This was advertised in the East Suffolk WI Magazine and I could call in on the way home from visiting Youngest Daughter and Eldest Granddaughter in half term week, so that's what I did.
Making a patchwork (or any other) quilt is something I would never in a hundred years have the patience to do even if I could get my head round the conundrum of cutting up material into small bits and sewing it back together again! But I can look, admire and be amazed at what can be done by clever stitchers in a Stitching and Quilting Club.
Gorgeous colours and designs, there were over 100 hung and draped to see. I took photos of my favourites.
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Also a few framed small pieces of stitchery - including this one with Suffolk Puffs
Even the signs on the quilts were patchwork and quilted!
There was the chance to vote for visitors favourite, I couldn't decide and had to go round and round again. In the end I voted for the children's quilt with the sheep in the middle. The colours were lovely and I liked the circular quilting.
The blue/yellow/orange swirl is impressive - placement (of pieces) makes perfect (vision)
ReplyDeleteMy quilting days are long gone although there might just be a few fat quarters of fabric lurking somewhere….just because- you never know what they could be used for😊
The quilt you mention makes my eyes go all peculiar! Very clever but a bit busy
DeleteI agree with Cathy, that swirling piece is amazing to look at. But I don't know that it would feel restful in a bedroom! Some very talented people made these. I like "Lockdown Quilt" for the thriftiness of using up pieces of fabric she already had, and experimenting with a new stitch on the machine. But it is hard to settle on just one favourite.
ReplyDeleteThe quilts were all so brilliant to look at - it was hard to choose a avourite and even now I'm not sure!
DeleteThey are all amazing (and I don't use that word often). The imagination of the end piece and patience has to be applauded. Visually, my favourite is the first one.
ReplyDeleteMore patience than me thats for sure
DeleteOOOH- thank you SO much for sharing this. It's been SO long since I last went to a Quilt Exhibition, because of Covid, but at least when the next Malvern one is on I am only an hour and a half away. My favourite was the blue and orange one as it was SO cleverly planned. All just small squares but the devil is in the detail. The black background one had a LOT of very sharp points too and they are SO difficult to piece and sew. Some VERY skilled ladies out there.
ReplyDeleteI was working on assembling the little baby's memory quilt (for a friend) yesterday. It will have a x-stitch panel in the middle (that took a few hours to stitch up) and I had a brainwave and got my friend to have some photos printed onto fabric, to incorporate too. We will choose the one she likes the most and the others I will probably make up into a couple of cushions for her.
I'm glad you enjoyed the tour round - there were so many. My first thought for favourite was the black one then decided too much black and changed to the baby
DeleteThere are some beautiful quilts there, I like the soft coloured ones best, easier on the eye when in bed. All I can say is patience is a virtue, I still need to find.
ReplyDeleteI know for sure I wouldn't have the patience either
DeleteThis is what I do! I love the Bargello swirl - the blue and orange one. It's one of those patterns that looks far more complicated than it is but is all the more glorious because of it! I made several lockdown quilts and didn't manage to use up all my fabric - I doubt I ever will! LOL Thanks for showing these, Sue. I love them all!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed my photos - I could have taken more but enough here I think.
DeleteI like them all for different reasons. I made lots of Patchwork quilts for family and Project Linus before my stroke but I am so pleased that my daughter is now doing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue for a lovely post which I really need this week.
The sun is out this morning which is lovely.
Hazel 🌈🌈
Some lovely cheerful colours to cheer us all up and yes, sunny here too
DeleteI love all of them. I have given up making big quilts, but do smaller things. I have mostly Christmas fabric left now, sent all my left over fabric to a lady in Scotland who runs a craft group.
ReplyDeleteI miss the quilt shows but can no longer do the walking. I would have to take a shooting stick with me and 'perch' every 10 minutes or so.
Of course I remember your blog and your quilting. Good to see your comment
DeleteThose are gorgeous, like works of art. I can see the benefit of a quilt for using up scraps of leftover fabric, but I agree it seems strange to cut up and then stitch. But these are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThere was lots of material there for sale and quite expensive too - I think recycling is better
DeleteCertainly some labours of love there I see. I particularly like the lockdown quilt. x
ReplyDeleteThey must take hours to do and so beautiful too
DeleteI'm amazed by people's quilting skills and by your patience in taking and uploading so many pictures. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably jinx myself by saying that uploading photos here is usually quite speedy!
