Have you been? Are you going? Are you in withdrawals, like me, now you’re watching other people there while you’re impatiently counting down to next year’s festival while contemplating another 5 hour round-trip just for one more walk around this weekend?!!!
I definitely have the FoQ blues. While I woke up this morning with a smile on my face as I recounted every second of yesterday, it then began to dawn on me that very soon the doors would be opening on Day 2, and while it would feed my soul to see all the fun all over again, it then occurred to me that I wouldn’t be there and I started to get stroppy! It’s not FAIR!
This truly was my absolute favourite year so far. Since my first visit in 2022 it just feels as though the sense of community, fun and kindness was bigger than ever this year.
Just in case you’re reading this and have no idea what I’m waffling on about, The Festival of Quilts is Europe’s largest quilt exhibition and takes place every year at the end of July/beginning of August at the National Exhibition Centre (The NEC) in Birmingham. This year it runs from Thursday 30th July – Sunday 2nd August.
The festival has two elements to it; the quilt competition, with all quilts being exhibited for us to look at, and then the stalls that have business owners selling their goodies from who have come from all around the world.
I go with my husband who loves to look at all the quilts and join in with the shopping fun – he really does!
This was how our day began on Thursday (Day 1 of FoQ) as we walked to the NEC from our car…
We went to our first-ever lecture, How to Quilt on Your Domestic Machine with Angie Attwood and John Scott, from Sewing Street. This was a free lecture from 9:30-10am and they sure packed a lot of useful information into those 30 minutes. I felt inspired to learn a bit more about ruler quilting after this and will definitely be looking on Angie’s Instagram for further information.
From the lecture theatre we walked across to Hall 9 where we glided through their hallowed doors and into quilting heaven.
If you love The Festival of Quilts then you know how important it is to take in this beautiful sight before expectantly walking into the NEC’s halls where everything you could ever want for your insanely addictive quilting hobby is right there for all to see, swoon over, admire, stroke and snap-up in a heartbeat. Aaah, it really is shopping heaven as well as creative inspiration heaven for us load of folk who love the fabric arts!
Aside from being my favourite year for atmosphere alone it also became the year I met LOTS of my creative heroes. I don’t recall ever looking at people so much, I really took it all in and watched the smiles on people’s faces and saw how much joy this event was bringing them. It’s rare for gatherings en masse to be peaceful nowadays but gathering thousands of quilters all into one place just creates an atmosphere of safety, inclusivity and happiness.
The first crafty hero we saw was Matt Wilding.
A few years ago my husband, Mark (on the left), directed me towards the Quilted Creations category where Matt’s Wings of Pride were on display and we took the obligatory selfies in front of them. Mark started following Matt on social media and got me involved and we’ve watched his stratospheric rise to where he is now – winner, yet again, of the Quilted Creations category with this year’s entry of Pride Around the World – Mark is next to it for stardom, as well as scale!
It’s massive, extremely well put together and a true feat for the eyes to walk around and study. I have loved watching Matt’s updates on Instagram each week, where he’s built anticipation and excitement and NOT disappointed with his finished piece. The only question that remains now is…what’s next Matt??!!
Next up was Rachel Tomlinson.
I’ve followed Rachel on Instagram for too many years to remember! Every year I go to FoQ I look out for her and feel disappointed to never catch a glimpse of her smiling face. We saw Rachel about 4 times this year and managed to chat and have a laugh. Rachel even gave each of us a badge that we were honoured to receive and can report are happily sitting opposite me as I write this in my craftroom!
Rachel has an excellent YouTube channel full of tutorials, fun videos and plenty of quilting festival and shopping haul videos to drool over…more of those are probably being created as I type!
We also bumped into the fabulous Sandra Powell.
Sandra is a busy bee, working away on something very exciting that will be coming soon and she’s even involved me with it – I will be sharing more about that in the future! My lips are sealed until then though!
I also met Hannah from Lewis & Irene fabric company and I didn’t get a photo…boooooo. She was so lovely and I felt like such a fan to meet one of the owners of my favourite fabric company. Lewis & Irene fabrics are spot-on perfect and I know I’ve said this many times but their Hannah’s Flowers collection is my absolute favourite collection of fabrics ever. I am making it my crafty mission to include at least one print from that line is most things I make!
Then came Cindy Cloward and Riley Blake Designs.
The generosity at the festival was in fine form this year and Riley Blake Designs were high up on the kindness scale. First we were both given a tote bag with patterns from their new Cath Kidston range on and then we got to create our very own mini bolt of our favourite Cath Kidston fabric from a table filled with lush designs and people scrambling for a sacred piece!
The larger photo is the Jane Austin 250th birthday quilt. I have watched Rachel making one of these this year so it was lovely to see the pattern in the flesh to really admire the beauty of the design and fabrics.
The photo on the upper-left is all the freebies we received this year, including some tote bags from Sewing Street when we enjoyed our lecture. Feeling very blessed.
A discovery I made this year that blew me away is The Devonstone Collection, who I have since stalked and swooned over on Instagram! This is an Australian owned company supporting Australian designers. The following photo, in my mind, is now of ‘Aussie Street’ at the FoQ…
As we approached this row of stalls I instantly saw the green circle above each one and after speaking to a stall holder when I thought, “what a coincidence buying from two Australians one after the other,” he told me about the collective. I have well and truly fallen in love with Australian fabric. It is just wonderful. The entire brown and low volume wad of fat quarters in my haul photo below is from Australian designers.
Sadly the only other photo I took from Aussie Street was my favourite display of the entire festival…
This was so adorable. I took it on Monika Boldogh’s stall – she had the most amazing collection of red fabrics that I am still amazed to not have bought! Here is her Instagram link.
After enjoying many hours browsing all the stalls and making a few purchases…(cue my little haul in photo format!)
…we walked the quilt gallery. I am including just a few photos of my absolute favourites that really spoke to me. Every quilt is a masterpiece and every entrant rightly deserves their space on the wall to showcase their talents. Well done to all the entrants this year because it was a fantastic show.
This one ⬆️ was my absolute favourite from the show – A Ball of String by Beverley Bennett.
These two above ⬆️ are Lori Holt patterns – I LOVE Lori Holt fabrics and patterns. Sadly I didn’t take closer photos of the makers’ names so I can’t mention them – if you know their names please let me know. These were so beautifully made and so nice to see how the patterns look in real life, instead of just through my phone screen. Top one is called The Quilted Scarecrow and the bottom is Prairie Meadow.
And last of all…
Well, the quilt says it perfectly doesn’t it…need I say more?!
What do you think then? Has this post made you rethink whether you’re going to visit spontaneously over the weekend?!
Have you been and feel the same way I do, that FoQ really is a wonderful place to be?
Have you entered a quilt into this year’s show, or even previous years? You can read my previous post about my competition entry in 2023 here.
Are you feeling inspired to create your own masterpiece and enter it into next year’s show?
Happy stitching everyone x
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