Come2Quilt Exhibition

WARNING - PHOTO HEAVY POST

Last weekend saw us holding our first exhibition of work at Come2Quilt. The weather forecast was not promising as we were on the tail end of Hurricane Katia but we braved it, changed plans somewhat and the show went on. We had planned that the quilts would be hung out in the garden and so instead they mostly went indoors and in the marquee. For anyone who has never put up an exhibition before you think that it will never get sorted but all of a sudden it comes together and the hard work pays off. We were hoping to raise some money for St. Margaret's Hospice.


The exhibition was titled "I have started so I will finish" and we had to finish things that we had abandoned etc. You will note that I haven't shown any of my work, it is for another post. My work comes under the unfinished category. It was good for people to see all the various stages of a quilt coming together and something which you may want to do for your own shows.

Kate at the entrance. Wendy and Sue in the background.



Wendy's beautiful quilt that she made for her daughter's 30th birthday. Margaret's Drunkard's Path quilt hiding the tv and Kate's beautiful chair.



Honorary member Pip who climbed into one of the displays of a quilt in a wicker basket and fell asleep.



Pat's Japanese quilt made as a block of the month from Antique Angel. We all helped to sandwich this together and tie the blocks. It is still a work in progress and is a huge quilt.



The back of Margaret's beautiful waistcoat.



Steve, brother to Kate, Margaret and Hilary. Steve makes fabulous stained glass work, a talented family.



Steve's blocks. The top right one came home with me.



Wendy's Insanity quilt being used as a curtain in the Nursery section of the marquee. Wendy is hand piecing all those tiny hexagons using her inklingo swaps.



Rosemary's Avocado Cat wall hanging.



The perfect place for Margaret's triangle quilt up in the roof of the marquee like a kite. Given how windy it was we were lucky that it didn't take off. You may notice all the bunting and Rosemary's hexagons flowers growing up the tent pole/strap.



The tombola stall. This always goes down well at any event. People like to have a chance at winning something and there were some great prizes. Wendy's husband Dave really, REALLY wanted that bottle of whisky. What did he win? A lovely hand made card that his wife had made!!!



Margaret's Flower Garden. I love this for several reasons. It is beautiful, my colours and hexagons. Need I say more. You know my passion by now.



Overview of the marquee.



This quilt was made by Pat and is lovingly known in her family as the testicle quilt. Pat bought a pack of worn and washed fabrics and one of the fabrics when cut up did resemble all these male wobbly bits and rather than not use it she kept it in and we all love it. It has caused much hilarity ( sorry chaps - payback time). One of our visitors was Judi Mendelsohn from Patchwork and Quilting Magazine and I was telling her about this quilt. Her reply was to tell me about a tv programme that she had been watching where one of the contestants was a laughter therapist!!! and she said why would someone pay to learn how to laugh when all they had to do was to belong to a quilt group and laugh at a testicle quilt. Best therapy I know of. Thanks ladies. You are all wonderful.



One of the things that was intended to amuse any children or bored husbands was a Splat the Rat. If you have never come across this before here is the gist of it. A length of downpipe at an angle, drop a "rat"(in this case a patchwork one) down it and then at the other end as it emerges from the hole you have to hit it. Kate put on food and drink at the end of the show and we had a game of this when we had finished eating. I am telling you now this is such good fun.

My husband.



Me.



We will be giving St. Margaret's Hospice a cheque for £600. Well done to everyone involved for making it such a super weekend. The atmosphere was very much like a village fete and people stayed for ages just chatting and enjoying tea and cakes. What could be better?

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.