Something Different

When we were travelling in Siberia a couple of years back, I came across this creation in a museum in the small village of Zhigansk:

I could see that it was something made of yarn, but I didn’t recognize the technique, nor did I have much time to study it at the time, so I attempted a close up photo to try and figure it out later. I couldn’t touch it, of course.

Quite recently I came across a video on Youtube which explained how to make a Pompom blanket, and after seeing the result, I immediately recognized that this was the same technique as the small mat I had seen in Siberia.

So this is a pompom blanket. Maybe there are other names for this technique also, but at least I got my curiosity stilled, and also learned something new.

What did we do before internet?

🙂

Eldrid

 

A Thousand Bodice Inserts

We were so lucky as to get to see the exhibition of 1000 Bodice Inserts at Hardanger Folkemuseum at Utne last October.

A bodice insert is a separate piece of fabric covering the front opening of the bodice on the folk costume from Hardanger and some other areas.

 

Folk costumes in Hardanger, and also in other areas in Norway, were influenced by continental fashions. The renaissance fashion trend with waist and skirt in differing colours, and often heavily decorated bodice inserts, kept its stronghold in this area till the costume was embraced as the National Costume of Norway in the late 1800s. It was a living tradition, so no need to go back to study old garments in order to reconstruct the costume, as has been done later in other areas to create local folk costumes. (We now have lots of different folk costumes in all areas of the country.)

 

Luckily a lot of old and new bodice inserts from Hardanger have been donated to the museum over the years. There are also collections in neighbouring districts, and some of these were also on display, – a total of more than 1000 bodice inserts, and not two alike.

 

People have used a variety of techniques to decorate the inserts, and cross stitch embroidery seems to have been a popular method. All the inserts on the wall to the left in the photo above, are decorated in this way.

 

The amount of decoration vary from very simple to elaborate. People used the same style of clothing both for every day use and for Sunday best and other festivities, and they often had several bodice inserts to fit the occasion.

Unadorned bodice inserts were used when attending funerals, and grieving.

 

The size of the inserts vary a lot. This may be due to variations of the waist front opening, and also the fact that people come in different sizes. A couple of hundred years ago, people were generally smaller than we are now.

Even though hardly two bodice inserts are alike, there are some common standards. They all have a ribbon hem on top. Most have a defined motif of various geometric shapes sewn on red or white fabric. Between the ribbon and motif there is often a border made of metal lace or ribbon, beads, or embroidery.  The decorated parts are mounted on a piece of fabric, which is mostly made of home woven wool or linen. This background fabric is not visible when the bodice insert is in use.

It is almost as interesting, – or perhaps more so, – to observe all the different background fabrics that have been used.

The most common geometric motif is by far the eight pointed star, also called an eight leafed rose in these parts. The variations are many, there may be one big star, or a few or several smaller ones set in a grid, most often on point. The grid itself may be narrow, or wider with geometric decor elements of its own.

In quilting terms we might call the decor on point blocks with narrow or wide sashings.

 

Quite a few inserts have beads on them.

At a time when most household items were home made, purchased objects would be regarded as finer and having a higher status. Beads have been produced and sold for many years, and bodice inserts decorated with beads were regarded as especially fine and for best use. The inserts can be dated by looking at the colour of the beads. White, green, mustard, and black beads were first available. Blue beads and straw beads came later. Also the older beads are bigger and of more irregular shape than newer ones.

The motifs are again mostly geometric borders and eight pointed stars, but also heart shaped decor has been popular.

 

On one insert with very small beads, they found that the maker had used horse hair to thread the beads. The horse hair is so stiff that you would not need a needle, which would perhaps have been to thick for the small pearl openings.

 

Pearls have been combined with both embroidery, metal lace and ribbons, and also applique as in some of the photos below..

 

There is a story about three vicar’s daughters from Ulvik who used to do very fine applique, mostly eight pointed stars. When their father died, they supported themselves by making fine bodice inserts for sale. At the time, paper was used inside the top hem to make it stiffer, and much later one of their father’s sermons was found inside one of these inserts.

 

 

Not all bodice inserts were made from woollen fabric. Some used fine imported silks, silk velvet and calamanco. A few of these were displayed behind glass.

