Festival of Quilts 2014

Last week was the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and Maggie Grey/ d4daisy Books had a stand to promote the new book Cut, Shape, Stitch.  We were all there in force, aprons at the ready for some messy demos and had all gargled with TCP to get us ready for all the Talking.

And what a fantastic show it was.  I went over on Wednesday to help Maggie and Clive to set up and we had a great time seeing a lot of pieces from the book displayed in all their glory together.

Here is Maggie mentally preparing herself for the next few days ahead.  The stand did look fantastic though.

Those poles on the left have die cut flowers wrapped around them.  This is my favourite piece in the book.  I keep dropping hints to Maggie about how great it would look in my house, but she is determined to keep it.  Curses!

That was about as empty as it would be for the next few days so it was good to get some pictures of it before it all started.

We all took it in turns to do some demos.  Maggie did her wonderful Gesso and Quink Ink technique which drew in huge crowds and new fans.  That technique is covered in the book and Maggie has produced some amazing work with it.  Paula did a lot of metal cutting on the Sizzix and I did some cutting on the Sizzix using fabric and some snow paint stencilling.

Paula applied alcohol ink to metal and cut it on the Sizzix

Alcohol Inks on metal

I had printed onto hand-dyed fabric from Alter Ego (Jo Lovelock) using Sizzix cut stencils, then machine stitched into the fabric.  I cut squares and triangles and am going to make some 3D houses, slightly different to the ones that are featured in the book.

All our supplies to demo with.

Maggie's Gesso and Ink sample and my snow paint strips

More gesso.  Looks fantastic in the flesh but a great example of this technique is in the book.

Maggie in full flow and trying her hardest not to spray ink all over the front row of watchers....

Luckily, we did manage to get out and see some of the exhibitions and quilts and other wonderful pieces in the show.  I am going to do a proper write up in the September issue of WOW but these are some of the highlights!

Annette Morgan and Louise Batten - Indigo Two Step

Cas Holmes - detail of Sandshadows.  Part of the Art Textiles exhibition on Identity.  This was a fantastic exhibition with many of my favourite textile artists.

Rosie James - another piece from Art Textiles.  Her work is fabulous and I will be reviewing her new book in September Workshop on the Web which I loved.

Stephanie Redfern in Art Textiles.  Stephanie is one my favourite artists and I just love her work.

Goldfinch Triptych by Chloe Redfern (Stephanie's daughter).  I loved her pieces too.

Daisy May Collingridge - A Collection of Quilted Monsters and Bedtime Beasties.  This piece was beautifully quilted and in yellow, my current favourite colour.

Jo Lovelock's quilt in the Fine Art Quilt Masters exhibition.  I loved the combination of text and the pieced pattern.  This is a detail photograph.

Ineke van Unen detail from Course of Life.  Her work was amazingly colourful with beautifiul stitching and composition

Judith Gundwiler and Gabi Mett had an exhibition together.  This piece by Judith is called Transmigrations of Life and this is a detail picture.

This clock by Kate Crossley won the Quilt Creations prize and unsurprisingly.  It was exquisite.  A fully working clock that was stitched, embellished and had an inordinate amount of treasures and hidden secrets for the viewer to search out.

Ineke Berlyn's Red Kites was included in Linda Seward's exhibition to accompany her book on Art Quilts.  I loved this piece.

Louisa Peers Bushfire.  This is a detail of a long piece with one of my favourite subjects - trees.  The colours were fantastic.

Having managed to get away from the stand long enough to take around 500 pictures, it was hard work to narrow these down!

One of my highlights though had to have been the presence of Amy Butler at the show.  Having been my fabric design hero since I made my Rainy Days mac (you can see it on one of my earliest posts), I was suitably humbled to be able to talk to her and listen about her work (all of her designs are originally made on paper and later transferred over to computer technology).  She was a beautiful and calm presence at a time where I was feeling a little manic with stealing moments to look around the show.  I regretted that she wasn't there on Sunday when it started pouring, as I was running around in my lovely mac, slightly damp around the edges.  Although she probably has people telling her all the time about what clothes of hers they have made...

I had a fantastic time this year, made special by the fact that we talked to so many people who were interested in our book and the techniques we have used in it.  Seeing some amazing work, talking to lovely people, putting faces to names and meeting an idol made it a week to remember.

Knitting and Stitching Show

It's hard to believe that it was a whole 2 weeks since the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace.  I went with Paula Watkins and her friend Moira, although I did keep losing them whilst looking round all the lovely stalls.  I also met up with Maggie Grey and her grand-daughter Lauren, although my other Workshop on the Web friend Fiona sadly couldn't make it.

There were plenty of things to see, and I wanted to post a few pictures of my favourite things there.

First were some unusual pieces in the Mr X-Stitch stand.  He was there in person talking about the pieces he had got together. My favourites were these.  First, the embroidered doors:

Both were drilled with holes and then stitched through.  Pretty amazing stitching.

Also found were a series of pieces by Rosie James called City Streets, using stitch, applique and printing (looks like screen printing).  I loved this series.

I met a few interesting people on my way around.

First I met Jane E Hall and her husband Neil.  I was familiar with Jane's first book, The Embroidery of Jane Hall, having read it when it came out and loved it.  Jane creates wonderfully detailed observations of nature that must require endless patience, good eyesight and an abundance of talent.

These are some of the pictures I took, and I can hardly believe how perfect they are.  The stitching is exquisite!

This butterfly is so perfect it looks real.  It is hand stitched!

These cobwebs were made by hand from woven silk thread and silk fibres painstakingly glued on.  In real life they are so delicate and beautiful. 

Jane has a new book out, called The Art of Butterflies.  I am reviewing it for December WOW, but it was fantastic to then read the book after seeing these photos as you can really appreciate the work and detail.  I also was given a copy of An Interview With Jane E Hall to review and it is a perfect accompaniment to the book.

I took a few pictures, but these don't do justice to the work done.

Another exciting find for me was new work by Jean Littlejohn:

Choker



Widows Weeds

I loved the top piece.  It was so delicate.

I had a great day and didn't spend too much (only on essentials...).