Pieced Quilts from Festival of Quilts 2011

More and more I am drawn to pieced quilts, preferably scrap quilts, based on traditional quilt blocks with lots of small pieces.
Somebody wrote on a blog recently that as modern quilters, we often move away from traditional piecing and would rather use applique, fabric painting or other modern techniques in our quilt designs. I suppose what she was driving at was that we go for speed of completion rather than the actual journey of piecing.
So perhaps we need to slow down sometimes and enjoy the repetitive nature of piecing lots of small pieces into blocks and quilts. There is nothing that gives me more pleasure than an uninterupted piecing session at the sewing machine, feeding through chain pieced sections and building up blocks in a lovely methodical way.
So when I go to quilt shows I love to look at pieced quilts, the scrappier the better. I love quilts with lots going on.

This morning I am going to treat you to a little quilt show of pieced quilts which were on display at Festival of Quilts. None of these won any prizes, if you think about it pieced quilts seem to be out of fashion with quilt judges in the UK.

I love the kaleioscope block and the way that the maker has substituted a blue triangle in the photo above.

A pineapple block quilt. Controlled scrappy - interesting placement of the orange scraps.

A miniature flying geese quilt - Flying Goslings by Dorian Walton. This was probably only about 8 inches square!

Following my visit to the Elegant Geometry exhibit in Nebraska I was drawn to this quilt made from elongated hexagons. and squares made in the mosaic patchwork style.

I really loved this pineapple block quilt.

I also loved this tumbling blocks variation.

Hope you enjoyed these quilts. I fancy going to do a few hours piecing now but instead it will be back to completing my book for my City & Guilds course. I will hopefully get time to baste a quilt this afternoon though.

Pictorial Quilts at Festival of Quilts 2011

I really enjoy looking at pictorial quilts. I love to look at how they are constructed and marvel how the makers manage to translate a picture or photograph into fabric.

The first quilt is called 'The Bayeux Tapestry to Quilt'. The maker isn't in the catalogue because it was a late entry but I think it was made by an Australian Quilter.

Absolutely beautiful applique and quilting.

This quilt is called 'Ab-Original' by Valerie Wheeler.

I loved this one - it is actually constructed from tiny hexagons! It is called 'Billie Joe Armstrong'

This beautiful mountain scene drew a lot of attention and looked better the further away you viewed it. It is called 'Lyngsfjord I' by Jane Ashe.

This quilt is so life like. It is called 'Dassehra' by Bette Kultorp Andresen of Norway.

I really loved this one as it was very 3 dimensional. It is called 'Loss of the French Schooner 'Jeune St Charles'' by Anne Taylor.

Finally this trio of quilts really stood out in one of the galleries. It is so clever - the piecing fascinated me. In fact I love it more because it is pieced rather than being appliqued or painted.

'My Way' by Solvi L. Krokeide of Norway.

Festival of Quilts 2011 - some of the winners.

This morning I thought I would share some photos of some of the winning quilts from the festival.

This is the winner of the Group Quilt category - Mere Kats.

Click on the photos for more detail. Not sure about who made it as it does not appear to be in the catalogue(!). However it was much loved by all the visitors - it was very hard to get close to it!

Below is the winner of the Pictorial Quilts - Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga from the Netherlands. It is titled Hot Africa.

This is also Janneke's work - winner of the Art Quilt category and Best in Show. This quilt is titled Octopussy.

Below is the winner of the Contemporary Quilt category - made by Valerie Mullally from Ireland. It is titled 'Dear Jane. Its the 21st Century'. It is made from felted wool.

Below is the winner of the Miniature Quilt Category - made by Kumiko Fredyl from Texas USA. It is titled 'Blue like a Wedgwood.'
It is a wholecloth with trapunto and free motion quilting.

Below is just a section of the winner of the Traditional Quilts category. It was very difficult to get close to this and I was going to go back but forgot! It is made by Deborah Kemball from London. It is titled 'Heart's Desire'.

There were other winners in other categories but I'm afraid I don't have photos of those.
Of course I do have my favourite amongst these I have shown in the post - can you guess which one it is?

Wonky Houses at Festival of Quilts

Tonight I have arrived home happy, but tired from two days at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. The show must be the highlight for British Quilters and this year has been as enjoyable as ever.

The best things about it are - meeting up with old friends and making new ones, seeing some of the best quilts in Europe, great shopping opportunities and the feeling of being part of something special.

I really didn't want to come home when I was 'kicked out' at 5.30pm today but I have come away with lots of inspiration for future projects.
The quilts were of a really high standard as ever. My observations were - less entries from 'big names', not always agreeing with the judging, less entries from outside Europe and lots of quilts which were entered in the wrong category (makers have to decide whether their quilts are art quilts, contemporary or traditional)
As always I have taken lots of photos, over 300 actually and I will try to share some of these over the next few days.

We will start with a quilt that I came upon by accident - I didn't see it in the catalogue.
One of my current areas of interest is liberated piecing and this quilt is a masterpiece of liberated wonky houses. It has been made by 178 quilters from the Czech Republic and is 6 metres wide by 2 metres tall. It has been awarded a Guiness World Record although it was not clear what this was given for.

Lots of liberated, improvised piecing, each house individual and interesting to look at. It was a highlight of the show for me!