 

The pattern darning technique has also been used to decorate bodice inserts.

Pattern darning is a very old embroidery technique, – even older than cross stitch, – and this technique has been used quite a lot.  Pattern darning is often used alongside other techniques, where the pattern darning will compose the grid, or framework, for the motif, while other techniques such as cross stitch or satin stitch, are used to fill in the pattern repetitions.

A very common motif on pattern darning inserts is the “eldjarnrose”, which looks like a modern day hashtag set on point. It is most often worked in black, while the surrounding grid has been made in red yarn.

 

This last group of photos show some inserts made in a variety of techniques, and some of them with unusual motifs. There are a few examples where the cross stitch embroidery patterns are made to look like bead embroidery or threaded bead grids. There is also one with a great variety of stitches, including the only example of chain stitch that I noticed.

Lastly, here is an insert mounted on a piece of fabric cut from a beautiful woven coverlet in the “krokbragd” pattern:

 

 

The exhibition was scheduled to be taken down last January, but due to its popularity, it has been extended till 1st November 2019. If you get the chance to visit, grab it with both hands.

It is well worth a visit.

 

🙂

Eldrid

 

 

Rendezvous in Røros

27 years ago my family and I visited Røros during a holiday trip.

In the museum there was an exhibition of textile art, and among them were several works by artist Ela Monsen.

 

I was so impressed by her work at the time that I took several photos, using a cheap camera I had at that time, – and also using the expensive film and paper copies of that time. I wanted to remember what I saw.

 

The wall hangings were hung in a room with dark drapes on the walls, and even though my small flash light did its meager best, the photos were only so-so, – even by my then standards. But they were recognizable.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I visited Røros again, and we stayed at Røros hotel. In the lobby, I was pleasantly surprised to see the wall hanging with the dancing couple hanging on the wall.

 

Of course I recognized it at once, and was happy to be able to see it in better light conditions, and to be able to study the details. Of course I did not think twice about taking lots of photos, – these days photos are cheap.

The next morning I was again pleasantly surprised to see another of her works in the dining room:

 

This rendition of a wedding feast is the one I thought most impressive back in 1990, so I was very happy to be able to study it in closer detail. It has not lost its impact since then.

Ela Monsen died in 1978, so these two hangings were made just one and two years before her passing. Luckily, some of her works hang in public places so we can continue enjoying them.

🙂

Eldrid

 

 

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The Quilted and the Non-Quilted Feast

The first day of our tour we spent sightseeing in Moscow, and in the afternoon we ended up inside the Novospassky Monastery, where a delicious meal had been prepared for our international group.

We were to dine in one of the towers that sit on every corner of the wall surrounding the monastery.

The entrance was through a low door in the inside wall, up some long and narrow steps to the gallery, and again ducking through low doors and into the tower room.

It was a lovely sight: tables already set with lots of delicious food, old cupboards against the walls holding beautiful pots and crockery, traditional costumes on display, along with various crafted items, – and everything lit only by candles and the natural light coming through the small windows, filtered through blue and white glass.

Many old and newer samovars were displayed around the room and on the steps to the upper room:

We were told that we were going to have a traditional Russian meal, – as in a feast, – and our guide inside the monastery described each course as they were served: what they were, a little about tradition and production, how they should be eaten, etc.

I think there were more than ten different courses, – I lost count somewhere during the meal, – and all of it was delicious; the pumpkin soup, chicken and mushroom pie, pancakes with caviar, fish, pork, cucumber rolls and everything else.

We had sweetened mint flavoured juice to drink, – very good after a long and warm day out in the streets. Then there was cake and desserts along with hot tea made from lots of different sour fruits and berries, and sweetened with comb honey.

What a treat!

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A week later we went into another monastery, in Suzdal, and inside one of the churches there, we laid eyes on another feast.

22 year old Xenia Shlyakova had single-handedly provided a full table of yummy food, – all made from fabric and set onto a large, handmade, table cloth.

There were all kinds of food:  fish with both red and black caviar, mushrooms, and chicken…..

