Anne Woringer ( above) and Pauline Burbidge (below). I've only ever seen Anne's work in books and on websites so seeing it in the flesh was a revelation. The colour, texture of cloth, marks and stitch combined  were so rich and complex. 

I went to a talk by Pauline before I saw her work, so interesting to hear about the process. She's  perfected many techniques during her career from precision piecing to the more organic multilayered responses of her recent work and calls on that suite of knowledge and expertise  to find what's most appropriate for a particular piece.
I spent an long time with my notebook in front of her atmospheric Lindesfarne pieces trying to analyse the layers, the directions, repetitions and marks, the stitches that combine to make such a complex yet subtle sense of place and experience.

Shopping wasn't neglected: 4m of cotton organdie from Doughty's ;basket and fabrics from Magie and Bob at African Fabric shop,Cameroon indigo strips from John Gillow;   hand stitching threads from Out of Africa, Wonderfil and Stef Francis; SAQA Portolio 18 ;CQ@10 catalogue - great exhibition, I don't mind so much I was in good compnay among the  'Salon des Refuses' ( and I do have 5 other pieces shown among the JQ's and a photo on the front cover!)

I also succumbed to this bargain large piece of fabric at C2C , dyed only the day before by Jo Lovelock- perfect for a large wave piece based on my painting. I prefer to 'buy not dye'  although Sue is convinced she'll get me along  to C2C one day!

Perhaps most of all I enjoyed catching up with so many friends; some going back years, more recent  connections through CQ   and from blogland  to meet up  in person with people like  Uta Lenk  for the first time.