Festival of Quilts!

 Do any of you ever get across to the uk for the Festival of Quilts, which is held in Birmingham at the end of July/beginning of August every year?

I’ve just spent 4 days there investigating the stalls and what they’re selling, helping a friend on her stall, admiring the 800 or so quilts that were entered for judging and on the final day I was stewarding.  It’s a huge show and well worth a visit.  I’ve spent lots of time there chatting to people from Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Australia and America.  The huge diversity of nationalities never fails to amaze me.

WELCOME

 A very big welcome to our group Erla.  So glad you are joining us on a fun and friendly group of art quilters.  I am sure you will enjoy getting involved in all that we do and I am sure all join in with me to welcome a new member into our group.     Patricia 

 Good morning all

Thank you for the invitation, Hilary, much appreciated! I have browsed through some of the work and themes on this website and it all looks very interesting and original :-) Well done to all of you! Patricia introduced me to her 'fish' while we were working together on the Centurion Group quilt for the most recent National Quilt Festival that was held in Port Elizabeth in South Africa. 

I have joined this group to explore and expand my artistic boundaries with the hope of getting better at competition standard pieces. Having fun is a bonus. I am excited about the upcoming theme for end of October! Regards, Erla Cilliers.

SHELLS POSTED ON BEHALF OF BREN

 I painted the background fabric and made shell stamps using foam sheets.  I printed the shells onto the background then free motion quilted it.  Finally, I handstitched running stitches around some of the shells.

I'm really looking forward to the next theme - interesting!

ART DECO DESIGN INCORPORATING SHELLS

 

I decided, after a lot of thought, of incorporating shells into an Art Deco design, which turned out after numerous drawings and changes to my design, I was eventually happy with.

I appliqued everything with gold metallic thread to give it an Art Deco feel, and which I was pleased with.

SHELLS BY ROSEMARY

Three shells were chosen for this piece, drawn and colour added with intense pencils.  The edges of the shells were covered with a small satin stitch and the background was free motion stitched.

FROM ROSEMAR

Y

 The next challenge is: LINES

   This should leave plenty of scope for our imaginations. I'm looking forward to seeing all the different interpretations.

REVEAL DAY AND OUR NEXT CHALLENGE

 Hello to everyone.  

Trust you have had an enjoyable three months to create your designs, which as a reminder, we will all be putting up on the blog on Friday.  I am, and I am sure you all are too, looking forward to seeing our pieces of work.  Such fun to see what we have all created.

A REMINDER that we are all looking forward to our next challenge I am sure, which this time around is Jinnie's turn to choose.  We look forward to receiving our next challenge subject Jinnie so we can get our creative juices flowing.

FANTASTICAL FISH

 I also thought of a sea for our water theme, and without water there would be no fish.  I then got the idea of creating a bit of whimsy and having a bit of fun by creating the piece that I eventually only finished a day or so ago, so here she is.

 POSTED ON BEHALF OF ROSEMARY.

Beatrix Potter loved all animals.  The way she humanised them was remarkable, dressing them up as humans.  The images she created have been enjoyed by everyone who has seen them over many years.  She was an amazingly talented artist.

 Water, water everywhere

   

  At first I pulled out lots of blue fabrics, but in the end I decided to experiment with some of the paint covered cotton wet wipes that I use to clean up when I'm printing. I have some lovely coloured ones. Their edges curl when drying, which made me think that they would work for waves. I added a little bit of white paint to the curled edges to make the waves stand out more.

THE NEXT CHALLENGE 

Well I guess we are at the end of our first challenge for 2026 and we look forward to hearing what you have chosen for us this time around Bren.  I am sure we all are looking forward to hearing what we have next to get our creative juices flowing.