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.

Fashion sans Frontieres Show Part 2

Continuing on from yesterday's post, here are more images from the exhibits of the "Fashion sans Frontieres Show" - Russia versus England challenge.  Please refer to previous post for full details of this challenge.  Enjoy....

You may never throw your old tissue dress paper patterns away again!

This was taken whilst they were still setting up the display, hence the garments on the floor.

Just look at the majestic train........

This maginificent Phoenix design was also used as a large quilt in the main Quilt Display, which I'll show you in my next post.  Just look at the detail.....

There were several other entries too in this exhibit.  I'm sure they would all be featured on the Festival's website.  I hope you've enjoyed marvelling at the ones I've selected.

Next blog I shall feature some randomly selected quilts that drew my attention for one reason or other.

Whilst we were at the Hotel there was also an Avon Conference being held and I snapped this photo of the table displays for one of their evening functions.  Aren't they scrumptious?  The following day it was out with the old and in with another so it seems; we saw red and gold boxes with all sorts of decorations.  Such a waste after each event.

Each day as I walked to the Festival through the gardens, I was fascinated with the bees entering these lilac flowers, flying right into the centre until you couldn't see them at all, gathering the nectar then reversing out.  Flipping from one to the other, I took a lot of photos trying to capture their speed.

Monday and Tuesday we have been engrossed in Edinburgh, Scotland.  We've been to the Fringe Festival, toured the City on a sight-seeing bus tour, done the Ghost Tour and the Dungeon Tour.  Glad I live in this century! Wednesday it is a tour of Edinburgh Castle and a Boat Cruise.  Our few days this amazing city is highlighted by the famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the evening before flying home on Thursday morning.  Schedule will be tight, so I'll post when I can.

Fashion sans Frontieres Show

At a Gala Dinner and Fashion Parade extraordinaire, exhibits from the "Fashion sans Frontieres Show" were modelled on the catwalk by those who made the garments.  All in fun and received tremendous applause.  Unfortunately, I missed out on attending, but I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Mr. Andrew Salmon, Managing Director of Creative Exhibitions Ltd (Show Organizers) who explained to me the wonderful "story" behind the display. 

Andrew said that his company has business links with a Russian Publishing firm who proudly told him in a very deep voice with much vigour "that we have magnificent Quilting Masters in Russia" to which Andrew replied in just as majestic a tone "that in England we have magnificent Quilting Mistresses"!  Hence the challenge arose.  Russia versus England.  Several "masters" or "mistresses" were invited to rise to the friendly challenge and the result was breathtaking.  Garments were not on display until after the Gala Dinner so were only viewed by the public on Saturday and Sunday of the Festival.  I will need to show you over two consecutive blogs.  I've made them large so as you may marvel at their ingenious. You will need to guess from which Country each is representing - Russia or England.

All made by Jennie Rayment, the queen of calico and tucks.

We do carry all of Jennie's books.

All made of thick piping, stitched together in rows and trimmed with Yo-Yos.

Whilst walking to the Festival from the Hotel each day, we passed through some beautiful gardens and lake so I thought you may appreciate more of the surroundings of the NEC grounds too.

We arrived safely in Edinburgh on Monday, travelling by Train from Birmingham.  Fabulous train ride taking about 4 hours.  Was a little hesitant re food on the train though since we saw a Pheasant caught in the wheel of the train with hardly a feather left on it.  Laughed at the sight and thought it may be the way they caught our "Roast Chicken Dinner"! Am kicking myself that I never took a photo for you as it truly was stuck half way around the train's wheel, dead, of course!!!!

Internationals at Festival of Quilts 2010

The Festival of Quilts for 2010 is now all over sadly and what a wonderful event it has been with all due credit going to the Organizers and everyone who made it work like clockwork.  I will keep posting images of quilts and stories though during this week.

Today I'm featuring some of the quilts shown in a special section entitled "Diversity in Europe".  The 17 member countries of the EQA were invited to participate and each country had their own method of choosing what to exhibit.  There were too many to show them all, so forgive me for only selecting a few because all of them truly showed the theme of celebrating patchwork and quilting's diversity in Europe.

SPAIN: "Sentiment Roig"

BELGIUM: "The Gnomes"

GERMANY: "Parrot's Island"

FRANCE

THE NETHERLANDS

Isn't the quilting amazing from all of these?  Entries from all the other countries were equally as mind-blowing.

Vendors complained about the rising costs of being an Exhibitor (as we do!) but one enterprising lady I chatted with refused to pay the £75 fee for each power point by using this antique cash register.   She had no idea of its age but it did belong to her father and she had been using it since 1961 when she inherited it.  The bell rings when the till is opened, though ever so softly, the paper rotates with the closing of the drawer and she claimed it did the job for her so why update?  Just LOVE this one.  The vendor was just as much a character too.  I thank her for allowing me to photograph it to share with you.

Travelling by train to Edinburgh on Monday and the weather forcast is RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN.  How wonderful!