I have been a bit hopeless in writing about my visit to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC last month. I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting and my friends from college and I went round all the displays saying 'I wonder how they did that' to each other constantly!
These are my favourites from the many hundreds on display. I cannot name their makers as this info was contained in the catalogue, which I was too tight to buy.
I liked this round design because the central part is all made out of patterned fabric, which probably looked most unpromising but has been used to brilliant effect to create a kind of iris.
A clever design - I'm guessing that the main trunks were appliqued onto the strip background but the way the background evokes tree trunks too is brilliant.
This looks like some photo-editing effect on an atmospheric photo of some old stairs. I think it was done using reverse applique.
Part of a quilt which was created with gaps in joined by rows of beads. The accuracy and patience needed for this is astounding.
A massive colour-fest all done with checks and stripes.
Above is the whole quilt and to the right is a close up. They were squares of dyed silk, stitched in the centre and then probably twisted when wet to reveal the shading - gorgeous!
As you have probably worked out from this blog I am a sucker for anything with seed heads on.
Simple but very effective - and a prize winner. I particularly like the composition of the branches to give the effect of looking up through the trees.
Above is the whole massive quilt - I am not mad about the colours here but I loved the little birds and bullrushes, shown in the detail on the right. This shows how effective a stencil or screen print can be.
We all loved these fish - this is only part of the quilt and for some reason I didn't photograph the whole thing. I'm not sure how they were created but they really looked like a shoal of silvery mackerel on that inky background.
Finally, my favourite one of all. This came first in its category and again shows the effective use of stamps or stencils for both the foliage and the flower heads.
