Festival of Quilts

......... so then the next day after the party I went off to the Festival of quilts. I was helping out Angie on her stall in return for my ticket. I really enjoy doing this as I get to see s whole different side to the show. I get all day to wander about, helping out then wandering off, I get to see the show in the very quiet moments at the beginning and at the end and I also get to use the exhibitors facilities so do not have to queue for the toilets! ( Gosh, a real sign of getting old!)

I didn't take my camera so no photos, I know what a terrible blogger I am! but as this post is a good 2 weeks late you have probably seen all the photos already.

The best photos I have seen are Monicas. As I read her post it was rather like having someone follow me around taking the photos of all the things I loved. She starts with Chiungie Lie who created amazing pieced cloths. I bought a poster from an exhibition that shows some of the work.

One of the things that really struck me about the quilts was the use of white so there were a lot of similarities between Ingrid Presse and the students of Yoshiko Jinzenji. The use of white was so comforting and calming.Yoshiko printed wonderful cloth with patterns and then they were used on throughout the quilt in very clever compositions that appeared almost random. Such piece and tranquility all the way through. I was there quite early and dithered over buying a piece of the cloth but decided to think about it. I shouldn't have done as when I returned they had all gone so I grabbed a book quick before they were all gone as well. Monica also picked the piece by Janice Gunner that I loved. The intensity of the stitch and the way that it distorts the cloth is wonderful. Go and look at Monika's pictures they are much better!I found it all really exciting. I also found a fab new textile designer called Paula Ozier whose designs literally made me cross the aisle and buy. It took a while to decide which set but after seeing the quilts using white I could see a quilt using these in a similar way. Also met the very lovely Janet Clare whose work is always great and such fantastic muted colours.

So it was a tiring day out but one that I really enjoyed as has lots of other people. I hope to get to the Knit and Stitch but that involves getting down to Ally Pally as it isn't at the NEC this year.... booo hoooo.