Auckland Festival of Quilts 2015 - Instalment 2

Here is another lot of quilts from the Auckland Festival of Quilts.  This is a bit of an eclectic bunch, but once again, they caught my eye and I'll share why as we go. 

'Phoenix Rising' by Dianne Dowd, was made from a pattern by Cheryl Phillips.  Dianne made a stunning, very eye catching quilt with her fabric choices.  Her quilting, done on a domestic machine was very well done and she won Second Prize, Amateur Wall Quilt, sponsored by Fabric by Three.  

What also struck me about this quilt was the clever hanging mechanism that allowed a circular quilt to hang straight and flat.  You can see below that there is a piece of calico fabric attached to the back of the quilt.  The calico is then cut square at the top and has the hanging sleeve and velcro attached to it, making it easy to hang.  Brilliant!

'Old Library Door' by Ngaire Fleming.  Started in a class with Gloria Loughman.  This little wall hanging was just so nicely done.  There was attention to detail, a great use of perspective and perfect colour choices.  The quilt was square, it was just hung fairly high up and tricky for me to capture a good photograph.  It won Highly Commended, Amateur Wall Quilt, sponsored by Minerva and Auckland Quilt Guild.

This small quilt was made by Heather Bassett and began life as a curved piecing exercise.  I liked the use of solid coloured fabrics and, if you stood and looked at it for a while, the very subtle shift towards darker colours at the bottom of the quilt, which suggested a landscape to me.  The organic straight line quilting complemented the piecing well.  I've serendipitously found Heather's Instagram feed a day or two ago.  She is @hezbez13 if you want to see more of her work.

I think the colour scheme of this quilt caught my eye at first.  I'm partial towards pinks used in a darker way, rather than a 'little girl sweet' colour scheme.  'Butterflies' by Chris Behersing had a slightly chaotic feel that intrigued me and the use of many different prints and checks and all sorts of interesting fabrics all together made it feel as if it should have been a hot mess, but somehow it worked!

Alison Laurence is an accomplished art quilter and her clean style is once again evident in this piece,  titled 'Focus'.  The unusual viewpoint was fascinating, particularly when taking a photograph of the quilt.  The quilt was fairly large too, making the subject oversized and Alison's award, Judges Choice, sponsored by House of Patchwork, was well deserved.

I took a photo of these two quilts side by side to illustrate how a pattern can really be made your own by fabric choice and quilting design.  Both were titled 'The Caswell Quilt' and made from a pattern by Corliss Searcey.  The quilt on the left was made by Ann Gregory with needle turn appliqué and quilted by Jacqui Karl.  The quilt on the right was made with raw-edge appliqué by Betty McLean and quilted by Linda Young with embroidery by Heather Clark.

This is a closeup of the quilt on the right.  It won First Prize, Small Quilt Multiple Makers, sponsored by Quilt Shop Papamoa and Best Machine Appliqué or Embellishment, sponsored by Cottage Flair.

Here is a closeup of the quilt on the left.  It won the Best Amateur award.

And here's me!  With a cheesy grin next to my quilt 'Memories of Flight', which won a Highly Commended, Professional Wall Quilt, sponsored by Minerva and Auckland Quilt Guild.

Minerva is a textile bookshop that is on my bucket-list of places to visit.  Here's the link to check them out http://www.minerva.co.nz

Thanks Minerva and thanks Auckland Quilt Guild!