last weekend i took a trip to birmingham to visit the festival of quilts at the nec. i borrowed my 11 year old daughter's personal walkman for the journey though spent most of the time either reading or watching the landscape whizz by from the train window.when i arrived at birmingham i followed the crowds of women heading to the show.the walk from the train station took us up and down escalators and along moving walk ways where i indulged in a little leslie feist moment for my amusement. i arrived smiling... and continued smiling for the rest of the day. it was great fun just to be me and to leave my other personas at home... mother, wife... etc.
i had never been to a quilt show before so i decided to start at one end of the hall and take an ordered route weaving up and down each aisle so as not to miss any of the work on display. this method was successful for a while, until i realised just how huge the hall was and just how many exhibits there were. i began to feel quite dizzy and overwhelmed, so i took a detour to janet's stand to say hello.
i later met another good blog friend too, but this was our first real life meeting after being blog friends for some time. it was really lovely to finally meet caireen who was just as i had imagined her to be... we chatted and drank tea and continued chatting whilst wandering through the hall looking at yet more quilts...
the above 'quilt' was my favourite... called 'labels' , it was made from many paper labels , each decorated and applied to the piece as tags. on closer viewing, many other recycled objects such as hooks, keys and buttons had also been applied to the work. the base of this piece was also cleverly made from paper bags... the detail below shows the baghandles coming out from the side...
what struck me about the exhibition was the variety of the exhibits and the sheer amount of work which must have gone into each piece... from planning the designs, the choosing, cutting and piecing of the fabrics, to the tiny stitches worked by hand, and the final embellishments. i loved seeing too the variety of different techniques displayed and i came home feeling inspired.
many of the quilts displayed were entered into competitons, of which there were different categories for different types of work, from traditional quilts through to contemporay and art quilts. i was particularly interested in the schools quilts...
the theme for the schools was 'the orient'.. the above school's entry had given each child a fabric square on which to draw their interpretation of this theme using fabric crayons. the squares were then assembled into a large quilt. i would love to create a quilt with the children at my girls school in this way one day.
another of my favourite pieces was the 'mawkins coat' as i loved the use of recycled materials... in this case denim for the coat and yarns for the scarf.
it was a simple idea but fun and rather retro and reminded me of a guy i used to date at college who wore patchwork decorated trousers in this kind of style... but a little more psycadelic.
i returned home with only one purchase ~ a back copy of selvedge... but also with lots of ideas for new techniques for experimentation ... and a new real friend!
so a good day.
x
Beautiful pictures and patchwork. A gallery of quilts - gorgeous!
Nina x
Posted by: Nina - Tabiboo | August 31, 2009 at 09:22
so sweet! ... I also had a (secret) liking for the denim coat... I used to love the 'Joseph' musical when was at school. Yes, there we were, standing infront of the 'labels' quilt... cx
Posted by: caireen | August 31, 2009 at 13:14
Aren't they incredible Ginny? Your meet up with Caireen sounds great. Hope the painting is going well! xx
Posted by: Pipany | August 31, 2009 at 15:45
I've been to the show too wasn't it fab? I really enjoyed it.
Posted by: monica | August 31, 2009 at 20:16
I think I may have to add that date into next year's diary. Looks wonderful.
P x
Posted by: Pam | September 01, 2009 at 09:07
Just seeing these gorgeous, imaginative quilts is truly inspiring! Thank you for taking us along Ginny. :O) I just love all you've shared with us here... Makes me want to get out my fabrics and play, and definitely become better at quilting! I was at a quilt show once, and it was fantastic. The energy and beauty of the quilts and all the artisans and enthusiasts really inspires. So glad you had a wonderful time! Happy Days ((HUGS))
Posted by: Tracy | September 01, 2009 at 10:38
I love the 'labels' quilt too. Glad you had a great time with C!
D x
Ps what are you painting? (re Pipany's comment)
Posted by: Pebbledash | September 02, 2009 at 22:20