magsramsay: Favourite Quilts from Festival of Quilts 2017

I wasn't able to get to the CQ Kent meeting where we discuss favourites and trends from the Festival of Quilts but in preparation we'd each posted 5 quilts on our Facebook page that caught our eye ( or in my case 5 from the competition and 5 from the galleries because it was so difficult to choose!) With 100's on show when I look at others photos I sometimes think I must have been at a different show entirely but in this case a lot of us had chosen the same quilts ( although there were some I wondered how I'd missed them ). My excuse was that with ecoprinting on Thursday and stewarding ,meetings, going to talks ( Ruth Singer and Matthew Harris) and chatting to so many people, the only opportunity I had to look round was before the show opened. The exception was 'Two Man Cell' which I spotted on the way to the awards ceremony.

725 HMP Bullingdon Boys 'Two Man Cell'

Apart from the fact that it's an amazing structure, all hand stitched with attention to detail and interesting perspective, it's incredibly moving being a collaboration between Fine Cell Work Tutors and prisoners, making an accurate depiction of a 2 man cell in a modern British prison. I overheard some crass comments from people who thought it was a teenagers bedroom and too tidy!

264 Jackie Smith 'No Boundaries' (Judges Choice)

How could I not like pieces that were made from recycled items or quilts?!!!

285 Jennifer Hollingdale 'The Red Centre'

683 Connie Gilham 'River' ( 2nd Contemporary)

The textures and subtle colour changes in 'River' made it a worthy winner.

344 Jo Coombes' Erasing History'

Another quilt that moved me with it's depiction of the tragic destruction of Syrian and Iraqi cities " a golden culture..... reduced to rubble ..........with shattered lives and an erasing of history" . I'm filled with sadness wondering what has happened to the historical sites and lovely people I met on my 2 trips to Syria.

269 Leah Higgins ' Liverpool Street , Salford' (detail)

It was good to see one of Leah's latest constructions ( I've been privileged to see her in meticulous action on Rydal Hall retreats ). The combination of large scale composition and intricate detail and subtle marks was wonderful , as was seeing how her series are developing.

4 Liz Heywood 'Cliff Shift'

My favourites from fellow ' Fine Art Quilt Masters' . I just love the subject matter, mark-making and abstraction in Liz's work and the meticulous subtlety of Robbie's. I wish I could be so neat.

5 Robbie Le Poidevin ' To walk Invisible' (detail)

In the galleries, there were many examples where I took photos but as I can't read the labels, I'm not going to post them as I won't show items without the artist's name. I was stewarding the SAQA stand which had ' Made in Europe II ' on the outside walls (photos on the blog here) and 'Turmoil/ Tranquility' on the inside - unfortunately the catalogue sold out on the first day!

Diana Harrison

The best gallery by far for me was that of Diana Harrison - I've admired her work for such a long time ( seeing it first in the early 1990's at the Crafts Council) and seeing the piece below again reminded me how 'Cloth and Memory II' at Salt Mills was such a memorable exhibition in all kinds of ways.

She'll also be at Knit and Stitch so I'll get a second chance to see her work.

Dianna Harrison

My second favourite gallery was Stone + Water + Wood with Susan Denton, Janice Gunner and Cherry Vernon -Harcourt. Their shared vision of landscape using different approaches was a calm and contemplative place to be in the maelstrom of the show.