Four go mad (and buy lots of stuff) at the NEC Festival of Quilts

So there we were; Eleanor, Claire, Jane and Towse; in a car park at Old Amersham at 8a.m. on a Friday morning, climbing onto a coach with a whole crowd of other women about to embark on a trip to the NEC Festival of Quilts. This was the first time for all four of us that we had ever experienced a show this big. We had no idea what to expect, but were just determined to make the most of it and see as much as we could. It was a fast, smooth journey and, fortified with a quick coffee, we were ready to go into the show almost as it opened at 10a.m.

 

The first few minutes were just spent in stunned, open-mouthed amazement and comments of Wow! It was huge, it was busy and we knew right away that we would only be able to scratch the surface of what was available to see and do. In fact the people we met who were doing workshops were generally those who were staying overnight, or for the entire duration of the show. There were coaches from all over the country and I also saw cars with Belgian and French number plates. Several stalls represented European traders, as well as several with Japanese fabrics and designs.

 

 

 

Really, we weren't sure where to start. We had been told not to buy immediately but to look around and then come back to buy. If we had done that though, I'm not sure we would have ever found stalls again. Towse wanted to introduce the gang to the friendly people of Doughtys of Hereford (http://www.doughtysonline.co.uk/) as they had been so helpful to her during the making of her first quilt. But on the way to their stand - or should I say stands because they had about 6! - Eleanor and Claire got sidetracked!

  

So the first purchases turned out to be from another 'local to us' shop, the rather amazing Antique Angel of Chalfont St Peter (http://www.antiqueangel.co.uk/about/). The excuse for buying these fabric bundles was that they needed them for the Farmer's Wife Quilt class that we are all starting with Deb in late September (http://www.plainstitch.blogspot.co.uk/p/autumn-2013.html) In fact that was the excuse for all of us really - thanks Deb for providing it!

 

But Eleanor needed wadding too. Thank you Doughtys!

 

 

Eleanor, Towse and Jane had a go on the most amazing quilting machine - we didn't even dare enquire about prices!

 

Eleanor did a rose

 

'Try writing your name' - Towse was told. If you look carefully, you can see it reads (somewhat wonkily) 'towse did this'

 

Jane continued with 'and ....

 

By 1pm, desperate for a drink and a sit down, we realised that we had only done about two aisles of just one of the three halls. But we had all bought fabric and bits and pieces along the way. Towse did really well from the 'Scrap Box' on the Linus Project stand (http://projectlinusuk.org.uk/) and we had also met, and purchased, just a few bits (honest!) from the lovely ladies at Patchwork Corner (http://www.patchworkcorner.co.uk/) again not far from us on the way to Hemel Hempstead.

 

So we decided that we had better look at some quilts. There were loads of competition categories. One was 'My First Quilt', which proved somewhat unnerving as they all looked far too good to have been done by beginners like us! This one, 'My Husband's Hobbies' was the winner. The quilt itself was in two parts, hence the two pix.

 

 

Aware of the passage of time, we needed to be back on the coach for 4p.m., we just wandered while I took somewhat random photos. Apologies for the wobbles on some of them, but I hope they give you a taste of just a few of the quilts we saw. Some were tiny - the hands are meant to give you a sense of scale. Some were huge. And they were all so impressive, and so imaginative. Check out David Tennant and the amazing quilted coracle!

 



 

This last one was an amazingly intricate optical illusion. Most of the pieces were tiny hexagons, probably no more than 1". It was an interesting exercise for the eyes to work out what you saw first, hexagons, diamonds or tumbling blocks.

 

We did manage to get back on the coach for 4p.m. We were back in Amersham for 6p.m. to our great surprise. Four very happy, but very exhausted people - with ideas afoot about how we ought to go for more than just one day next year!!

 

P.S. Sorry there's no many close ups, Kath. My camera is only basic and quilts are not easy to capture, especially with loads of people wandering around in limited aisle space