……. pelmeni, cucumbers, roasted pig with vegetables, goose and apples, prawns with lemon and strands of dill……

….. breads in a basket with an embroidered napkin, and decorated bread or cake.

Bearing in mind the topic of the festival was Love, and Wedding, this would probably be the kind of decorated bread made especially for weddings. Note the poppy seeds on the braided loaf, – they are all tiny french knots.

Of course there were desserts too, – fruit, berries, cake, and cookies.

No feast is complete without something to drink.  In the bottle there is moonshine, and my guess is tea in the teapots and the samovar.

I wondered a bit about the boot on the top of the samovar, but Mr. Google informs me that it is used instead of a bellow to fan the fire inside the samovar.

And then the tea is sweetened with comb honey, – everything so neatly made, down to the last detail.

One the artist’s beautiful quilts was overlooking the table.

 

Both feasts were amazing experiences, and even though the last one was for the eyes only, it is remembered just as well as the one which we could also taste and smell.

 

🙂

Eldrid

 

 

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Skarvsöm in Sweden and Yakutia

When visiting quilty events in foreign places, especially abroad, I hope, and expect, to see something different, – something we do not have at home, something new and exciting, – even exotic perhaps. But I also notice things that are familiar and similar to things I have seen before. Some times I know right away what the object reminds me of, and at other times it is just a feeling that I have seen it before, but cannot quite pinpoint what, where or when.

When walking the Quilted Field in Suzdal I came across a couple of quilts made in a technique I thought looked familiar. When studying the photos after I got home, I recognized the sewing technique as “Skarvsöm”.

I remembered reading about this technique many years ago in “Norsk Quilteblad”, the newsletter of the Norwegian Quilter’s Association. It was then described as a traditional patchwork technique in Sweden, well documented as far back as the 1700s, and mainly used for ceremonial cushions for weddings.

“Skarvsöm” is made with woolen fabric which is felted so it will not unravel. It is often traditional patterns formed with squares, rectangles and triangles, but in between each and every patch or design element, a narrow strip, most often in a contrasting colour, is inserted, like a passepoil or piping. When the seam is finished, the strip is cut even with the surface on the right side of the work.

Here and here are examples of how it is made, and in Sweden’s Digital Museum you can see many examples of old items made in this technique, so it  is well documented. Here is a blog post with a short article on the history of this kind of quilting in Sweden.

Åsa Wettre also dedicated a whole chapter to this technique in her book “Old Swedish Quilts”.

————

Since I could see no names on the quilts above, I wondered at first if someone from Sweden had entered their work in the Quilted Field project, but dismissed this idea as I thought our Swedish travel companion, Anita Fors, would have mentioned it if this was the case. My curiosity aroused, I messaged the organizers and asked about the names of the quilt makers, and if this was a traditional quilting technique throughout Russia. Within a few hours I got to know that this is a traditional technique from Yakutia, and the two makers are Anna Zverova and Vera Vorfolomeeva.

The latter also made these two quilts hanging in the special exhibition of Best Quilts from Previous Quilt Shows:

I noticed she had used not only one, but three strips of fabric in the seams between the patches, all throughout the red/yellow/black quilt, and in a few places on the other quilt too.

Further study of my and my husband’s photos revealed that this technique was also used in some of the clothing and other gear presented at the Yakut wedding demonstration, like on this coat:

…. the mittens:

 

… and the saddle bags/carpets:

 

It has been interesting to observe and learn about all this, and as often happens, new information creates new questions and more curiosity, – in this case as to what could be the connection between the Swedish and Yakut traditions.

Given that the two geographical areas are almost half a world apart, it is probably pure coincidence, – but I cannot help but wonder.

After studying all this, and also having long online conversations about the subject with our travel companion Anita, I got a sudden urge to try my hand at “skarvsöm”.

Just take a look at the beauty here.

 

Edited:

This kind of sewing is called “kybyty” in Russia. Here is a You-tube-video where Vera Vorfolomeeva shows how to do it.

Here is also a stunning picture of the StBasil cathedral in Moscow that she has made in this technique.

 

🙂

Eldrid

 

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The Yakut Wedding

As I said in my two previous posts here and here, there was a lot going on on the day of the Quilted Field.

