I'm exhausted!

On Friday I picked up my friend G at 8am and we drove up to the NEC to go to the Festival of Quilts. We were booked into the Hilton Metropole for a night so had 2 days to enjoy the show :-)

It was my first visit to the F of Qs and I have to say - it's massive. Possibly even slightly too big. I am really glad we decided to go for 2 days because I think I would have come away frustated if we had only gone up for the day as there is just so much to see. Saying that - I definitely still missed seeing quite a few of the quilts.

We arrived nice and early and I had some breakfast at the Hotel (they have a Costa coffee there which made me happy!). Very dasty cherry danish - yum!

We then hopped onto the bus over to the hall, arriving not long after opening time. We tried to be methodical about walking round the stands so as not to miss anything but it's easy to get distracted and start wandering off course! I was quite overwhelmed by all the different fabrics etc. available to buy and actually I only bought 2 half metres of fabric on our first day. I know - poor effort!

We had a look round some of the quilts too - of course! There were so many amazing, inspirational quilts. Just stunning. I only took my little snappy camera and really just took some photos of details (there are lots of quilts you aren't allowed to photograph which is a great shame).

Some of the miniature quilts were really amazing. Tiny masterpieces! I loved the work of the tentmakers of Cairo and was a bit gutted when I saw how reasonable the prices were on their pieces - not surprisingly they had all been sold by the time we got to their stand on Friday afternoon :-(

There was definitely something for everyone - the variety of quilts was amazing.

We were worn out by the time the show closed at 5.30pm. In the evening we went to a dinner/talk at the hotel which was really interesting. My poor ankle was more than a little swollen by this time and I was glad to get to bed and put my leg up!

Saturday morning started with breakfast in a very large room with lots of other quilting folk. We got to the hall before opening time to find a massive queue of people waiting to get in. Luckily we managed to get to our 10.30am workshop with Kathleen Laurel Sage in good time. We created a cover for a small notebook. It was great fun and the results were really effective. We layered different colours of organza onto some thick lining material used for making pelmets. Then we used heat guns to alter the texture of the organza. We didn't totally finish the covers as they need a bit more embelishment (maybe some sparkly bits!) but it was a really interesting technique to try. We used lovely Husqvarna Sapphire sewing machines. I've not used a computerised machine before. It had some really nice features. Anyway - here's the cover I made - not quite finished. The colours are a bit richer than they look here.

I made much more effort with my shopping on Saturday and made up for my poor start on Friday!

I bought a nice big creative grids ruler - and it was half price too. Bargain! I've already got a lovely square one and a smaller rectangle but it wasn't long enough to go right across my fabric width. I also bought a tiny little square (rh side on the owl fabric) - because it's so cute and my friend said it will be useful for small stuff. The 2 sets of 6 FQs are from Kaleidoscope. They had an amazing selection of fabrics - I wanted to buy them all LOL! They said they will have their website up and running soon at http://www.kalquilts.com/  . I also picked up 3 mags from the Popular Patchwork stand - one has a really nice double sided jelly roll quilt pattern in it which you quilt as you go which I want to make. When I saw the Owl fabric I just had to buy some! I know it looks very plain - but I want to have a go at hand embroidering them and my friend and I have already come up with lots of ideas for them.

Here's a closeup of the gorgeous FQs

and the cute owls

I bought a kit for embroidering a cute elephant - I was going to make it as a cushion but I might do a wall hanging instead. I also got a special bobbin holder for my sewing machine which should help solve the tension issues I've been having with free motion embroidery. Oh - and some super cute wooden buttons too :-)

I had ice cream for lunch. Cherry Garcia - very nice!

I also bought a book at Fay & Kays about hand stitching. She had some amazing bags made using the techniques in the book. I got a small kit as well to try out the ideas with.

The fabric on the Oakshott Fabrics stand was just gorgeous and after much debating I ended up buying a kit to make a 'tiger in the box' quilt and also a wrap of different fabrics which will probably end up as a bag. I can see myself buying much more of their fabric in future! I can't wait to get started on the quilt. I bought enough fabric to make a large lap quilt but I might be tempted to add to it and make a larger quilt. I got some lovely rainbow threads to go with the quilt and the other fabric.

I don't know what to start first!

We didn't stay right until the end yesterday - my ankle was expanding and we were both rather tired after 2 full days on our feet. I had a great time. I think if (when!) I go again I'd like to go for 3 days as I really didn't spend enough time looking at all the quilts.

Today I will mostly be sitting on the sofa with my leg up recovering and reading my magazines!

Comments

[mandycharlie]

I nearly bought the tiger in the box, I picked it up several times but then found some William Morris fabric that would suit the boy much better. I have been so inspired by this show to the point that I haven't stopped piecing and quilting, I've got another full day to go and then I should have finished the boys quilt.

[Janice]

You didn't buy much then lol I am so jealous wish I could have went. I love your purchases, can't wait to see what you make :-)