The Festival of Quilts 2024

Birmingham NEC

My friend and I decided that this year we would go for three days to visit the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. And we also decided to sign up for two quick one hour workshops each day. However, that took up far more time than we realised and we ended up with little time in between to do the things we wanted so maybe not so many next time, but they were all fantastic.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and learnt several new crafts and also met up with so many lovely friends and acquaintances as well as having a great time shopping. 

We stayed in the Crowne Plaza which overlooks the Pendigo lake. My room was perfect for this stay and had the largest tv I've ever seen in an hotel room. The breakfast buffet was good and the dinner buffet we enjoyed twice was also good. 

As you can see below we found the shopping centre right next to the hotel and after buying some Lindt chocolates and a couple of dresses in the Next sale we had to stop for a drink overlooking the water. 

The weather was beautiful and the only rain, which was very heavy, fell whilst we were having breakfast one morning and conveniently stopped before we left to catch the shuttle bus to the Festival. The shuttle buses picked us up and dropped us off each day outside the hotel and NEC.

A quick selfie overlooking Pendigo Lake and enjoying 

the afternoon sunshine on Wednesday

Day one (Thursday) we found our way to the hospitality lounge where we had Bronze membership. That gave us a free cotton bag in which there was a jar of caramelised apple, a magazine and a card with embroidery threads (unfortunately it was the same gifts on all three days but I gave the extras away which was nice) and vouchers for tea or coffee or water. So we started with a coffee and a plan of action marking all the vendors in our programmes that we wanted to get to over our time at the Festival.

Our first workshop was making an all year round Liberty bauble. The tutor was very good and clear, as they all were, and we were soon busy cutting up our Liberty fabric and making up the bauble as far as we could within the hour and making sure we had enough instructions to complete it afterwards.

My finished bauble which I gave a Christmas theme

by adding gold braid 

This was a great start and a project I think I will be making again.

After a quick look at some of the quilts and visiting some of the vendors I ran outside into the Atrium to Starbucks to grab a sandwich which we ate in the Bronze Visitors Lounge and then we were off again to our second workshop.

The second one was called Japanese Cherry Blossom and was a technique using a curved ruler and acrylic flower templates. Again the tutor was very thorough, inspiring and clear in her instruction. I made sure to take lots of photos so that I would be able to finish it when I got home. I love the result which I embellished with hand and machine stitching and beads.

My finished Cherry Blossoms panel

I used a top stitch to enhance the 'frame' and beading and 

embroidery to give texture to the centre of the

blossoms

Another wonderful workshop with lots to learn and new techniques to try.

After this we had another walk through the quilts on display and some more retail therapy before heading back to the hotel for dinner and a restful evening stitching.

Day two (Friday) saw a repeat of yesterday's start. Our first workshop was Stencil and Stitch which used everyday craft items to create a metallic woodland scene ready to be stitched at home. This was a fabulous class and the finish is only waiting on me getting to a shop to get the rest of the supplies I need. Again a really helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable tutor.

I have yet to add stitching and a fine glitter netting

for the framing

Another rush for lunch and it was soon time for our afternoon workshop which was an Indian Bird Hanging. This was great fun and we had such pretty Indian stamped fabric to use. I finished it at home adding some lovely beads I'd been wondering what they could be used for - never throw anything out!

Here is the Indian Bird Hanging in my workroom

I am really pleased with how lovely and cheerful it is

We had some more time for shopping and looking at the quilts. My favourite part of the show was the antique quilts which were on display. They dated as far back as the 18th century and were a fascinating look back into the history of this craft. Not only did the quilts tell you about how people lived but also the socio-economics of the eras and sometimes the political and religious stance of the maker. There are a lot of coded messages sewn into 'women's work' if you look closely. Here are some examples of these exquisite pieces:

Without the aid of electric lighting, magnifiers and modern

needlework accessories these women (and sometimes men)

made the most beautiful stitched quilts often

out of necessity rather than for pleasure alone

That evening we stayed on at the Festival because we had tickets to see Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company's Trunk Show (that is a look back at the quilts she has made over the years). It was fun and informative and a real family affair. We all came away with lots of inspiration for how to use simple geometrical shapes to create lots of interesting blocks for a quilt.

