Tonight I am writing to you from Birmingham in the UK, where I’ve been attending and photographing the Festival of Quilts. It is the 20th anniversary for this event, so there is a festive air here. The retrospective exhibit is fantastic!
As you may know if you follow my personal Facebook page, we had a family tragedy yesterday while I was gone. Our beloved dog Ruby was rushed to the emergency Vet, and Paul had to make the horrible decision to let her go. As you can imagine, I am just devastated that I was not there to say goodbye. Ruby slept next to me at night, and was at my feet when I was working or eating at home. She was my baby. We are all crushed.
However I managed to go to the show this morning to finish photographing the exhibits, and I’ll be sharing those photos with you soon. There is still a lot of post-pandemic energy being expressed in the quilts, and that’s a good thing! I had a 4-hour dinner with a museum director and magazine editor tonight, and our long conversation was about how the quilting world is changing, and how we can help the quilting world transition to these exciting new modalities. It’s all good, but like everything else in life, the pendulum swings back and forth in long cycles and we are watching the trends closely. I appreciate being able to go to these big international events to share ideas with other talented women in leadership positions. We had a long talk about how quiltmaking is metamorphing, and what this new big trend is, that’s slowly coming into focus. So many influences to consider – cultural, economic, technical, and even global. When we sit in our corner and stare at our own pile of marbles, it doesn’t make much sense. When we gather together and look at all the marbles in one big multicolor pile, there are some pretty cool brainstormed ideas that emerge.
We do see that the judging metrics here seem to be different than any other shows in the world. The Festival of Quilts is not juried – every quilt submitted gets into the show. The biggest issue seems to be the quiltmakers choosing the correct category … or not. If the quilt is put in the wrong category, it will not be eligible for any prize. I see modern quilts from QuiltCon being entered in the contemporary category, and all kinds of other quilts (traditional quilts, contemporary quilts) entered in the Modern category. My friend Linda Seward (one of the judges this year) gave a lecture on how to pick the right category, and it is sorely needed. This is a topic that the quilt world needs to discuss!
Another topic discussed here is giving credit where it is due. If a quilt is from a pattern or book by another quilter, based on a class project from the teacher’s design, or if it is a copy of another quilter’s work, credit must be given! I saw one quilt that used cut-outs of my own fabric designs, used to make a quilt with figures, but no mention of my artwork being used. So these are things we must all discuss and perhaps educate new quilters on the topic. There are still quilters who think it is ok to buy one pattern and make copies for all their friends. This is how our quilt pattern designers go out of business. Always give credit to the original artist, and always respect copyright. We encourage everyone to create their own original designs, if possible. It is absolutely fine to be inspired by others, but don’t copy. Be unique! You can do it! There is so much amazing creativity in our quilting community!
sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul
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Travel/Quilt Calendar:
Aug 3-7 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
August 18-24 – Bear Camp – Homer Alaska
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY
