More from Malvern.....

I thought I'd share some more of the fantastic quilts I saw at Malvern.

The first one (above) is detail from a quilt made by Mary Kent - Distant Horizon. The embellishment on this quilt was of a very high quality and was diverse. I think you could have stood and examined it for hours - it must have been very labour intensive.
'Diamond Ring' by Carole Galbraith was expertly pieced. A traditional design but used with very strong colours and just a delight to see.

Deja Vu by Mary Cunningsworth and Judy Laquidara was really well pieced. A simple design but the way fabrics were used was really impressive. They also entered another quilt called Light and Dark. Both quilts really needed to be viewed from a distance to see the effect of shading.

Memories of Japan by Barbara Keen was another example of fabrics well used and a simple design expertly pieced.

Ollie's Quilt by Kate Elgood. A funny quilt - which sometimes result in not being put together very well; this is an exception. There is lots of detail and need to be looked at closely to really appreciate it.

And finally (you'll be pleased to hear) is M&M's Sunbeam Spectacular by Barbara Webber and Amanda Hall. What a great quilt to end on. Great use of fabrics and the piecing was amazing. It really had lots to look at.

So - that's the last of the Malvern Photos for you all. I'll be taking lots at the NEC Festival of Quilts and hopefully they'll be better quality - I'll practise lots in the meantime.

I'm still plodding on with my huge quilt - I'm on the second border - which shouldn't take too long. And then the final border will take a while - but the end is in sight. I can't wait to put the binding on.

Malvern 2007 and Flo update

Hi to all of you out there. I'm still getting very excited about the red dots on my blogging map. So thanks for looking and I hope you like what you see. I'd love to hear from you all.

Flo is having a great time now in the garden - without being supervised on her harness. She still hasn't worked out that plants aren't solid and she can't use them to stand on. It's very funny to watch her running around and bouncing chasing bees and birds. As this is yet another Bank Holiday weekend so it's raining - but she doesn't seem to mind it at all.

I'd also like to highlight a new forum to you all - The Quilters Toolbox. Please have a look and have a chat with fellow quilters.

I thought I'd share a few more photos from Malvern - this time I'm going to focus on those exhibits that used hand dyed fabrics. You'll see they've been used in lots of different ways - I'm sure you'll like them:

Oaks & Ferns - by Mary Button. A great example of hand painted fabric. The colours are great.

Black and white by Janice Croft - a collage of printed and dyed fabrics.

Timbuktu I by Christine Restall. A really fantastic piece of work. A good example of how to mix both hand dyed fabrics and African fabrics. A very interesting piece of work to look at.

Next year the theme for one of categories at Malvern is 'Architectural Inspiration' and to promote this they had the following two examples. This first piece is called Prague by Lee Brown. This inspiration was the Rider's Staircase in the Royal Palace, Prague. A very precise piece of work.

Another piece by Lee Brown titled Sagrada Familia - inspired by a trip to Barcelona and the work of Gaudi. Another great example of the use of hand dyed fabrics and accurate piecing.

'Indigo and sunflowers' by Delia Cecil. After dying a piece of fabric Indigo the image of a field of sunflowers resulted. The outline has been machine embroidered and a variety of threads used. I really dramatic work that deserves a closer look.

Going with the flow 7 - by Margaret Davidson. A very free flowing piece of work using hand dyed fabrics and diverse stitches.

Simply Pink by Kathy Turner highlights the exhibitors great skill is graduation of a colour using hand dyed fabrics.

Asterisk by Ann Jermey. The technique of spray paining is used here is is really impressive.

In my opinion this is one of the best quilts in the show. Winter - Wessex by Liz Heywood is influenced by the Dutch artist Tom Schulten. A really great piece of work - I don't think my photo really does it justice.

I hope you like the examples I picked for the use of hand dyed fabrics and can see the very different ways they can be used. I hope some have inspired you to give it a try.

Malvern show - photo transfer

I thought I'd go through some of the photos I took at Malvern to illustrate some techniques I noticed. Brenda suggested that when we visit a show we should be clear why we are visiting it - what we want to gain. Now if all you want is a nice day out - great - but if you want to see what techniques are used and how they are used, then that's what you should take note of. Malvern isn't the biggest show going - it's not on the same scale at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC; however, don't think this means the quality is any less. I really enjoyed the day out and saw lots of different techniques used in very different ways. So in this post I'll include some photos that I think show the ways in which photo transfer have been used - you may like some more than others, but the idea is just to see how they are used. Please excuse the quality - I'm still getting used to our digital camera.

Malvern Show

Well what a great show - I'm sure the fantastic weather helped. As you can see from the photos we like to do these shows in style - so we start the day with coffee looking at the Malvern Hills, have salmon sarnies, salad, champagne and fruit for lunch and then Victoria Sponge cake and tea in the afternoon. We were lucky this year the weather was great - last year we sat in the car passing food around and steaming up the windows.

The show itself was very good - I'll give you more of an update when I've collected my thoughts and they're more ordered. I did buy a few things - but I don't think I was too naughty.