One of the posts on the entertainment program, was a demonstration of Yakut wedding customs, especially on how to dress the bride.

 

It all started with a small procession of the participants entering the field and the stage. First came the groom..

…then various family members and a shaman (…I think..).

One person was at the microphone explaining what was happening, but only in Russian. We could guess quite a lot from what we saw happening on stage, but we probably missed out on a lot of interesting details.

The bride came on stage already with the pink dress on, but there was a lot more to be added, both clothes, jewellery, belt, handbag, hat and mittens, – all of this in beautifully made traditional style clothing.

Everything was done with slow, ceremonial movements while some haunting songs, reminiscent of sami joik, but not quite, were played in the background, occasionally interrupted by the storyteller explaining something.

When the bride was ready, the groom came and led her to the other side of the stage, both holding on to opposite ends of what looked like a big tassel.

Afterwards there was some kind of ceremony, and then some serious gift giving, – everything in slow motion:

 

In the end they danced some sort of line dance, – again with very slow motions and sombre faces, – very dignified. No hoopla or laughter.

 

No wedding is without food and drink, of course, and they had brought some of their traditional foods and drink on to the stage. After the ceremony and dancing, they came around and offered the audience tastes of both food and drink, served in carved wooden vessels.

The food was waffles and some small pancakes, – very good, – and the drink was white and had a sour-ish taste. After reading up on Yakut wedding traditions on the web, we think that it must have been fermented mare’s milk. Nobody got sick or died as far as we know,  😉 even though everyone drank from the same cup.

This also gave us a chance of a closer glimpse of their wonderful attire, – all beautifully made with lots of details to admire. I should have liked to examine them all more closely and in person, but the photos will have to do. There was a lot of fur, as would be expected on traditional clothing from the coldest place on earth, but there was also woolen fabric and what looked like silk brocade on some of the coats. There was also lots of silver jewellery, some of which reminded me of the designs from Juhl’s Silver Gallery in Kautokeino, who has got their inspiration from the tundra and the people living there.

Yakutia, or the Sakha republic as it is also called, is the largest republic in Russia, and is almost as far east and north as you can come in that country. This group had travelled 8-9 hours by plane to get to the festival, – all inland, which is telling of just how large this country is.

——-

The organizers had better cameras than mine, so the photos on their website have some more close ups and details from this event.

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Here is a Youtube video of a Dressing-the-bride ceremony at a big event in 2012.

(It stops rather abruptly, before they are quite finished, I think.)

——-

 

In my next post, we will take a closer look at some of their quilts.

🙂

Eldrid

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The Quilted Field in Suzdal

Sunday 14th August was the day the quilted field was to be laid out.  The weather forecast said rain, so we were not sure if we were going to be able see it or not, but luckily it let up during the morning hours, – and so we were greeted by this gorgeousness once we entered the grounds of the Museum of Wooden Architecture.

The quilts are 1 x 1 meters and have strings attached to all four corners so they can be tied together. This was a good thing as the gusts of wind occasionally blowing across the field, could easily have created some disarray.

 

 

The Quilted Field is an ongoing project. Every year the 10 best quilts from the new entrants are chosen to be a permanent part of the project. At the moment they are aiming at having a large amount of very fine quilts to display at the event of Suzdal’s millennium anniversary, which will be in 2024.

 

The best and most interesting quilts are exhibited for the rest of the week on the inside walls of the Eufemius Monastery.

 

Kay Donges, USA

From what we saw, they will have no problem of filling up the fields with exquisite quilts in 2024. There was a lot of creativity, skill, beautiful colours and design displayed at our feet while walking the field. The entries come from all parts of Russia and also from other countries. All entries are accepted, – none is turned away.

 

There were so many quilts, and hardly enough time to study each one in detail as there was so much going on the whole day. (See my previous post) . However, some of them made me stop a bit longer to study details I found interesting.

