BLOG 417

Blog 417

 

What a great exhibition we had in Chester on Friday and Saturday! We have a tremendous amount of sewing talent in the Chester Ps&Qs group and it was delightful to see it on display at this eye-catching exhibition. Churches lend themselves to displays of creative art mainly because of the exaggerated vertical space which we can fill successfully with draped quilts. And somehow the solemnity of the building adds an air of quiet contemplation and elevates our work to a more profound level.  Our exhibition illustrated how quilters make their chosen quilts for different reasons. It showcased a variety in techniques and fabric choices and in colour and size. There were fabrics stalls, book stalls, raffle, tombola’s, refreshments, and Linus quilts. Our group quilts, 8 in total (one is still in America!), had a spacious room to themselves and it was the best display I have seen with them all together; I felt immensely proud to have been part of making them happen! I was stewarding for the first couple of hours on Friday and the attendance was steady with much ‘oohing and ahhhing’. I talked my way through most of my stewarding slot (no change there then!), meeting up with many ladies who used to come to me for classes; it was a great social gathering. Here is a selection of the wonderful creativity on display. (BTW I made up the titles for some of the quilts; I tried to interpret what they were saying to me!)

 

 

            Recycled striped shirts (English paper piecing)

 

          Detail

 

           Sampler

 

        Modern stained glass (quilt-as-you-go method)

 

            Japanese blue and white

 

            Recycled denims

 

           Flying triangles (good use of a coloured fabric)

 

            Log cabin (fabulous butterfly quilting)

 

            Trip round the world

 

          Single Irish chain (with Dresden plate snowflake)

 

            Snowflake detail

 

          Aspirational sampler (perhaps a block of the month?)

 

           Feather detail

 

         Reds and whites (traditional)

 

           Blues and Whites (modern)

 

          Cathedral Tiles

 

             Tile detail

 

            Flower trellis

 

            Garden birds (inspired by Gail Lawther)

 

            Bullfinch detail (raw edge applique with invisible thread quilting)

 

          Selection of lap quilts

 

           Batik bricks

 

           African sampler

 

           Batik scrap quilt (inspired by me!)

 

           Tiled sampler (inspired by Lynne Edwards)