Festival of Quilts Gallery

Last weekend was Festival of Quilts. I went for just one day, instead of two days, this year. Which meant that I missed a lot. I knew that was going to be the case so I had a little list of must-see displays and stands. I didn’t see all the quilt entries, but with 800+ quilts I knew that would be impossible!

I decided before I got there that I wouldn’t take loads of pictures because when will I actually look at those? So I just took pictures of the quilts that really grabbed me. A lot of them have a thing in common: they are kind of scrappy. :-)

So here is a little gallery of my favourites. In no particular order. I have added the names as they were on the labels at the show.

Photo of a quilt with a large hexagon design made of various striped blocks to create patterns within patterns. The background colour is dark magenta. The colours in the hexagon design are mostly warm colour with accents of blue.
Radiance Frances Woodgate

I absolutely love this one. The piecing, the colours, just perfect. :-)

Photo of two miniature quilts, hung one above the other. Both quilts have a star design. The top quilt has a striped design in the colours of the Pride flag on a white background. The bottom quilt has a striped design in the colours of the Trans Pride flag on a dark blue background.
Zandra Lea

These are excellent. Such precise piecing. The mini quilts are just 12″ (30cm) square.

I can’t remember which if these I came across first but it is really interesting that they have a similar vibe despite being made decades apart and with different styles of fabric.

Photo of a medallion style quilt in mostly black and white colours. The fabrics are handprinted with elements of the Palestinian flag and slogans: solidarity, divest now, stop the genocide. With accent colours of green and red.
Grief Quilt for Palestine

Very moving…

Photo of a quilt version of the Palestinian flag with appliqué text in Irish Gaelic.
Sinéad O’neil

As was this one…

Penny and Jenny. :-)

Very different quilts and yet I feel like they have something in common. Maybe it is the colours…

Photo of a small patchwork in a white frame. The patchwork is made of unevenly shaped hexagons, joined together using English Paper Piecing. The colours spans the rainbow but in muted tones.
Catherine-Marie Longtin

I was very excited to see this gallery, mainly with blocks from Catherine-Marie Longtin’s book about log cabin blocks.

Log Cabin Quilt Blocks – 100 colour and pattern variations. (bookshop.org afiliate link)

Photo of a quilt with a pale blue background. In the centre are different large flower appliqués in a random layout. This is surrounded by scrappy squares with stylised flowers. An outer border is also appliqué flowers.
Tansy Martin and Mary Thorogood

I love the texture of all this appliqué and the quilting is great too.

Photo of an unusual quilt. The quilt is made of five individually quilted sections which curve this way and that. The five sections are braided together.
Vendulka Battais

Not a type of quilt you see every day! I think it is very cool. And I love how each section is quilted in a different pattern. I think it should have won more than 3rd prize!

Photo of a quilt made of triangles in many colours. The quilt has a concentric design with tiny triangles in the centre, becoming gradually larger towards the edges.
Jane Sloggett

This is mesmerizing.

Two different versions of the same idea/block. Both of them really inspiring. I am tempted to try and make my own version. Although I don’t love sewing curves but maybe I can get over it…

Photo of a quilt made of repurposed shirts. The striped shirts have been cut and pieced so they create different patterns in the blocks of the quilt. The colours are mostly blues, greens, white, and subtle pinks.
Victoria Nowell

This is made of shirts. I love the effect of different placements/directions of the stripes and the various blocks.

Photo of a quilt made of two colour blocks constructed of triangles. The colours are mostly purple, blue, magenta, white, yellow, and green.
The Giggle of Geckos

I love how different all the blocks are in this quilt. It gives it so much energy.

Photo of a quilt made of small squares in a riot of colours and prints. The squares are on point. In some places nine squares are put together in the same colour to create a larger square with a centre square in a different colour.
Janice Monteith

So scrappy, so fun.

Photo of three narrow quilted strips made of  improv pieced squares blocks sorted in rainbow colours.
Fiona Burrows

Another example of the same idea/block with a different result. I guess the blocks in the left quilt are made by different people but the red colour ties them all together. This is another block I would like to try. I think it is called spider’s web.

Photo of a quilt made of selvedge strips. The strips are sewn together in two different types of square blocks. One with light coloured strips. The other is made made of two black squares and two small selvedge strip blocks. The blocks are pieced on point. The two different blocks creates an effect of the larger, lighter blocks floating above the other type of block.
Helena Schneider and Olesa Bitsch
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