Blog Archives

FoQ 2013 - NQF

18/8/2013

There was a wonderful exhibition of Norwegian quilts at the FoQ this year on behalf of the Norwegian Quilters Guild (Norsk Quilteforbund) - and I was so excited to see one on display that had been made by Mona Mørkved, whose blog I follow, along with several other lovely quilts. This year was NQF's 25th anniversary.....

.....and finally, I also met Grete, whose blog I have been following for a while. We met when I had lunch with the Norwegian ladies (more about that later!) and she kindly let me take a picture of her with her quilt.

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FoQ 2013 - The Fat Quarters

17/8/2013

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A few years ago I contacted The Fat Quarters to set up a subscription to an Australian magazine, Homespun, and started a wonderful friendship with Kim. She has a fabulous shop in Northumberland (well my friend Pam tells me she has - Mr F is yet to take me there!!) and also a wonderful website. I order most of my Australian patterns from this shop, and the service has always been excellent, and if I've ever needed to phone them about an order, I've always received a very cheerful welcome! Anyway, I just had to stop at their stall as I had pre-ordered a set of patterns (BFF by Rosalie Quinlan!!).....

.....and here are the bright and bubbly and very friendly Kim and Debbie, as seen on TV - catch them on the Create and Craft channel on Freeview and Sky - "Six Penny Memories" next showing on 18th August at 8am and 11am. I'll make sure I'm tuned in!!

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FoQ 2013 - Karin Ostergaard

16/8/2013

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I was really excited to see this wonderful exhibition by the Danish designer Karin Ostergaard - her exhibition was "Inspired by Nature" and was simply stunning. Karin kindly agreed to let me take her photograph, next to this beautiful wall hanging "Blowing in the wind" (Som vinden blæser). The quilting on this wall hanging was amazing and the centre of these poppies were just incredible. I have photographed most of her work, so please excuse the photo-heavy blog post! If you click onto the photographs, they will enlarge so you can see them better. Sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy!

"Spring irresolution"

..... "In open air" (Under åben himmel) and "Down under I" followed by "Down under II".....

"Petrified life I", "Petrified life II" and finally "Petrified life III"(Forstenet liv)

"The killer whale's song" (Spækhuggerens sang) - this was truely amazing and was receiving a lot of lovely comments as I was admiring this exhibition.

"Birds sings - some screams" (Hver Fugl synger med sit næb)

"Freedom like the swallows in the sky" (Friheden flyver, som svalerne højt i det blå) and yes those really ARE 3-D swallows nests - this piece was incredible!

and finally "The Danish summer" (Du danske sommer). This really was a wonderful exhibition, and I was so glad that I was able to spend time looking at it - I actually went back all four days of the show to admire this and every time I saw different things to look at in these incredible wall hangings.

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FoQ - Lynne Edwards

16/8/2013

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Lynne Edwards: A Lifetime in Quilts
Lynne Edwards, MBE, describes herself as "a teacher who quilts, rather than a quilter who teaches" and has spent more than 45 years making quilts. She has written several books, and her work is absolutely amazing - and this exhibition was a rare chance to see a selection of her quilts. I especially loved the "Blue Lily" quilt, and her quilts made using the Cathedral Windows technique were stunning. Lynne has written several books (I have a few on my bookshelf - The Sampler Quilt Book, Cathedral Windows Quilts, and Stash-buster Quilts) and has been a fabulous inspiration to quilters. If you click on the pictures below they will enlarge. The lighting wasn't particularly good over several of the displays at the show, but these quilts were absolutely stunning. Lynne was absolutely lovely too, and very generous with her time, chatting to quilters and offering advice! While I was admiring these quilts, I saw Verona (from Sew and So's at Bungay) who was helping on the stand with Lynne. I really must make another visit up again there soon!!

Blue Lily Quilt - 2006

Second Sampler Quilt - 1997/1998

Peacock Windows - 1994

Cathedral Windows Explored - 2013

Bright Batiks - 2007

Swirling Leaves - 2007

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FoQ - Quilt Creations

15/8/2013

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The section "Quilt Creations" is always one of my favourites, and this year there was a wonderful assortment of exhibits.

Just to Make you Smile - Gillian Travis
Machine quilting, using printed cottons, wire and felt. A quilters take on Van Gogh's Iris and Sunflowers. This looked such fun and yes it did make me smile!!

Scarlett's Crimson - Philippa Naylor (awarded second prize!!)
This is an original design by Philippa - it is machine and hand pieced, free motion quilted and decorated with a contrast piping. 100% cotton, sateen and gingham. Silk organza and cotton organdie linings. Philippa took her inspiration from couture ball gowns of the 1950's in terms of the design and fine sewing techniques. I was so thrilled to see this dress and jacket - as when I stayed in Yorkshire in May and did a residential course with Philippa we spent an evening at her home and saw this dress in the making - it looked stunning in pieces and even more spectacular in real life!

Blue Ginko - Helen Hazon
Dyeing, painting, machine embroidery and quilting, garment design and assembly. My friend Helen made this beautiful jacket for her City and Guilds diploma - the inspiration came from the Ginko leaves from her garden. Helen it is really lovely!!

