More from Festival

Whew - where did last week go? Festival of Quilts this year was just a blur. When we weren't teaching or lecturing we were on the stand all the time. We were demonstrating free machine quilting and digital embroidery each day and our sketchbooks also attracted a lot of attention. Even when Laura wasn't actually there you could still see her on the screen in the background because we ran DMTV shows on a TV to give visitors an idea of what our videos are all about.

We launched our new range of lovely wooden quilt stands for the first time. They were an instant hit and we sold out of two of the sizes in just two days. Luckily we have them made very close to home so we were able to call for extra stock for the rest of the show. They have been added to our online store now so people will be able to buy them online whenever they need the perfect way to display a miniature quilt.

Laura, Maureen and Catherine all took turns to teach a class on the Husqvarna Viking stand again this year. It's amazing how much they pack into one hour!

Thursday night was Fashion Show night. Our creation for the Daywear category looks fine on the display mannequin.

Not so great on me! I may look as though I'm confident striding down the catwalk but it's just an act!

Laura modelled the Art to Wear ensemble - you can see it here in the Fashion sans Frontieres exhibit the morning after the catwalk show. On the night, she carried the birdcage and key ring in her hands but here they've displayed them like a major necklace!

The hand drawn swallow looked really beautiful on the apron. Laura used Derwent Inktense pencils for the drawing and applied a wash of fabric medium to seal the image and make it permanent.

We were really pleased with the shape of the cropped jacket, especially the curve of the back. Several people asked if we could sell them the pattern but we had to confess we'd kind of made it up as we went along! The yoke of the skirt was made with eight shaped panels and was digitally embroidered with stars. We worked them in cream on cream for a discreet effect where the lustre of the Madeira rayon threads against the matte surface of the fabric caught the light in a really beautiful way.

I've hardly begun to mention the exhibits on display and this is the real reason for the show after all! We have lots of photos - too many to include in this post but one of my favourites has to be a Crow page from Stephanie Redfern's entry in the Quilt Creations category. You can link to Stephanie's blog to see more of her work and a smiling picture of her standing beside her winning book!

Laura and I would like to thank everyone who came to see us during the show. It was an absolute pleasure to meet so many of our DMTV subscribers and students. And we were quite overwhelmed with the response to our badge challenge!! Thank you, thank you! It's great when we suggest something and you run with it even at such short notice! It was a real ice breaker to have friendly name badges - I hope you think so too. We heard some people got talking to complete strangers at the airport just because they were wearing hand made name badges!

For those who couldn't make it to the show I hope that's given you a flavour of what Festival was like for us this year but I will post a few more images in a day or two.

Bye for now,
Linda