DeleteI sort of agree with you about buying fabric to cut up to sew back together, but you have to admit that a few carefully chosen (like the blue/orange bargello) can certainly create amazing effect. On the thrift side of patchworking I am currently working through the scrap bag of off-cuts from clothing and other sewing projects, straight-edging the pieces so that they can be sewn together to make scrappy patch quilt tops, and avoid me having to throw away what is essentially otherwise unusably small pieces of perfectly good fabric.
ReplyDeleteI've never been much good at sewing except for cross stitch but if I ever was to do something it would have to be recycled fabric
DeleteOh they are wonderful! Thank you for sharing such beautifulness!! I love the Lockdown one. I do admire the talent and patience of 'real' quilters but I prefer the thriftiness of using up scraps and not buying (actually quite expensive) new fabric to cut up. I do benefit from receiving other people's lovely scraps and crumbs so my 'quilts' are less complex and don't bear close inspection!!
ReplyDeleteSo many clever people in this quilting group - but it can be quite expensive I guess - even if it will be an heirloom
DeleteWe used to do patch work, never called it quilting, in the 1970s when Laura Ashley sold bags of mixed squares for 25p.
ReplyDeleteMaterial is a bit more expensive now!
DeleteWhat a lovely mix of quilts and styles there. Jane (Frugal Queen) is still producing her patchwork quilts in France, she makes really good use of the tiniest of scraps for them.
ReplyDeleteThey were so colourful - good to get a chance to see them all
DeleteI am always amazed at the creativity and stitching that goes in to making a quilt. Like you, I do not have the patients nor skill for quilting.
ReplyDeleteI just know I would get cross with it after just a few hours!
DeleteThese are all really beautiful. I would vote for the one with the London double decker busses but I love the lockdown one, also. I have a red and white quilt made by my great grandmother and it is folded away, but now that my beloved cat is gone I plan to use the quilt on my bed because I have no family members to pass it onto so might as well enjoy it myself.
ReplyDeleteYes that one was another favourite of mine too. Good idea to enjoy your quilt that has been passed down the family
DeleteWow! Lots of talented quilters there! It would be hard to choose the best as they are all so lovely. Thanks for the photos!
ReplyDeleteI kept changing my mind on which one to vote for - so hard to choose.
DeleteI'm a quilter, too, and have to say it's much easier than in looks! Also, fabric waits for you so when you've had enough of sewing or tasks call, you just walk away until next time. I learned 30 years ago and it's still just too much fun!
ReplyDeleteTa for taking us to the quilt show! What wonderful eye candy!!
Hugs!
I have made several quilts in my time but have lost the flair for them at the moment, crochet is taking all my time. Even so mine were not so flamboyant as most of these, quite beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
They are all lovely. My oldest daughter is the quilter in our family. My mother was too but the talent skipped me.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful quilts. I haven't been to a quilt show in a couple of years. I love the variety. I've made a quilt for each of my family members. I don't make as many now but I still work on smaller ones. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSo many beautiful ones. The orange and black one is very striking. Arilx
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful selection. I am with you as far as making them myself is concerned.
ReplyDeleteSome real stunners there.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilts. I might be able to make the simpler ones, but some of those are extremely complex and well beyond my capabilities.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
So beautiful. Mum always wanted to learn how to quilt and when she retired she took a course at (when it was still) Suffolk college. She got to be very good at it. I used to send her material and when she would come over to America she would buy some as it was cheaper here than there.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were sorting through her things last year we found that she had made a lot of quilts. They are hand sewn and hand quilted and really beautiful. I managed to fit two of them in my suitcases to bring back to America with me. My neice took a couple for her children and my sisters also took some. They are something we won't part with as we knew how much love Mum put into them.
As these beautiful quilts show, making a quilt is far more than simply cutting fabric apart to sew together again. Think of fabric as the fiber artist's palette---you wouldn't scorn a painter for opening and squeezing out his blobs of paint, would you?
ReplyDeleteIf you can do something as fussy and tedious as X stitch you can surely make a quilt, if only doll sized for grandchild.