Festival of Quilts 2021

I hadn’t intended to go to the Festival of Quilts 2021. Covid infections are still high in the UK. Many official restrictions have been withdrawn, such as the mandatory wearing of masks. I felt nervous about going to a location where there would be lots of people gathered together. But I cracked! The Quilters’ Guild were offering a draw for tickets and I won two, to my surprise and delight.

We stayed nearby the night before, close to the airport. This is the first year for some time that I haven’t entered a quilt. This year I was able to concentrate on enjoying other people’s work. I did wear some of my own work, however. The skirt below is made with my fabric design ‘The work of my hands’.

It was nice to be at the Festival of Quilts again after two years. (You can find posts on previous years: 2019 here, 2018 here, 2017 here, 2016 here and 2015 here).

Entry into the halls at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre) was calm and well-managed. Our tickets and our documentation (to say we had received two vaccinations against Covid) were checked. There were far fewer visitors than usual, fewer stands and the show was laid out over a wider area. All visitors were asked to wear masks unless exempt and almost everyone seem to comply. Once in the show, I wore mine too.

I made sure to stop at the ‘Quilts for Care Leavers’ stand, to take part in their lucky dip (you can see in my hand the quilters’ clips and floral needle threader I won!) I have blogged about this charity before here. ‘Quilts for Care Leavers’ gathers donated quilts to give away at Christmas to young people (aged 18-25) leaving the care system. If you are a quilter with spare quilts, spare fabric or spare time to make new quilts, please consider getting in touch with them. The website is www.q4cl.org.uk

I just did a small amount of shopping, but had the great experience of looking for a specific piece of cloth (you can see the sample in my fingers) and actually finding it!

Thank you, Fabrics Galore (www.fabricsgalore.co.uk), who had just what I needed!

I was directed to them (generously) by Finstall Fabrics (www.finstallfabrics.com). So I went back to Finstall Fabrics and purchased some very pretty blue and white prints which you will see in action in due course!

So, now for the quilts… One major highlight of the show was an exhibition space dedicated to Amish quilts. It’s difficult to pick a single one out, but this was my favourite. It displays the characteristic deep-tone colours and fabulous hand-quilted patterns of quilts made by the Amish people.

There was an opportunity to see some items from The Quilters’ Guild collection. I loved this ‘housewife’ or ‘huswife’ designed to contain necessary items for sewing. The maker’s name and the date of making are included ( a reminder to date and name our own quilts – you never know how long they are going to last!)

Always a fan of miniatures, I took a lot of pleasure from seeing this tiny patchwork quilt made by Barbara Bailey. You can see it placed on a small dolls’ bed in the second photograph. Such a vibrant collection of colours!

Other pieces in the show were moving for all kinds of reasons. In the Janome Fine Art Textiles Award, this exquisitely embroidered ‘napkin’ (the stitches are tiny) appeared as part of an installation, including vintage objects, produced by Caren Garfen. The artwork makes reference to an incident recounted in ‘Blood and Banquets, A Berlin Social Diary’ by Bella Fromm in which a couple were refused service because they were Jewish.

I enjoyed Ann Wheeler’s ‘Formative Pattern’ which used 1930s tray cloths (always a favourite with me) which she cut, re-joined and embroidered. I noticed the inclusion of school report type comments from teachers. Ann’s work was clearly worthy of a B+. However, this which reminded me of my own less than perfect marks for ‘Needlework’ at school!

I loved this expressive piece by Rosie James, called ‘Waiting for this meeting to start’. The artist asked people to send her a photo of themselves during lockdown and she would stitch them.

She refers to the piece like this: ‘This whole piece is a version of a Zoom/Teams meeting, you are all invited, and I am the one doing the talking’. Rosie herself is depicted in a square with a green frame (shown below).

Another piece using applique and machine embroidery was this installation by Amanda McCavour, entitled ‘Floating Garden’, entered in the Vlieseline Fine Art Textile Award. The flowers were suspended on fine threads and they moved gently with the flow of air from the air-conditioning system

Several quilts referenced the environment and highlighted concerns about damage to the environment. One whole stand at the event ‘For the love of Gaia’ showcased quilts by 15 international artists who describe themselves as ‘a group of artists who feel our hearts beating to the rhythm of the Earth.’ It included this striking piece by Kathy Nida ‘You pollute me’.

This competition quilt ‘Meldown’ by Rosemary Clarke and Sandy Chandler was particularly effective in its design, with the central polar bear standing on its diminishing area of ice.

The piecing was particularly well executed.

This quilt by Eliza Rose Watson (age 7) called ‘The World Crying’ also packed quite a punch.

It was pleasurable to see a whole collection of children’s work in a three-dimensional installation called ‘Patchville’ from the Atelier de Couture Magique, Brussels, Belgium.

This wasn’t the only item to have traveled from overseas to Birmingham. This homage to the common man, entitled ‘The Common Man – The Hero’ was made by Paramjeet Bawa, in Gurgaon, India.

This stunning quilt, which demonstrates traditional kantha stitching across the entire surface was made by Mahamaya Sikdar in Kolkotta, India.

Very sadly, this quilt was not entered in the correct category. so could not win a prize, but I was delighted to see that it was awarded a ‘Judge’s Choice’ accolade.

Another piece by Rosie James (mentioned above) was part of ‘Found’ an exhibition from ‘Art Textiles: Made in Britain’. It included stitched figures among a collection of cloth badges.

Alongside it were some larger textile ‘badges’ celebrating smaller towns and villages in Kent – my new home!