Autumn Quilt Festival, Chilford

This morning Mr F and I drove off to the Autumn Quilt Festival at Chilford. I have been there a few times before, and I was really looking forward to seeing lots of gorgeous fabrics and threads, quilt displays, meeting friends, having a delicious lunch and maybe a little bit of shopping too..... 

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.....well, I wasn't disappointed - there were lots of fabrics to chose from, and some excellent quilts were on display.
After we'd had a good look round at all the stalls we had lunch, and then it was time to go back and have another look at the quilts - ....

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.....it was impossible this year to pick a favourite but there were two that I really liked. Firstly this one by Dot Carver from Devon - titled "North of the Border" - the class was called "Back to my Roots" and the accompanying note stated that the heather colours of the "braes" and the strong shapes of the thistle provided the inspiration as her family roots are firmly in Scotland ..... 

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.....and secondly this quilt by Freida Oxenham, Peeblesshire - the techniques she used are computer design (EQ5), hand and machine piecing, hand and machine quilting, hand embroidery and beading.....

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.....there were probably lots of people there who I didn't get a chance to say "hello" to, but did manage to stop and chat to two of my quilting friends, Lesley and Mary (these ladies were responsible for me finding out about Janette the longarm quilter) and Mr F kindly took this snap of the 3 of us.....

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.....there was even time to do a LITTLE bit of shopping hehe!!
I really like sewing toilettry and make-up bags, so I was looking for suitable fabric - and just look what I found! These beautiful Lecien fabrics were from Sew and So's -they will be perfect for making small bags.....

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.....then I found another pretty green Lecien fabric on the Monkey Buttons stall, again for making toilettry bags. I also bought some cream and gold fabric for Christmas gifts, and some special fabric sheets for printing photographs onto.
it was nearly time to leave, when Mr F spotted some "country-style" fabric that he thought I could use to make him a quilted waistcoat to wear when he goes shooting - hmmm - well, any advice on how I go about that would be gratefully received!! - oh well I suppose he DOES deserve a pressie for taking me to the quilt festival ;)

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