Festival of Quilts 2018 – Part 2 – Contemporary Needlework

My annual visit to The Festival of Quilts is a day full of complete and utter textiles indulgence.  I wander up and down the rows of fabulous quilts taking in all the colours & patterns and chat to the international artists in their galleries.

This year I was impressed with the Contemporary Needlework hidden between the larger quilts. 

Here is some beautiful work that caught my eye this year made by Vanessa Marr,   Sara Heatherly,  Lesley Bell,  Ruth Singer, Cas Holmes, Maria Thomas and Christine Chester.

Hexagons and Stitchery

In recent years I’ve noticed more and more embroidery and mixed media pieces on show. This year there were some real beauties featuring hand stitching, free motion embroidery, surface design and hexagons.

Festival of Quilts 2018 - Kate Aimson
Kate Aimson

Continue reading “Festival of Quilts 2018 – Part 2 – Contemporary Needlework”

Festival of Quilts 2018 – Part 1 – My Favourite Quilts

The Festival of Quilts is the highlight of my quilting year.  It’s an annual event where I feed my mind with colour & pattern and catch up with Stitchery friends from across the UK.

This year’s show felt even bigger and better than in previous yearsmore quilts, more amazing exhibitions and way more visitors. In fact, there were so many quilters arriving at the opening of day one that the organisers had to open up three entrances in order to get us all in!

I find my tastes in quilts changes from year to year.  I wander around and only photograph work which I love or pieces that  ‘speak’ to me.  After a quick browse through this year’s snaps I discovered a beautiful collection of traditional quilts and contemporary needlework which I will share with you over the next few posts.

My Favourite Quilts from The Festival of Quilts

These are my favourite quilts from the show – all are double or king size bed quilts apart from one very tiny, blue miniature quilt.

Some are competition quilts and some are exhibition quilts.

Festival of Quilts 2018 - Traditional Quilt - Ann Pill
Traditional Quilt – Ann Pill

Continue reading “Festival of Quilts 2018 – Part 1 – My Favourite Quilts”

Contemporary Craft Festival 2018, Bovey Tracey – YouTube

The recent heatwave has provided a perfect opportunity for me to catch up with a little housekeeping. Not the domestic kind but a bit of computer housekeeping.  I’ve tweaked and organised some photos and rediscovered some video footage from The Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey.  So after a little editing I’ve put together this rather jolly video diary to share with you.

I regularly receive questions on Instagram, about the artists I meet on my travels and how to contact them. Therefore, at the very end of this video I’ve included a selection of wonderful artists along with their contact details.

YouTube

Over the years, you have followed my many textile journeys on this BlogInstagram and Facebook. Therefore, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to join in my next big adventure as I take the leap into the world of YouTube.

To follow The ‘Arnold’s Attic’ YouTube Channel,  please follow this link, click ‘Subscribe’ and then click the little bell image to be notified about new videos.  There’s already plenty for you to watch with lots more in the pipeline.

Coming up – YouTube from Mister Finch ‘The Wish Post’ Exhibition.