 

 

The theme of this years Quilted Field was Wooden Architecture and Calico Wedding. Keiko Nakamura from Japan made this one, inspired by the wooden church standing in the grounds of the Suzdal Kremlin:

As you can see, a lot of different techniques have been used making the quilts. Keiko also used the same quilting in the border as she had used for an obi belt for her daughter-in-law’s kimono:

 

The participants of the Quilted Field do not get their own quilts back. At the end of the show, all quilts that are not permanent parts of the project, are packed in paper bags, and the entrants can choose a random paper bag with an unseen quilt to take back home.

All the quilts have name tags on the back, with the full address, so you have the chance of making friends with the maker of the quilt you get, and the one that get yours.

You can also choose to donate your quilt to the project and not get that unknown quilt in a paper bag.

Since the quilts lay backs down and were tied together, there was no way we could see the name tags, so I have no idea who made most of these quilts, and can therefore not give credit to the makers. However, if you see your quilt here, feel free to comment below.

There was also a special exhibition of wedding quilts hung in different places around the field. This was a separate competition.

There was also a quilted car.

The organizers have lots more photos on their website.

🙂

Eldrid

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The International Quilt Festival of Suzdal, Russia

This August I travelled to the International Quilt Festival in Suzdal, Russia. It was a 10 day trip, with 8 of them spent at the Quilt Festival and in the immediate neighbourhood of Suzdal, a small town about 2 hours east of Moscow.

I have been wanting to visit a Russian quilt event for a while, as I know there are several, and when I saw pictures similar to this one posted on the internet last year, I decided that this was where I wanted to go.

Suzdal is a very old town. It was founded nearly 1000 years ago, and for a while it was the capital of a principality while Moscow was still merely a small outpost.

The Suzdal Kremlin (photo above) is way older than the more famous one in Moscow, and is on Unesco’s world heritage list, along with one of the monasteries in Suzdal.

The capital was moved, but over the centuries,  Suzdal became a religious centre with several monasteries and lots of churches. During the Soviet time, industrialization passed Suzdal by, and much of the old architechture was preserved. When the people realized what a gem they were sitting on, laws were passed to prevent highrise buildings in or near the town centre. More than 300 buildings in town are now listed or protected, including 5 monasteries and more than 30 churches. Suzdal is now a major tourist attraction on the so called Golden Ring, and more than a million tourists visit every year.

This also means that the place is well equipped with reasonably good hotels and restaurants, so the town, with a little less than 10 000 inhabitants, is capable of hosting quite large events.

The travel agency connected with the quilt festival, which organized the tour, had put together a varied and interesting program, which, in addition to the quilt festival events, also included a trip to a local farm and several guided tours of the town and area.

Since there were so many interesting things to do, and to look at, that were not necessarily quilt related, I brought along two family members who are not quilters, and we all enjoyed ourselves very much.

 

The quilty events like exhibitions and classes were spread out on 8-10 locations throughout the town; – in hotels, churches, culture house, library, and even inside one of the monasteries. Exhibitions were open every day for more than a week.

The quilt shops were located in one of the hotels on the outskirts of town, along with the show administration and most of the classes. Our hotel was in the very centre of town, right next to the town square where much of the entertainment was going on, and with short walks to most of the exhibitions and attractions, and to a variety of good restaurants.

 

Some events were one day dos, like the Quilted Field event held in the grounds of the Museum of Wooden Architecture.

People sew quilts of the same size, 1 x 1 meters with ribbons attached to all four corners. The quilts are then laid out on the grass in a checkerboard pattern, and tied together at the corners.

The audience can then walk, run, dance, or skip in between the quilts, all across the Quilted Field, enjoying all the different colours and motifs, and of course take lots of photos. People love to pose with their quilt, or with their family and friends, and photograph each other in the field.

In addition to the quilted field, there were also quilts hung on clothes lines and on the walls of the old houses around the area.

 

There were also lots of stalls selling food and various crafts.

In addition to all this, the organizers also put on a more than 4 hour long show with lots of song and dance, traditional wedding processions and games, in which both young and old took part.

The theme of this years quilt festival was “Love”, and on this day the focus was on courtship and weddings. There was a special competition category of wedding quilts, and these quilts were hung around the area, and the winners were announced at the end of the day.

People had dressed up in traditional wedding dress, and a procession of wedding guests following the couple marked the start of the show program.  Later the guests mingled with the audience, and it was interesting to study the various costumes they were wearing.

