Festival of Quilts,UK, 2015

Make sure you read to the very end to see all of this weeks excitement....

Arghhh....no white gloves.....the back of my quilt 'Subtle Differences'

I started my journey to Birmingham from Edinburgh Airport last Tuesday in torrential rain. Once in Birmingham it doesn't really matter what the weather is like but it was dry the next day when Ani, Sally, Mark and I unloaded the van and started the procedure of building up our stand, it doesn't really take that long.

Sally and I laughed that we could both fit into one of these 2X HiViz jackets, they were compulsory uniform out in the carpark and stand area during set up and tear down.

As usual on opening day we left our Hotel early in the morning to get a first sneak peek at the winners before they were draped ready for the big reveal. I had heard from Coriene on the previous evening that we had won a 2nd prize in the Two Person category, this quilt was hung in just the perfect position to the left of the main entrance so was very easy to find...

My own quilt was in the Traditional category, I had made it double sided so was sorry that it hadn't been hung so that both sides could be seen as I had asked. There was a sign to say that it was double sided so every single time that someone asked to see the back the quilt was lifted and folded, yes, with white gloves but that's, not the point, the quilt now needs reblocking as there is now a fold line and bend on the side that didn't have the label.

I was however delighted to see that there was a Judges Choice Award on show right beside it. The award had been given by Sandie Lush, Sandie is a hand quilter and I am sure she took her role very seriously and chose with care, so I consider that praise indeed! Thank you Sandie!

Mark was asked to accept an award for Claudia in her absence so we toddled off to the award ceremony together fighting our way down through the aisles packed with visitors and customers. We met Coriene and Dickie at the theatre entrance, found seats and were quickly accompanied by Janette sitting right in front of us, after a quick catch up the award ceremony began. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were invited up onto the stage so when our turn came Coriene and I went up to collect our 2nd place award, we were thrilled.

We already secretly knew that Janette had won a first prize but even she was shocked and stunned to know she had won 1st place, Best in Show, quilted on an APQS longarm.

Claudia's Turtle Bay, this is stunning, a worthy winner quilted on an APQS longarm

There were many quilts in the show that would have looked wonderful sporting an award of some kind, so as usual there were many discussions about the winners and non winners, everyone always has there own opinion of who should have been chosen.

I was busy working on the stand but did take time out to attend a few lectures and take a few photos of quilts that caught my eye as I was passing by.

Sorry if I missed some of the names, if any quilt is yours drop me a line  and let me know....

Sandie Chandler

 Cappuchino by Linda Jackson

Linda Jackson

Liz Jones

The Awakening by Annelize Littlefair

Annelize Littlefair the back

Pauline Barns

Janneka DeVries Bodzinga quilted on an APQS George sitdown longarm

We missed our pal Linzi on the stand this year but still managed to meet up with her and have a 'Brummy Curry' at the Shabar restaurant, as usual we all had a laugh and ate far too much.

Linzi's own Tartan Quilt was fantastic and hanging on her own stand, it looked quite graphic, like a poster, I loved it. 

The day's flew by and before we knew it it was Sunday and the final day. Late in the afternoon there was a call over the loudspeaker system for me to go to the Quilters Guild stand and meet Coriene, Stonefields had received the Visitors Choice Award. This award is voted for by the public, that is visitors to the show and is an award held under great regard as it's voted for by your contemporaries. There were woops and cheers from all corners, I shouldn't really have been surprised as every time I had walked passed that area the quilt was always surrounded with ladies with there noses right up to the quilt giving it there full attention.

Details of this quilt can be found here at this bog post Daisy's Stonefield or by clicking on the photo link near the top righthand side of this blog....

Receiving the Visitors Choice Award, Myself, Coriene, Vivien Finch, President of QGBI and Jonathan Burton from Upperstreet Events

It was a wonderful evening on Monday to fly back into Edinburgh, the views were spectacular,after a short drive I was home again, already looking forward to Festival of Quilts 2016