Getting Back to Normality

Well, it's been a while!  What with our summer holiday followed by the school holidays and a few health issues my quilting had taken a very decided back seat over the last few months.  However, the kids are back at school, my neck is healing and the weather is distinctly autumnal - all of which mean I need to quilt!

 Whilst my quilting has been minimal, I have been doing lots of looking, does that count?  I went to the International Quilt Festival in Birmingham in August, and spent a blissful couple of days filling up with inspiration.  And my goodness, some of the pieces were completely mindblowing!  I have a few pictures of my favourites, but unfortunately I can't find my show guide to give you the maker.  If you recognise any please let me know.

 I love how the solid colours pop against the black.  I can see me doing some more with solids in the near future.

I was particularly taken by this one, as I had visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao two weeks before this, and seen the original David Hockney painting that this was based on.  They were both absolutely splendid!

 I'm not usually drawn to art quilts, but I did love this.  So simple, yet evocative.

I apologise for the poor quality of the photo, but this whole cloth quilt was about 10 inches square.  Yes, inches!  The tiny quilting was incredible.

 Another miniature quilt - look at those tiny triangles.

 Can you spot a theme here?  It is always the miniatures that really capture my interest.  I love Mariner's Compass, but I just cannot imagine ever being talented enough to produce one in this sort of size.

 

Last miniature, I promise.  I just had to show this one with a finger, to give an indication of the scale.  Those flying geese - amazing!

 I love the use of tone in this quilt, and the whole thing shone across the hall.  So beautiful.

 This is another that reminded me of happy holidays, this time in Portugal.  They are grain stores, and this quilt was hard to distinguish from a photograph.


My friend and I have made a pact to enter a quilt hopefully in next years festival.  Watch this space!