Yesterday Carol Dowsett took me to a patchwork show at Sandown Park racecourse. She is trying to educate me as we are launching a P&Q version of Workshop on the Web (it will be called Quiltwow) in December. Carol will be the editor and I will be the tea-person. (I was going to put tea-boy but thought that it might be sexist!). She has organised a super free taster issue - I'll let you know when it is up on the site.
It was soon obvious that I don't usually go to quilt things - saw lots of people I knew and they all said 'What are you doing here?'. I don't know why I don't do quilt things (other than the Birmingham Festival of Quilts, which I love) as I really enjoyed myself. So good to go to a show and not have to worry about getting back to the stand.
Pics below from Angela Ambrose (top) 'Fields of Green' which came second in the Small Wallhanging section. Below that is a detail from Angela's sister, Pam Webley's colourful quilt. This is called Wild Geese Migration and it received a Judges Merit Rosette.
Everyone said that this show, which hosts the National Championships, has been badly affected by the big NEC show, the Festival of Quilts. Are there just too many shows now? The new K&S show at the NEC looks to be busier this year than last, but are there just so many people and so much money to go around? What does anyone think? We are doing the Festival of Quilts with a bigger stand than last year and I'm at the NEC and Ally Pally K&S with the Val CH EXhibition. Will be a gibbering wreck at the end.
The really good news is that I have put away all the stuff from Scotland and tidied my workroom. I propose to give myself the afternoon off to work on a new piece. It has been in my head for a while and is shouting loudly to be let out. Called Schism (I often find that the title arrives before the work) it is about the fragility of everyday life and how one event can fracture it. Sounds a bit dark, doesn't it? Perhaps there will be a companion piece called Schism 2 - rejoined.
The shape will be a sort of scroll - a bit like this one that I worked for the Paper & Beyond CDROM. This was called The Abyss and has all sort of writings inside it about abysses (can that really be the plural?). Phillip Pullman's book, His Dark Materials sparked this one off.
If I get the design sorted, I 'll show you tomorrrow.
4 comments:
Love the scroll... Explanation about my name on my blog. Byee,
Moira
Love the blog Maggie - looking forward to Quiltwow but not sure my bank is!
I too love the Festival of Quilts but would be very saddened if it were the only quilt show on the block.
Despite many people saying it was less busy, many of the traders (and that's half the reason for going for a lot of people) said they were doing well and they'd heard the numbers coming through the door were up on last year.
I make a point of entering this show and others throughout the country to support them. I wish we could persuade more people.
Well, as a person who lives 10 minutes by car away from Sandown - maybe 15 in traffic - I would be very sad to see it go. I often put a quilt in there (though not this year, as I didn't really have anything at the right stage at the right time) and this year, both of my girls had quilts in the Under 16s (not the winning one, though - maybe next year!). In some ways, it's nice that it's a small show - small shows have their place - for instance, I love Hever - but it's a shame that it's lost some of the variety it used to have...
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