It is Saturday night here in England, and I spent my 3rd and final day at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.
Last night we had a wonderful networking dinner with European SAQA members, and they shared some exciting news: they are organizing the first Europe SAQA conference in May 2020 in Amsterdam! I urge American and European members to go support this event, and please do sign up early so they can make their plans.
SAQA president Lisa Walton is leading a tour to the Tokyo Quilt Festival and Japan in Jan 2020, and Sophie and I plan to hook up with the group for a day or two. Some of you have been asking if I will lead a tour to Japan again – I don’t have anything in the works now – if you are interested in Lisa’s tour (with a bunch of fun Aussie quilters) contact eQuilter for links and info this week. Sophie and I will see you on that tour for at least part of the time.
I’ve been going to this show in Birmingham UK for 10 years now, and every year I am dazzled by the unique creativity of UK and European quilters and fiber artists. This is the biggest show in Europe, so it is on my short list of shows to attend to see what is happening in quilting trends. One thing that really struck me this year was the number of quilts using imported African prints. These big bold bright prints are either from Western Africa, or they are sometimes the Dutch Wax Prints. We are always aggressively pursuing new resources for these fabrics, and they are VERY hot in European couture fashion the last few years. So it make sense that they would show up in the quilts in this show!
I just finished photographing the quilt exhibits this morning, so I am still reviewing photos and thinking about trends. You may be familiar with the Dutch quilter Janneke de Vries who has won many top prizes over the years, in Birmingham and Houston. This year she had a stunning new quilt with dancing African ladies, and she also won a special 10-year honor prize to acknowledge that she has won SO many top prizes over the last 10 years. Well deserved!
Of course I saw Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably several times at the show and hotel. They are busy as ever! Also had a meeting with TV personality Stuart Hillard (whose blender line we carry) who is going to be a judge on a new Sewing TV challenge show. He grew up in a Tudor-era house in the Cotswolds, with no indoor plumbing and possibly a ghost or two. I am now spending a couple days in the Cotswolds, so he gave me a few tips on places I haven’t seen yet here.
I had some other meetings on a BIG project I am putting together for 2020-2021 and I hope to be announcing details soon. I’ll be sharing photos from the show later this week after I get home Tuesday night. There are some photos on my personal Facebook page now. Feel free to share!
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