Quilters also wore their home made dresses, and we recognized a few of them from the fashion show in the town square on the previous day, – more on that in a later post.

On stage a folk dance group sang and danced to traditional folk tunes. They were very good, and wore a variety of wonderful costumes, – the sort quilters would love to take a closer look at.

I think they performed for more than an hour, and still I was sorry to see them go.

 

The audience were invited to learn traditional wedding dances in front of the stage. One couple led the dance, one lady had a microphone and explained the moves over the loudspeakers. Of course, we did not understand the words, which were in Russian, but we understood the moves and steps that were shown. They started out with the polonaise, which we also did at our daughter’s wedding 10 years ago, so it was really very similar to our customs at home.

Wait for me..!

DH to the right, – he is a good sport.

Hurry up Grandma, – let’s go dancing!

A small play was performed, again all words in Russian, but you could guess a lot from the mimics and tone of voice. My guess is that this was about a young girl who wanted to be a fine lady in town, and turned up her nose at the simpler farm girl who wished to stay put. However, the farm girl got the eligible young man in the end, but luckily an officer also came to the rescue of the “fine” girl, so all was well in the end.

I loved their costumes.

 

The whole thing was very informal. You could sit and watch all the time, or get up and walk around looking at the quilts, participate in the dancing and games, go have a snack at one of the stalls, or sit on the grass enjoying your packed lunch. There were not only quilters present, but families out for a Sunday afternoon walk, officially invited guests, and also busloads of tourists visiting the museum as part of their tours. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves very much.

 

This is already getting too long. I will have to make several new posts to show you more of the quilts, and of other (hopefully) interesting stuff.

🙂

Eldrid

 

 

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Annual Spring Report 2015

May 1st has come and gone, so my annual spring report is overdue, but here it is.

I guess there is no such thing as a “normal” spring, but if there were, this would be close, I think. At least this is very close to my memories of what spring used to be.

Since we were going away on May 1st, I took these photos in the evening the day before, and nothing had changed much overnight, so I think they count as May 1st photos.

We have had a relatively mild winter with little snow here on the coast (inland dwellers will tell a different story), but the spring has been quite cool, especially April. The leaves on the birch trees have just started to come out, but very slowly.

 

The daffodils are budding, and a few are in bloom.

The exceptions are the ones by the walls facing south, they have been blooming for some time. The crocuses are all finished, unlike the very cold spring 2 years ago, when they were still in full bloom on May 1st.

The flowering currant bush is also in full bloom, ….

…. but none of the rhododendrons have shown their colour yet, – not even the early ones.

The tulips by the wall are ready to bloom, and were opening up when we arrived back home two days later.

The rose bush has got some green leaves, but the spirea bush only has a hint of green on it.

No leaves on our old rowan tree yet, but it is budding. We still have snow falling now and again.

As we travelled into the fjords on May 1st, we could see that there was still a lot of snow in the mountains, and the greenery varied from quite green to none at all, depending on whether the slopes were facing south or north, and on the altitude. Some high lying farms inland still had their fields covered with snow.

 

 

🙂

Eldrid

Festival of Quilts

For the very first time I had the chance to attend the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this year.  The last quilty event I attended in the UK was the National Patchwork Championships at Ascot in 1997, which is quite a long time ago. It felt good to be back at a quilt show, and I enjoyed every minute of my stay.

Since I returned home, I have also enjoyed myself studying the photos I took of the quilts. I had planned to post some of them soon after my return, but I have had a hard time choosing which ones, and where to start.

There was a large number of quilts on display, and even though I spent most of the time looking at the quilts, I am not sure I got to see all of them. And then there were all the boots, which also had quilts in them, along with other stuff.

What I found I admired most at the show was all the wonderful and detailed quilting done on most of the quilts that were shown. So I think that is where I will start.

“Rhapsody” by Sandy Chandler is one of the quilts that caught my attention. It is a wholecloth quilt, and was entered in the Traditional Quilts category, and got a “Highly Commended”, which is kind of a 4th place. It was quilted on a longarm machine, mostly hand guided.