Getting ready to watch the Trunk Show with Pauline and Pat - oh

and a glass of rosé!

Our hostess, Jenny Doan

Then it was back on the shuttle bus to the hotel where we enjoyed a buffet supper with very jolly and attentive staff who were super busy with Festival Quilt goers and a huge delegation of Jehovah Witnesses staying for their annual conference. Everyone was just so friendly and happy throughout our whole stay and it was a joy to experience how wonderful humanity can be.

The next morning (Saturday) I walked to the NEC along the lakeside which was delightful and met the others in the Bronze lounge for a coffee and our last workshop which was 'Enamel looking paper beads' our tutor had taken the Stencil and Stitch class and was super friendly and happy to see us return to one of her sessions. The technique was just so fascinating, simple and effective. This could well be addictive. Lots of things to be making at home in my workroom.

Simple ingredients cooked up some gorgeous beads

reminiscent of those sherbet lollies you enjoyed

as a child but looking cool as a bead for a necklace

We had a quick sandwich lunch before catching the shuttle back to the hotel where my lovely husband was waiting to pick us up and drive us home. We were absolutely exhausted, exhilarated and elated. So much to bring home and it was a good job I brought my gigantic quilted bag with me to absorb all that shopping.

Never knowingly overpacked

Well I suppose I ought to show you what I bought now - ha! as if I wouldn't be able to resist showing you some crafty gorgeousness from the Festival, here goes:

The Left Hookery kit for a crochet bowl bag

A Christmas cushion kit by Brenda Walker

A felted fox - an impulse buy - can't wait to make it

A Liberty mini quilt - the next in the series I am making

The felt from the Luna Lapin stand for a toy from this book

A Calico and Quilt kit for a Thread Roll

and a pattern for a Figgy Pudding Christmas Pudding

by Susan Smith

A cross stitch kit from The Cross Stitch Guild

And another

A purse kit from Dandelion Designs I've been eyeing

up for some years now

A Gail Pan Christmas mini quilt pattern

Oh dear, how did that get in my bag,

it's the new 'Postcard from the Highlands' fabric range

and it is simply beautiful

Some Ruby Star fabric for a workshop coming up

at my quilting group

And finally sitting in the garden at home working on one of 

the kits and in the background the finished

crochet kit bag in which I am housing my stitching.

If you have not been to the Festival of Quilts I would thoroughly recommend a visit. Be prepared for long, tiring days but so full of quilty goodness that you will never forget how wonderful a time you had and you will come home with lots of stash enhancement and fun kits to make, well I certainly did. I am already planning another visit next year.

Summer Review

It has been a long hot summer and I have been experiencing some of life's lows and have been thankful for the gift of crafting which has been a salve during very difficult times.

Knitting

In July I went to Fibre East and had a wonderful time discovering lots of new yarns and fibres and came away with a couple of projects worth of goodies.

Two lots of wool for jumpers A Bear in Sheeps Clothing and Belinda Harris Reids Designs - top row, bobbles for hats, The Knitting Shed skein just because
two balls of sock yarn - middle row, shawl yarn and stitch markers from Owl About Yarn - bottom row

The three skeins on the right in the top row became a Soldotna cropped top which was a lot of fun to make.

I also talked to the lovely lady at The Knitting Shed stand and discovered I had two mini skeins I'd bought previously at Unravel to make their free pattern for fingerless mittens and was delighted with the result.

A New Knitting Book

I am in the KnitBritish group over on Ravelry where we are having a read along for Esther Rutter's new book 'This Golden Fleece' a journey through Britain's knitted History.

I went to one of the book launches in Bury St Edmunds at the beginning of September where Esther spoke and thoroughly enjoyed listening to this delightful young writer, knitter and Mum who has obviously worked so hard on her wonderful book and well deserves all the lovely praise and publicity she is getting. It was a lovely afternoon and we were treated to home made cake and tea and were able to get signed copies of the book too.

I posted about the first three chapters on the Ravelry Group page and said:

It didn’t take long before I realised I would need a pencil and tags because there was so much meat to Esther’s writing that would need some digesting. I also found my page anchor handy so I could knit whilst reading.

