Contemporary Quilts Winners - FOQ

There were 156 entries in the Contemporary Quilts section of the Festival of Quilts held at Birmingham, England last week.  I have selected a few to show you over two blogs, but as you can imagine, there were many outstanding quilts I simply can't display.  I hope you enjoy the following amazing quilts from this section and others.

Winner of the Contemporary Quilts Section was "Squaring Up" by C June Barnes who wrote "I wanted to make a traditional patchwork piece incorporating my stitching to dye and shrinkage techniques."  The quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted.  Wool viscose felt as batting which had been shrunk to distort, Skoobie Thread and Procion dyes were used.

You really need to see the close-ups to appreciate the depth of this quilt.

The judges' comment was "A stunning and original twist on a traditional block design, with masterly handling of fabric to achieve great depth.  The judges also admired the presentation of this piece".

2nd Place Winner was "Phoenix Rising" by Ferret.

Hand dyed cotton sateen raw edge applique, constructed directly on longarm system.  The quiltmaker said "After a very bad year, quilting gave me hope to follow the Phoenix".

"Ways to Yogyakarta" made by Erni Genswaider was also in the Contemporary Quilts Section.

The side parts are coloured and marbled by hand whilst the middle part is hand batik cotton.  It is all machine quilted.  Erni said "I attended a workshop in Yohyakarta/Indonesia held by Indarin - a famous Indonesian artist - several years ago and I used parts of these batik works for this quilt".

"Mood Swing - Interactive Quilt" was an entry in the Quilt Creations Section.

Pat Deacon was the quiltmaker and it took my eye because it was mounted onto the wall with each section able to be turned a full swing to be positioned flat or at an angle.  Could be yours for £2,300.00 as it was for sale.  The initial design is pieced - the calm side using double dyed fabric; the bright side using commercial fabric.  Corresponding sides were stitched around foam board and threaded onto steel rods.  The piece combines quilting and sculpture and is interactive, allowing the viewer to choose complete calm or to add any number of bright sections within the piece.  Amazing!

An entry in the Art Quilts Section, I'm sorry to say, I never captured the details of and I can't locate it in my catalogue.  However, there's no guessing who it is!  The Watercolour technique is always better viewed from a distance.  I left this image uncropped so as you may visualize the size of it compared to one visitor peeping around the corner.

Have returned home safely but shall continue tomorrow with more quilts from the amazing array of clever quilters throughout the world - all represented at the Festival of Quilts 2010, Birmingham, England.

Two thoughts before you travel overseas - buy a Luggage Scale thingy to keep check on your luggage weight.  Cathay Pacific charge $50.00 per kg over 20kg!  I thought Qantas was steep enough at $10.00 per kg over 23kg compared to a few years ago when it was $10.00 per extra bag!!!!

Next thought - forget Duty Free, do your purchases before you go or when you arrive home at the local shops as more often than not they are the same prices anyway.