 

Lots and lots of beautiful feather quilting. Click on the photos to see a larger and closer view.

 

This one, called “Sunshine and Flowers”, was made by the same person as the one above. It was entered in the Quilters’ Guild Challenge, which had a garden theme this year.

Again: Lots and lots of beautiful quilting.

Here is a little beauty: “After the Snowfall” by Sheena Norquay. It was entered in Pictorial Quilts, and was one of the Judges Choices.

I did not get to take many close ups of this one, but above are a couple.

This is “Lily White” by Pauline Tiney, entered in the Contemporary Quilts category. I came across this quilt one morning just before I was due at a workshop, so got just the one picture. It was hung so you could see both the back and the front, and I think this is the back side. It is still beautiful.

There were so many quilts I thought that I would go back to have a closer look at later, but in the end, there was not enough time.

The thing about wholecloth quilts is that they often don’t look like much until you go close and study them. That is also partly true for this one:

It is called “Simply Mandalas” and was made by Pierra Vernex from Canada. The motifs are inspired by circular mandala motifs made by Tibetan monks. It was made completely on a home sewing machine, using the quilt-as-you-go method.

It is truly stunning.

 

 

 

Here is one with more colours and beautiful quilting. It is called “Kutch Diamonds”, and was made by Annelize Littlefair. It was entered in the Traditional Quilt  category, and got a Highly Commended. You can see why below:

 

It is freehand quilted on a longarm machine, and took 150 hours to finish. I can easily believe that.

This is called “The Old Garden Gate”, and is made by Lynda Jackson. It has been quilted on a longarm machine.

Below are some close ups:

 

 

Then there was this one:

It did not look like much at first glance, but the more I looked, the more it caught my interest.

I thought it was a bit fun that it was also captured with another head on it 😉

The quilt is called “Profiles”, and was made by Stephanie Pettengell. It was entered in the Art Quilt category.

The profiles were made by removing the black colour of the fabric, using discharge paste. It was then free machine quilted.

All the profiles were quilted in a similar manner, except the brains, they were all different.

After looking for a while, I also discovered that profiles were quilted into the black part of the fabric. A very original piece.

Since we are on the topic of heads, I will also show you this one:

This is “Skull Optics” by Paula Rafferty, entered in the Art Quilt category.

When I first came by it, I did not see the skull, – just the black and white stripes, which were kind of disturbing to the eyes. I took a photo anyway, because I thought the border was so neat.

Only after loading the photos on my home computer did I notice the skull motif.

On a more humorous note: The space in front of this one was always crowded.

It is a group quilt called “Les Q-Ers” entered by Marion Barlow on behalf of the group Q 4 Quilters. It shows a group of quilters in a bus queue, heading for a quilt show. The quilt got a Highly Commended.

And here is the reverse side, on their way back from the show.

 

I think I am the one who does not NEED more fabric, – except I do not have to hide it when I get home. 😉

Although I spent most of the time looking at quilts, I set aside a small amount of time at the end of the day to walk by the boots, – just to see what was there. Of course I got tempted, – and I also had a small list of items that I was looking out for.

Here is what I brought home:

The fabrics at the front are all for a project that is lurking in the wings. They are silks, some hand dyes, and a few gorgeous ones from Oakshott.

Then I was also tempted by Heide Stoll Weber’s hand dyed fabric packs, and I am really looking forward to make something out of the two pink and orange bundles to the right. I also grabbed some neutrals for my hexagon project, and threw in a few other fat quarters as well.

I bought one of the African embroideries, and a few of their prints. Then there is some bling and a small iron, and also thread and needles. I love the Nimble Thimbles, so bought a couple of those, and on the last day I splashed on a small hand made pair of scissors. (I bought a pair of hand made duck billed scissors at Ascot nearly twenty years ago, and they are still very good, so I reckon it is worth the expense. ) They must be very popular, for as I was getting the last pair, I overheard them saying they were super busy and would not be taking any new orders till after Christmas.

The fabrics have been duly fondled and put away till I have finished my current project. In between sewing, there are plenty more photos to be studied, and I will pick out some more to show you in another post.

🙂

Eldrid