The Solway Quilters had an enjoyable day out at the Quilt Show in Harrogate yesterday. A whole coach load of us went, so it was a jolly party that arrived just before lunchtime.
My friend, Margaret, and I started with the exhibition in the atrium, which included some beautiful work by a number of individual makers and groups. The following pieces really stood out for me:-
Summer Garden by Jane Rollason, sun printing and flower hammering on cotton
The flowered section is coloured by literally bashing the colour from flower heads directly onto the fabric. The sun printing, I was not familiar with, so, as a group, we may explore that in future tutorials. Apparently, as well as using pre-prepared fabrics, you can buy liquids to paint onto any fabric, which will 'bleach' where they are masked by a leaf, for example.
Elizabethan Flowers by Jane Rollason, silk patchwork, appliqué and painted
I really liked the bright, painted flowers 'popping' off the cream and gold background. The beaded border was a nice touch, and suggested the clothing worn by Elizabeth I.
Coastal Walks by Christine Vlietstra. "Inspired by images of the coastline". Strip pieced and raw-edge piecing. Cotton fabrics, hand and machine quilted.
This lovely abstract art quilt appealed to my love of the sea, lines and hand stitch. It had the lot! With a lot of contrasts in the colour palette of blues and yellows with a touch of red.
Scandinavian Jumpers 2 by Gillian Travis "This quilt won 2nd prize at FOQ in the Art Quilt category...".
This was one of my absolute favourites: the artist has used machine embroidery and freehand machine embroidery on felt. The shapes are cut out from the background so that the contrasting jumper shape is recessed to be even with the background, when slotted in and hand stitched in place. The background squares were printed with a lacy pattern. There was also a Breton jumper variation, with stripes. Too cute!
Silver Darlings by Lizzie Wall
This beautiful cushion had won the 1st prize in the cushions category, and you can see why! The technique is appliqué with broderie perse elements, used to great effect.
Flower Garden by Anne Senior
A charming hexagons quilt. I think this was made with the English Paper Piecing technique.
Postcard From Sweden by Liz Merckel. Designed by Jeli Quilts and based on a postcard from IKEA by Tom Frazier. 36 colours of Kona cotton with a half-square triangle block.
This really shows what you can do with plain colours and a single shape. There is a great deal of movement and interest in the layout of the colours: love it!
Homecoming: Return of the White Rabbit by Lizzie Wall. The White Rabbit returns home after his adventures in Alice in Wonderland.
See 'work in progress' images on Lizzie's Instagram account. Another very imaginative and beautifully-realised art quilt. I love the red squirrels along the top border. There is so much detail to see in this quilt that you could study it for hours.
There were so many beautiful quilts to see, but I can only show a fraction of them here.
After a tasty lunch in the cafe, it was on to the trade stands. There were thousands of different fabrics on offer, but I resisted most of them, buying some vintage and antique kimono fabric pieces from Susan Briscoe's stand. This talented author and teacher is holding courses in Edinburgh and Hartburn in the next few months. Details can be found on her website.
I also bought bronze-coloured charms to use on some 'Prayer Flag Brooches' that I am planning to make. Very sweet, miniature keys, a feather, a wolf, a spider, some bells and beads etc.
A fun - if tiring - day out was had by all :o)
My friend, Margaret, and I started with the exhibition in the atrium, which included some beautiful work by a number of individual makers and groups. The following pieces really stood out for me:-
The flowered section is coloured by literally bashing the colour from flower heads directly onto the fabric. The sun printing, I was not familiar with, so, as a group, we may explore that in future tutorials. Apparently, as well as using pre-prepared fabrics, you can buy liquids to paint onto any fabric, which will 'bleach' where they are masked by a leaf, for example.
I really liked the bright, painted flowers 'popping' off the cream and gold background. The beaded border was a nice touch, and suggested the clothing worn by Elizabeth I.
This lovely abstract art quilt appealed to my love of the sea, lines and hand stitch. It had the lot! With a lot of contrasts in the colour palette of blues and yellows with a touch of red.
This was one of my absolute favourites: the artist has used machine embroidery and freehand machine embroidery on felt. The shapes are cut out from the background so that the contrasting jumper shape is recessed to be even with the background, when slotted in and hand stitched in place. The background squares were printed with a lacy pattern. There was also a Breton jumper variation, with stripes. Too cute!
This beautiful cushion had won the 1st prize in the cushions category, and you can see why! The technique is appliqué with broderie perse elements, used to great effect.
A charming hexagons quilt. I think this was made with the English Paper Piecing technique.
This really shows what you can do with plain colours and a single shape. There is a great deal of movement and interest in the layout of the colours: love it!
See 'work in progress' images on Lizzie's Instagram account. Another very imaginative and beautifully-realised art quilt. I love the red squirrels along the top border. There is so much detail to see in this quilt that you could study it for hours.
There were so many beautiful quilts to see, but I can only show a fraction of them here.
After a tasty lunch in the cafe, it was on to the trade stands. There were thousands of different fabrics on offer, but I resisted most of them, buying some vintage and antique kimono fabric pieces from Susan Briscoe's stand. This talented author and teacher is holding courses in Edinburgh and Hartburn in the next few months. Details can be found on her website.
I also bought bronze-coloured charms to use on some 'Prayer Flag Brooches' that I am planning to make. Very sweet, miniature keys, a feather, a wolf, a spider, some bells and beads etc.
A fun - if tiring - day out was had by all :o)
