3rd and Final Lot of Auckland Festival of Quilts 2018 Photos

Robyn Croft's quilt is an excellent example of how effective a simple, repeating motif can be.  Can you see how she has two sections of blocks with warm backgrounds and two sections of cool backgrounds?  It looks very carefree, but I'm sure she spent hours carefully arranging and rearranging blocks on her design wall.

Another carefree looking quilt!  Made by Chris Behersing, I just loved this for it's unique fun factor!  The eclectic fabric choices and offbeat grid add to the jaunty, upbeat feel.

Another repeating block design quilt, this house quilt was made by Rosalie Lange using Marti Michel templates.  I've always wanted to make a house quilt.  I think it would be the perfect quilt to snuggle under watching a movie.  And the dark backgrounds appealed to me on this quilt, along with the mostly dark house walls that give the light coloured windows a warm, inviting aura.

There's a bit of a theme of repeating blocks in this post.  This Southwind design made by Donna Cumming to commemorate her friend has an interesting overlaid grid effect.  Donna has used silks and these and the saturated colours give a richness to the quilt.

I want to post an alternate question.  Do traditions only gain meaning by repetition - because that is how they became traditions in the first place?

Robyn Rognstad has used interesting fragments and a wide variety of fabrics but has managed to get them all to play nicely with each other in a thoughtful and harmonious way.

We can contrast that with this next quilt, also by Robyn.  It likewise combines fragments and varied fabrics but in a more complex and lively way, which creates a totally different feel to the quilt.

Jenny King uses a Jen Kingwell design to put together a very different looking quilt.  I'm always drawn to unique looking blocks and this one, combined with the masculine patterned fabrics and the particular blue and tan colour scheme, has a Japanese feel.  This quilt also had a completely different look when viewed from a distance (when we were having lunch in the cafe) compared to being viewed up close; very clever.

Another Jenny, and another unique looking quilt.  I love large applique, although you'd think from most of this post that my penchant was for repeating blocks!  I think this is a beautifully balanced design by Esther Aliu and Jenny's clever use of similarly toned background fabrics for the wall and the window give interest without overwhelm.

Black and white fabrics combined with brights can often make a harsh colour palette, but I think Kathleen Janes has managed to avoid that pitfall.  The use of heavily patterned black and whites so that they almost have a grey tone from a distance, and secondary colours, such as pink instead of red and a greeny yellow instead of a primary yellow, contributes to the success.

Well, that's about all the photos I have.  I haven't shared the Best in Show by Norma Slabbert, but I think it's been shared enough already.  Congratulations to all the prize winners and thank you to everyone who entered quilts.  Without quilts, there is no quilt show!

Thank you to all the organisers and the volunteers on the day.  Without the hours and hours of time you've put in, there would be no quilt show.

Thank you to the judges, it's hard work evaluating people's pride and joys, you don't get a huge recompense and you never please everyone.  The judged will never know the ins and outs and how much time you spent debating and comparing and trying to give every quilt a fair assessment.

Thank you to the vendors. You're all smiley and helpful and contribute to making the show a fun place to visit.

And a big thank you to the sponsors.  Without you I'm sure the show wouldn't happen, and I'm positive the prizes wouldn't be nearly so exciting!

At this point, the official photos of the winners are not up on the Auckland Guild's website, but you can see previous years winners, and I'm sure the 2018 photos will be up soon.

See you all next year!