The Festival of Quilts

We were so lucky to have two days at the Quilt show. You need at least 2 days to see most of it. It was wonderful to see the Tentmakers of Cairo and their wonderful, vibrant quilts.

 The miniatures at the show were amazing. These quilts were so tiny!

 This stitching is all machined.

 The quilts on display were so varied. This is a beautiful memory quilt.

 These gorgeous quilts were by a French quilter and they were just amazing!

 Then there were lots of modern quilts too.

 It was exciting to see quite a few Australian quilts.

 These stitched and appliqued jumpers really caught my eye.

 This was another favourite with cross stitch, crochet and embroidered motifs added to a wonderful quilt.

 There were other designers too and Penny and I especially enjoyed one of the weaving stalls.

We did 2 classes which Penny chose! Both involved free motion quilting which is not one of my strong points. I should have taken pictures of Penny's samples as mine are not so good! Still it was fun to try a few new things. The first was a screen printed fern and then we quilted around it. 

 The second class was using special fabric that shrinks up after your stitch and iron it. The funny part of that class is that we have had that fabric at hobbysew for ages! Looks quite effective when quilted even by me! The shrinking hides the quilting a bit.

Hay on Wye, Talgarth and the Festival of quilts

On Thursday, 6 August, we headed into Hay on Wye for a castle tour. We have seen the castle before but we haven't been inside it. There are major renovations going on and there are guided tours of the castle grounds and the interior. It was interesting to hear all about the castle's long history.

 We then went to the Booth's Book store for lunch which was delicious. In the afternoon, Penny, Mary, who was visiting Penny and John too, and I headed to Talgarth. We came for afternoon tea to catch up with Ginny, who I have known since I first came to visit Penny a few years ago. Ginny sells some of her handiwork in the Talgarth craft store. We were fascinated but these rag rugs made by Rosemary Stowe. She sells them in the shop. They are made with folded worsted wool.

On Friday, Mary, Penny and I headed to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts at the NEC. It was amazing. It is very large and hard to see all the stalls and all the quilts! It is about 2 or 3 times the size of the Sydney Craft show.

 We visited Lynette Anderson's stall which was being run very ably by some lovely ladies in Lynette's absence. Penny and I had to have our picture taken with Lynette on instagram along with some other ladies. I borrowed this picture from Lynette's blog.

It was lovely to meet Karen from Somerset Quilting, who is another Australian designer. 

 We loved this beautiful quilt. Must order the pattern! It is mostly hand pieced.

We also enjoyed meeting Janet Clare and just had to puchase one of her books.

 Another highlight was meeting Kaffe Fassett, who was calmly knitting as everyone stopped to see him.

 I much admired these gorgeous crocheted scarfs designed by Sophie Digard.

 And then there were the quilts. So many wonderful creations both traditional and modern.

 The pieces on this quilt for so tiny.

I just loved this antique quilt.

I will leave it there as this post is so long already. Will share some more soon.