FOQ 2014

Instead of the usual dash up to Festival of Quilt on a day-return train ticket, this year I was fortunate to have three days of looking ... and conversations.

Many conversations with other people involved in Linda Seward's "The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting" - this is the launch party (with my "Hatching" hanging on the left, in Linda's gallery) -

And for the record, here's my "Verge Blur" in the green section of the Dislocation display (more pix here) -

There was lots to see, of course, and other bloggers will be showing their favourites (here, for instance, and here and here; and here). Among mine were the displays by Art Textiles - Made in Britain, the Fine Art Quilt Masters (especially this one by Karen Farmer) -

and Ann Johnston's "The Contact: Quilts from the Sierra Nevada". I stopped there many times, took photos, and bought the book... and if you haven't seen them, do click on the link. Here's the back of one of Ann's quilts; she happened to be passing in the background as I took the photo -

Seeing "Starburst" by Christine Taylor, in the Traditional section, made me want to make a similar quilt ... I have this thing about yellow at the moment -

And I liked the work of Linda Onions, who is now teaching at Eastleigh College; this is "Big Bad Wolf", part of her degree show work - 

When not wandering around or chatting with far-flung friends, especially the ones I've got to know through CQ or through the blog, I was working on a few personal projects. Firstly, photographing feet (love that grainy, screened look) -

also, intensive mark-making on hotel stationery, which led to a bit of an obsession with looking at hand-stitched marks on the quilts -

and indulging in a too-quick bit of "land art" while walking to the show -

Photographing a tiny forest, found under a bus shelter -

and road markings -

and this discovery - underduvet landscapes -

Seen in passing - a flight of quilt angels -

Not to forget the important occupation of shopping -

The wisp of animal-print fabric was found on the path (near my "land art") as I walked back to the hotel - of course I had to take it into custody. The fat quarters are from a £1 bargain bin. And another £5 spent on the Hearts tombola netted four prizes, two of them needle books.

Traders were doing well - one was overheard to say Friday had been their best day ever, and Art Van Gogh had run out of discharge paste by Saturday morning.

Next up, the Knitting and Stitching show in October. There will be no need to buy fabric or thread...