FoQ yeah!

This post is a bit photo heavy!

My MIL and I spent the whole day at the Festival of Quilts yesterday and it didn't disappoint.  I think that they've expanded into another hall too so it's even bigger.  Thursday seemed a good day to go as it wasn't so packed as previous visits and my ankles survived relatively unscathed from attack by mobility scooters and trolley bags, which was nice.  We had a plan going in - quilts first then shopping but half way down the first aisle, Carol pointed out that the stalls area looked quite quiet and maybe we should take advantage.  So we wandered off track for a while! 

I am really proud of how little I bought.  Previous visits to the FoQ have resulted in Liberty fabric buys that still sit in my fabric cupboard waiting to be turned into something fabulous. So despite stroking some lovely stuff over at Fabrics Galore's dedicated Liberty stand, I held my resolve and didn't succumb.  So here's my fabric haul...

hello my name is moira and I'm a fabric addict!

Most of this pile of loveliness was bought (over a couple of visits) at the Eternal Maker stall, which still is the loveliest stall there, hands down. Some echino, a bit of japanese cotton/linen joy and a couple of pieces of Scamper by Rebekkah Ginda for Birch Organics.  The bottom left is a bundle of Klona solids bought from Alice Backstitch's cute wee stall - a real bargain bundle.  I stroked lots of bundles at the Oakshott stand but didn't weaken - we overheard Michael saying that he won't be there next year as he wants to go on holiday with his children - bless.

I managed to see some of MM's Ruby Star Vinyl in real life (I have some on order from Annie at The Village Haberdashery). I don't know why but I was a little surprised by the light weight of the fabric - much more Ruby Star Spring Bee than Ruby Star Shining Typewriters, if that makes sense.

After lunch (BTW the food hall bit has moved to the opposite end of the hall from where is was last year for those going at the weekend), we did the quilts and here are some of my favourites:

winner of the miniature quilts section - super small flying geese!

a Spanish outhouse in the pictorial section

those trees were machine stitched and are just beautiful

this was much brighter in real life and just stunning

inspired by a walk on the beach in winter time,
each of the foot prints had shoe tread marks which tickled me

a wedding quilt, liberty fabrics and heirloom table clothes with brilliant bicycle quilting
- surprisingly my favourite quilt there - this photo doesn't do it justice

trudi's quilt - the quilting on this was great - the words to Jerusalem

a group quilt inspired by The Secret Garden - so clever and effective

Laura Gunn loveliness

great colours

I was a little confused that some quilts that were really traditional looking were in the contemporary quilts section and vice versa.  For example this one was in traditional quilts....

only solids, modern feel, no brown!

It just goes to show that we're all confused as to definitions.

So we got there at 10 and left at 5 and still didn't quite make it round everything but had an excellent day.  Lots of inspiration and a hint of an idea about maybe possibly submitting something in the future (eeeek!).