The Festival of Quilts 2018. . .

Last Saturday, I travelled down to Birmingham for the annual Festival of Quilts. I love this show - it's a sensory overload of talent, colour, texture and inspiration. There are over 1,400 quilts on display, plus a large marketplace, but with some comfy shoes and a packed lunch, you can cover quite a lot in one day. 

There were so many fabulous quilts on display but here's a tiny round-up of some that really caught my eye.  I'll start with my favourite of all the artist exhibitions - Pieces of My Life by Shizuko Kuroha.  She sews with mostly vintage indigo-dyed fabrics and her play with shape and colour is exquisite and mesmerising. 

Remembrance of Wind by Shizuko Kuroha

Cosmos II by Shizuko Kuroha

Gifts from the Sky by Shizuko Kuroha

She was attending the quilt show and as I was so impressed by her work, I just had to buy a copy of her book, which she signed for me.  It is such a beautifully designed celebration of her life and work, with some stunning photography and wonderful patterns, not only for many of the quilts, but for some smaller projects too, such as a lovely quilted drawstring bag that would be perfect for some knitting.

One of the best aspects of the show is the huge variety of quilting styles.  I will always enjoy seeing traditional quilts:

Sailing Home by Sue Faulkner

Twinkling by Regina Maier

Ruby Anniversary Celebration - Group Quilt by the Malvern Quilters

Hexagon Quilt 'La Passion' Challenge by Under-the Edge Quilters

Knit and Purl by Eleanor Birchell Hughes

Some quilts I loved for their colour palettes, others for their texture.

Retro by Sophie Zaugg

Green Thoughts by Amanda Jane Ogden and Alison Moore

Deep Blue by Paola Zanda

Japanese Zen Garden by Hanna Farquharson

There were modern and pictorial quilts:

Retorno Al Paraiso by La Flor Y Nata Del Patchwork 

Curled by Charlie Mankin

And the Sky Danced by Jean McLean

What a Relief by Brenda McDonnell

This quilt had an ecological message about our over-use of plastic.

Plastic Ocean by Kathy Unwin

And this quilt actually used plastic as its fabric.

Anthropogenic Wave by Kay McKiernan

Finally, this was another favourite - one of those quilts that looked even more amazing, the further you stepped away from it. The use of fabrics to create shading and colour was just incredible.

Forty Shades of Green by Ethelda Ellis

I dabbled in quilting long before I took up knitting again so I have . . . ahem. . . a rather large fabric stash in boxes under the spare bed. This show has inspired me to take up a multi-year project which I'll blog about in another post.  It's definitely a show to catch if you are ever near Birmingham in August.