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FoQ 2013 - Group Quilts

15/8/2013

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Here are my favourites in the "Group Quilts section .

Streets of London - Kreativ Sanitorium
Pieced, fused and appliqued, using mostly cottons. The group were inspired to make a series of small quilts following a visit to London. And yes, the picture of Liberty's has got Liberty fabric on it! And would you believe this is a Norwegian group? I don't know why but I do seem to be drawn to the Scandinavian exhibits - maybe there is a bit of Viking blood running through my veins!! My friend Inger Lise has sent me the picture of all the quilts from the group Kreativ Sanitorium as I hadn't taken a picture with all of them - thank you so much Inger Lise!!

Purple Palette by Artworks
A collection of techniques were used in the construction of this piece - knitting, crochet, felting, applique, marbling, beading, embroidery, prodding, embellishing, dyeing, fabric manipulation, ruching, devore, and coiling. Made with cotton, felt, knitting yarns, chiffon, satin, organza, silk, polyester, wire and beads. I was fascinated by this 3-D ehhibit - there was just so much to see on this exhibit, and it made you want to touch it. It was absolutely superb!

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FoQ 2013 - Pictorial Quilts

15/8/2013

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These two quilts were my favourites in the "Pictorial Quilts" section. This group was sponsored by eQuilter.com

The Tenth - by Kirsty Daum
Patchwork, piecing, hybrid-pixel. made with Kona cotton. I have been following Kirsty's blog for a while, (St. Louis Folk Victorian) and it was fantastic to finally see this in real life - it was receiving SO many comments by people - what a shame David Tennant wasn't actually there himself! Oh and the actual blogpost showing all Kirsty's pictures of how this went together is here .

In a Spin - by Hilary Beattie
Bonded collage and applique. Machine quilting and stitching. Decorative hand stitching. Made using a mixture of commercial and hand painted materials. Bonded onto felt. Of course I HAD to include this exhibit belonging to Hilary - I first saw her work earlier this year and was so lucky to see her demonstrating at the show this year - I just wish I had her boundless energy!

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F0Q 2013 - Contemporary Quilts

15/8/2013

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This is a selection of my favourite quilts from the "Contemporary Quilts" group. This group was sponsored by Janome.

Tumbling Blocks - by Philippa Naylor
All the fabric was hand dyed by Philippa, and uses 3040 individual pieces! This has been machine pieced and machine quilted on her domestic machine. The small 3-D blocks were machine pieced into the quilt and appear to be "exploding" out of this fabulous quilt.
I was so lucky to see this quilt "in progress" when I did a 4-day residential course with Philippa last year - and it was wonderful to see how it has finally come to life! her quilting, as always, was simply amazing and the 3-D cubes really did seem to be popping out!

Green Copse - by Helen Howes
Helen has used a mixture of stitch, piecing, print and dye to create this - I always enjoy seeing Helen's work, and have attended several workshops with her. She is a great tutor, always full of enthusiasm and has boundless energy!

Sunshine on my Pillow - by Mary Mayne
This has been machine pieced and hand quilted. It uses traditional star blocks and a variety of borders, thus doing away with the need for traditional sashing.

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FoQ 2013 - Art Quilts

15/8/2013

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This is a selection of my favourites from the "Art Quilts" group. This class was sponsored by Madeira.

Red 2013 - by Jane Mills
This piece has been made with machine raw edge applique, onto a pieced background and machine quilted. The fabrics used are hand dyed silk, Oakshott cottons, and cotton.

Rhapsody in Blue - by Cecilia Gonzalez Desedamas
This has been machine pieced and machine free quilted, using silks that had been hand dyed and painted by the quilter.

Beach Thoughts - by Stephanie Redfern
Made with applique, machine and hand stitched. Fabric, paper, threads and beads were used to create this piece.

Spring - by Meret Buetzberger
Made using a bundle of commercial batiks and cotton fabrics, and free hand cutting.

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FoQ 2013 - Traditional Quilts

15/8/2013

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Here are a selection of my favourite quilts in the "Traditional Quilts" section. This class was sponsored by British Patchwork and Quilting. It was interesting to see that some of the quilts didn't seem to "fit" their classes, and some that seemed to be contemporary were in the traditional class - I spoke to one of the stewards, who told me that the individual quilter decides which class they want their quilt displayed in, and there is no ability to have quilts moved into a different class if the judges think the quilt is in the wrong class! Maybe I should enter one of mine next year!!

The Long Apprenticeship - by Gillian Arkley
Made using the quilt-as-you-go method. (I absolutely loved this quilt - and really appreciated the amount of work that went into making it, especially as I started a sampler quilt a few years ago and gave up at the enormity of the task! This was just simply stunning. The fabrics that Gillian used were beautiful. Definitely my favourite!

Round and Round the Garden - by Eilis Watson
Machine pieced and machine quilted, using over five thousand pieces! Made with batiks and Aurifil thread.

Heirloom Quilt - by Geraldine Clarke
This quilt has been made using silk and calico, and uses at least 30 different sewing machine techniques. The quilt was made as a result of the quilter being on a course led by Pauline Ineson.