THE FESTIVAL OF QUILTS DISASTER

This is my first post without a photo - appropriate really because it is about my missing entry to the Festival Of Quilts.

For those of you reading this from outside the UK - FOQ is probably the largest quilt show in the UK. This year I entered the student category which was for a design board rather than a quilt.

This is the entry I posted on BQL (British Quilt List - yahoo forum) last night -



"I need to share this before I have slept on it and feel better.BQL has many quilters on its membership list who have entered FOQ, some of you have won prizes and some of you are judges.

I want everyone to know what has happened to me today. Imagine how it feels to wait in the queue on the first day, see your name in the programme, when the doors open eagerly make your way to see your quilt in all its glory - only to find an empty space.

This is what happened to me today - my entry - in the student category - 1157 to be exact- is lost.

This represents one month of hard work for me. I can easily redo the design board - I have photographs and all the art work here at home. It doesn't really matter if it never is found. What I wanted was my work on display at the FOQ and more importantly I wanted it to be judged - and yes I wanted the chance to win.

I am devastated. For everyone who is thinking how well they do only to lose a few quilts (and I do know that mine is not the only one) stop and think how you would feel if that was one of yours. When you visit over the next few days look at the winning quilts and think about how they would feel if their quilt had never made it.

At the moment the courier is being blamed - I will be asking them if they agree with this in the morning.In the meantime I would like to thank my fellow C&G students, particularly Mary for their support (I suspect there will not be any entries from our college next year!), Susan Briscoe and Sandie Lush for listening".



This morning I phoned the courier. It would appear that my entry has been lost by the courier company recommended by the organisers of the FOQ .However they did alert the FOQ organisers that it was missing one week ago. I never got an answer to the question why I had not been informed. Obviously they thought I wouldn't notice..........

Four entries are missing from the Leeds depot. The other 3 belong to one person who had entered 3 quilts into the show. My thoughts are also with her - I can imagine just how she is feeling!




We have had a family party today with my brother and his family visiting from Essex. My Mum confided in me how upset my Dad has been about the FOQ disaster as he knows how hard I have been working on my City & Guilds over the last year.

Anyway this afternoon I had a call from Wayne from Expofreight - the four missing parcels have been found! They never left the Leeds depot and had in fact 'fallen down the back of some shelving'. If only I could have had the conversation I had with Wayne this morning, last week this could have all been averted. He informed me that the quilts would be going straight down to the NEC this afternoon. I called the NEC to try to talk to the FOQ organisers straight after this call and later this afternoon Andrew Salmon (the man in charge of the company organising the show) phoned me back. We had a long conversation - the upshot of which is as follows.

My design board will be hung tomorrow and will have a printed apology next to it - his suggestion.

He will try his best to get my entry judged if the judges are still there. This was my main concern although I know I cannot now win.

I have had a verbal apology from both the courier and Mr Salmon which I have accepted.

He has promised to phone me regarding the judging over the weekend.

I am going to be offline for the rest of the weekend as we are going to the VW festival at Harewood House Leeds.

I don't know how I feel about the whole episode at the moment - a bit numb I suppose. I am glad it has been found and they are trying their best to put things right - but the disappointment is still there.