I promised to post a few more images of Festival and thought you might like to see a few of the winners.

Mettler threads, who I am thrilled to be an educator for,  is the sponsor of the Best in Show category. This year’s winner, Eloquence and Integrity was made by Ruth Parker of the UK.

and here’s a detail…..

It’s a stunning piece and two-sided. Congratulations Ruth!

Above is  “Poor and Rich” by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga, who won the Pictorial category and below The Good Life by Phillipa Naylor won in the Traditional category.

The colours are something I wouldn’t have thought of but I love the combination, I smiled every time I walked by.

The stunning quilt  below is made by Kathy Wylie of Ontario, Canada, it’s called Flourish on the Vine. The appliqué is brilliant! Kathy didn’t win anything in the judging but did take the overall Visitors Choice award for the show.

A few days after Festival closed and the clean up was all done ( or mostly done)  Edwina Mackinnon and I headed for Coles Sewing Centre in Nottingham for a Mettler day. We spent some time talking about the work we do and how we do it and then led the students in a Forest Landscape workshop. The workshop is inspired by west coast artist Emily Carr, one of my favourites.

We did lot of chatting about trees and things west coast and then encouraged everyone to create their own version. The ladies came up with some wonderful interpretations of Emily Carr’s style.

Thanks to Rose and Neil and the rest of the staff at Coles for their hospitality, we had a great day. It’s was a bit of a drive but there were some wonderful sights along the way. Sorry the image is a bit blurry, it was taken from a moving car on the motorway. No! I wasn’t driving.

Bye for now, Catherine

Maybe it’s part of getting older but time is flying!

I am trying to convince myself the reason it barely seems like a year has passed since the last Festival of Quilts is  because I am busy and happy doing what I’m doing, but that’s not working very well. Festival of Quilts 2014 has come and gone. There were lots of amazing quilts in galleries and competition, lots of visitors, a chance to see old friends and make new ones, and even a few treats to bring home.

Mettler threads had a great stand this year we had lots of room even though it was about the same size as last year we had a new layout. There was a designated workshop area for students, all set up with the sewing machines ready to go…

….a demo area  for the educators to show what they we are working on and share ideas…

…..and gallery space to exhibit quilts. Sorry about the jaunty angle on the photo but the hall was a bit narrow to get all 3 quilts in one image.

It doesn’t get much  better than that! Festival of Quilts is always a busy 4 days but this year seemed even busier, if that’s possible.

This is what the halls look like when we arrive in the morning, before the show is open to the public….

and then it looks like this for the rest of the day!

There was so much to see and not much time to do it in but I did get around after the show closed and checked out some of the galleries and the competition quilts, here’s a few that caught my eye.

A peek into Ann Johnston’s gallery The Contact- Quilts of the Sierra Nevada.

Art Textiles: Made in Britain is a new group that includes friends Ineke Berlyn and Edwina Mackinnon.

This in Ineke’s work…

and Edwina’s …along with a very happy ( and remarkably perky for that hour of the morning)  Edwina!

There is so much to see at Festival it can be a little overwhelming, I go round the show with my camera after it’s closed or before it opens, which is why the lighting in some of these images might not be the best.

Here’s a few more images of the show, just a few of my favourite things…. some with credits and some not (sorry about that!)

I love the little snail in the top right hand corner sneaking off the quilt. This one was in the Russian Quilt Gallery.

This beautiful free motion, thread painted bowl was  one of the  Judges choice in the Quilt Creations category, it’s called Splash and was made by Linda Turner.

This stunning clock made by Kate Crossley is nearly 6 feet tall and yes, it works! I couldn’t resist a few images of the details around the “cabinet”.

And one more from the Russian Quilt Gallery.

I’ll be back soon with more images,

Bye for now, Catherine