Festival of Quilts 2014

Spent my usual 2 days ( Saturday and Sunday) at the Festival of Quilts , it just gets  bigger and better, the galleries were particularly good this year. I was blown away by the recent work of Ann Johnston 'The contact- quilts of the Sierra Nevada'( above) both the inspiration behind it and the wonderful marks on fabric used to interpret her theme. It's rare to see a body of work that rewards both from a distance and close-up. The book had sold out -  I ordered it online (print on demand) as soon as I got home!

I did  buy a copy of the  catalogue for European Art Quilts VIII as there were some outstanding pieces in that gallery- Roberta Le Poidevin's 'A Thousand Acres' especially . Robbie won 1st prize with her miniature ' a hundred acres' based on this ( above)  but the larger scale piece was stunning.

Another gallery with amazing pieces on show was 'Art Textiles made in Britain: identity' - I was side-tracked meeting up with people I hadn't seen since last year so didn't take many photos apart from  a side view of a piece by Louise Baldwin - the  use of what looks like a section of drainpipe was inspired!

In other galleries, there were a few pieces that grabbed my attention, especially those using red old textiles ( I wonder why...!), including this piece using old red shibori by Gabi Mett  and some work in the French Patchwork Association (  unfortunately I was in a rush and forgot to  note the maker)

After writing about Pojagi in my last post , it amused me to see that a pojagi piece had won First Prize in the Art Quilt Section! I think it was rather a controversial decision but it  had a lovely luminous quality.  

Marion Hall's piece in the 'Fine Art Quilt Masters' also had a luminous quality

I loved the quirky 'drawings' by  Susan Chapman with  loads of stitching adding texture

On an Australian theme, 'Bushfire' by Louise Peers  was evocative, reminding me of the gardens on that theme at Hampton Court Flower show last year and I was pleased that my friend Sue Sheriff had entered her 'Journeys across Australia', such a good use of photos in a very personal piece.

Also reminding me of holidays   was 'Triassic Trio ' by Exe Valley CQ group ( and they won 3rd in Group Quilts)

I'm surprised I managed to see anything with so much catching up with various people, including fellow Cwilt Cymru  members; 'International Threads' participants  Gillian Travis and Uta Lenk (below) ;  some interesting conversations  about landscape and archaeology with Gillian Cooper ( 'Loops in Time' above)   and lots of other CQ and SAQA members

I was thrilled to have not 1 but 2 'Judges Choice' - from Barbara Weeks for 'Nautical Dawn' (above) in Art Quilts  section and from Sandra Meech for 'Weymouth Waves' in Pictorial Section. A delightful surprise and they mean a lot especially from  quilters who I admire. I also had a quilt in Linda Seward's gallery(  which looked amazing) , my 'Tideline'  was hung between quilts by Linda and Laura Kemshall!!

So after some retail therapy (including  blowing my budget on  yet another basket and some fabric from  Magie and Bob ), we headed back to London avoiding the tail end of Hurricane Bertha  but seeing some amazing  dynamic skies.
Today ( Wednesday 13th) was our 9th Wedding anniversary and we went to Turner Contemporary at Margate  but that will be another post....