Festival of Quilts, new book and normal service resumed

August is always a lively month for us. We've had a presence at Festival of Quilts since it started 15 years ago. We've worn all manner of hats! We've taught, demonstrated, lectured, judged and exhibited our quilts. Of course we've also traded but this year, for the first time, we didn't take a trade stand. I know that disappointed a lot of people but it turns out it was a wise decision. The huge Through Our Hands Gallery certainly kept Laura busy all four days and it would have been impossible for her to be in two places at once! I was only able to be at the show for a few hours on Saturday.

But as you can see I soon got into the swing of things as I answered questions and explained about the big quilt reveal we'd planned. The piece you can see behind me is our collaborative quilt that Laura was gradually transforming by cutting away sections of the top layer. If you weren't there on Sunday afternoon to see the finished quilt it will be on her blog as soon as she's unpacked the truck!

If you weren't able to get to either of the recent exhibitions, or maybe you did and you'd like a reminder, you'll find lots of information on the website and you can buy a copy of the Through Our Hands book - a visual treat for anyone interested in the diversity of art quilts from the affiliate artists.

You may remember the talisman pockets we made for the TOH exhibition in Bilston Craft Gallery. We never intended to show them at Festival but so many people requested to see them Laura and Annabel found a little corner of wall to hang a selection and the rest were displayed on a table. Because the pockets were about family and memories they seem to have struck a chord with visitors - we sold nearly all of them and a healthy donation from the proceeds will be going to Alzheimers research. Thank you to everyone who took a talisman home with them.

Back home, I was sharing my time between entertaining Amelie (I had to search her pockets for jewels before I'd let her out of the house) and taking care of mom now she's out of hospital following the knee replacement surgery. My sister and I have been taking turns to sleep over for a week or two but mom's making great progress and is more mobile every day.

She always had the best legs in the business but now one of them is bionic!

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Life is getting back to what passes for normal around here and we have new work coming soon! Linda x