Festival of Quilts 2011

I have been very lax in not sharing my photos from the Festival of Quilts, held at the NEC in Birmingham, this year.  This is my second year of attending, and THIS time I remembered not only my camera, but spare batteries AND a memory card - WOOOHOOOOO!  I was also well prepared because I bought the catalogue this year, so when I took a photo of a quilt, I also took a photo of the number of the quilt - well call me clever!  I actually know what each quilt I photographed this year is called.  (I'd just like to state that last year I took a camera without a memory card, took about 3 photos and my batteries died, I also had no clue what the quilts were that I photographed - so no one can say I don't learn my lessons the hard way).

So now we have a looong post full of photos that are, at the very least credited. I apologise that the photographs are not great, but it is really hard to take photographs of large quilts when people stand in front of them and you also can't get far enough back.  To be honest I'm amazed I have as many in focus as I have! 

Winner of Art Quilts 101 - First Amateur Award
Octopussy, by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga, Kollumerzwaag, The Netherlands

444 - Highly Commended
Homage to Henri by Liz Howlett, Lewes, UK

423
La Grande Perspective by Susan Short, Fleet, UK

358
Interference 1 by Leah Higgins, Eccles, UK

365
Enchanted Forest by Helen Howes, Ravingham, UK

777 - Winner Pictoral Quilts - Judges Choice
Hot Africa, Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga, Kollumerzwaag, The Netherlands

901
Enchanted Divocean by Margaret Taylor, Durham, UK

These sea horses were a good metre high and were suspended away from the wall.  They were just so engaging and endearing, I had to get a snap.

953
Velvet Cushion by Ruth Singer, Leicester, UK

I knew this cushion was by Ruth the minute I saw it.  For those of you who haven't heard of her, she wrote Sew It Up and the pattern for this is in the current issue of Stitch Magazine (It's a US based mag I'm afraid, but it is well worth looking at).

924 - 3rd Prize Quilt Creations
Secret Garden in the Starry Night, by Rami Kim, Rocklin, USA

Ostrava Quilting Bee Pieced Together 178 Blocks from All Over Czech Republic

Stitch Your Soul did an in depth post about this quilt, which gives all the information that I couldn't find!

Marina Mamanova

These works were part of a display by one artist and they were stunning.

708
Inside Noah's Ark-All Safe Aboard by Louise Jessup, Ashford, UK

I loved this quilt.  Apparently it is from a drawing in a child's book.  We stood in front of it for ages, looking for the different animals hidden in plain view.

711 - Highly Commended - Judges Choice
Dassehra by Bente Kultorp Andresen, Hafslundsøy, Norway

This quilt has been so widely discussed in blogland, I'm not going to bother going in to great details.  Needless to say, it was breath taking and looked more like a painting that textile art.

662 - Highly Commended
Hexagons & Stars by Lucie Summers & Jenny Spencer, Worlington, UK

Despite my many selections of quilts with bright colours, I still love a clean looking and muted quilt now and again.  I just loved the embroidery and quilting on this one.

665
L'Arcobaleno Sul Mare (Rainbow on the Sea) by Rossana Ramani & Graziella Cini, S Dorugo Della Valle, Italy

668 - Highly Commended
Connected by Linzi Upton & Mo Fettes (Longarm), Banchory, UK,

I cannot convey how much more appealing this quilt was in real life.  My photos do not do it justice.  In the album there is a close up of the quilting.  I just love the artistry.

673 - 2nd Prize - Two Person Quilt
Mexican Sunset by Margit Schommers & Claudio Pfeil (Longarm) Erfstadt, Germany

7
Festival, by Yvonne Kervinen, Osthammar, Sweden

I did take more photos, but these are the ones that really appealed to me and were mostly in focus.  If you want to look at some of the other stuff I took, you can see the Picasa Album below.

2011 Festival of Quilts

I hope that the length of these post explains why it has taken me so long to put it together.  Maybe next year I'll get even better photos, and I'll be able to report much quicker!