So I found I needed a system for my markers: 1 = something that I wondered about, 2 = a word I needed to look up eg, first page of Chapter 2 “thole” (new word for me Esther), 3 = something catching my interest that I might have to do more research on, 4 = about sheep breeds, 5 = something with a link to buy or a book to get to read around the subject. I’ll pick out a few at random:

Chapter one Dentdale Gloves page 22 Esther talks about the Terrible Knitters using needle guards which were often made from a single piece of wood as a lover’s token and I would really love to see a picture of these and learn a bit more about them. Then on the next page Esther talks about Soay sheep and St Kilda and I am reminded of a wonderful book I read called “Island of Wings” by Karin Altenberg which I would now like to re-read.

Also in Chapter one is a reference to Penelope Lister Hemingway, ‘Playing with a Piece of String: The Story of a Dentdale Knitter in The Retreat Asylum, York’ in Knit Edge, 3 (May 2013) which I found was available here on Ravelry for £7.17 and is a magazine I was unaware of but am delighted with my purchase and the wide ranging articles and eight patterns.

Here’s another find in Chapter two, a writer I have read but not the book mentioned: Neil Gunn’s “The Silver Darlings” set in the fisheries of the Moray Firth so that has duly been ordered on-line to be delivered to my local library (encouragingly all copies are currently on loan) so I will have to be patient until it arrives but good to also note that Esther’s book is now being stocked and also has all copies out on loan.

I learn that Southwold and Lowestoft were the county’s major herring ports - Suffolk is a few miles from here and now I’d like to explore that bit of those town’s history.

Chapter three and a bit of serendipity as my best friend is reading Stephen Fry’s “Mythos: a retelling of the myths of ancient Greece” and mentions Penelope at the same time I read about Mrs Ramsay and her knitting in Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse” and Esther points out the relevance of knitting as a salve and mentions Penelope here - now I have another new book I want to read and a re-read of Woolf too.

I am thoroughly enjoying this book and will post again when I have the next few chapters read and digested.

Goodreads

I have also been making progress on my goal of thirty books this year over on Goodreads and this is a quick review of the last one I logged:

Where the Hornbeam Grows: A Journey in Search of a Garden by Beth Lynch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this but it felt like a longer essay rather than a book as there wasn't a lot of depth of detail within the writing and found it particularly sketchy in the end about gardening and plants and it was quite repetitive which felt like poor editing or padding. There were some wonderful insights about inner life which was why I gave it three stars. The few paragraphs about loneliness towards the end of the book were very insightful. I don't think I'd like to meet any Swiss people after the observations in this book!

Sewing

I am a member of Ladies Who Sew which is held in the Village Hall and we have been learning patchwork and quilting techniques. So a friend and I decided we would like to visit the Festival of Quilts held in the NEC in Birmingham. What an experience. The hall is vast and to be honest quite overwhelming. That being said it was wonderful to see the stunning work that can be done with needle and thread which was both inspiring and daunting too. I bought this kit (below) which was lovely to sew.

Cross Stitch

I joined FlossTube vlogger 'Halfstitch Cross Stitch' for a stitch along to make the 'Christmas Tea' from Brenda Gervais's Mice in the Sewing Room series. I stitched on mine whilst on a lovely short break in Norfolk. It was a delight to sew along with Dena:

And this was my finished piece:

I have also started a block of the month with Liberty Bell to make the four seasons vintage sewing machine by Buttermilk Basin. This is a new technique to me and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

There has been some dress making too and I will post more about that later.

Local Quilt Show

Today I went to see the Cotton Scatterers Quilt Show at Wickham Bishops which was excellent and spent a wonderful morning enjoying the quilts and, of course, some coffee and home made cake.

i

The Garden

We have had an interesting time in the garden this year. Early in the summer the garden was looking so green and full and we had a bumper crop of cherries and everything was flourishing. Then the sun beat down and there was almost no rain at all and the garden shrivelled up and burnt to a crisp. That's the reality of global warming in the South East of England and it has been concerning to read about what is happening to our planet and my hope is that every little change we can make however small will help. So I will leave you with one of the good things about having the right amount of water and sun - fruit!

🌍Teresa