I had an enjoyable visit to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham last week and in the post here, I am going to share with you some of my favourites from the hundreds and hundreds of quilts on display. You can find a list of the winning quilts and makers here I have two particular favourites among the prize winners. Firstly, the winner in the ‘Art Quilts ‘ category: this is ‘Morning Fog’ designed and made by Sarah Lykins Entsminger. I loved its quiet beauty and subtle use of colour.
The second-prize winner in this category was a subtly printed and beautifully executed large quilt designed and made by Leah Higgins called ‘Shoreline 1’.
This close-up shows the printing patterns on the cloth.
It was also very pleasurable to stop at Leah’s table in the Creative Textiles Studio and see her demonstrating – and talking enthusiastically – about her breakdown printing techniques.
In the Quilt Creations section of the show, I loved the three-dimensional installation designed and made by Kate Crossley:
There was so much detail in this piece, you could look at it for ages! The various items suggest all kinds of references to life experiences. How nice that a quilt is so prominently displayed. The soft and muted colours contrasted with the dramatically sharp and sometimes rusted objects. A very intriguing artwork.
There were two colourful pieces in the Art Quilts section by Gillian Travis which I particularly enjoyed because their vibrant colours captured so well the colours of first clothing and second doorways in Mexico, which I visited myself some years ago when my daughter was living there.
In the ‘Traditional Quilts’ section of the show, I felt very drawn to the ‘Diamonds are Forever’ quilt, made by Maggie Breakspear (inspired by the quilts of Brigitte Giblin):
In the ‘Sustainable Quilts’ category, I was genuinely riveted (pun intended) by the extraordinary use of fabric pieces from jeans in ‘Riveting Restrictions – From Waste to Wonder’ designed and made by Marja Matiisen. It is a dramatic and beautiful piece from a distance:
At close hand, the viewer can see the detail of the many rivets, zips, buttons and top-stitching on the pieces used in the quilt. The skill employed to stitch such difficult fabrics is astonishing!
Next week, I will include more of my favourites and show you the quilts I entered in the competition. See you then.
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The Mexico quilts above remind me of my own quilt ‘Colours of Mexico’. Get the pattern here
