Heffle Quilt Festival

This weekend I drove mum over to Heathfield to visit the bi-annual Heffle Quilt show. It was so inspiring, and because everyone in the quilt community is like a giant family it's a bit like a renuion!

Mum and Sarah Brown outside the village hall.

The first quilt that really took my eye, a beautiful blue and white Orphan Block. "Orphan Block" means that someone has made a lot of different individual quilt block designs (sometimes out of the same fabric, sometimes out of scraps) and joins them all together at the end as an exhibition of their experiments. There are also a lot of quilt designs that mirror these folk quilts,

The next that I particularly enjoyed was this blue and cream one-patch and embroidery piece. Something about the simplicity of the one patch design meant you could appreciate the hand stitching on the birds much more!

Also I find it's a lovely way to show off a few beautiful fabrics in all their glory.

This quilt was the show stunner. About fifteen feet square, it was a real breathtaking piece with gorgeous colours and impeccable needlework.

I spoke to the artist and she said that the designer of the pattern had picked out the colours for her to use whilst visiting a warehouse in Australia, and she made up the applique flowers with her own scraps.

Another one patch, this time with large squares beautifully embroidered with hand stitched floral designs.

It's amazing what some people can do with a needle and thread!

One of my absolute favourite pieces in the whole show, this was quite a small (relatively) quilt that used intricate piecing of the green textured backgrounds overlaid with hand and machine embroidery
of a verdant scene. (Verdant scene...I've been watching Poirot again!)

This picture is sideways because I am an idiot. It was called "City Skyline" or "Cityscape" I think, and I loved loved LOVED the use of colours, so minimalist and a joy to look at.

The prints she used here were liberty for the greys and blues, and batiks for the pops of orange. Really does remind me of a skyscraper.

Love this gorgeous butterfly quilt, such bright colours and lovely applique work.

This quilt was actually designed by a member of Heffle (the pattern is for sale,... I'll try and find a link) so there were a few renditions of it at the fair. I found it really interesting how the same pattern, especially such a specific pattern, can lead to such strikingly different finished quilts!

This is a close up of the detail of my friend Annaleens quilt. I chose this as my favourite for many reasons; I love the whimsy and naivety of the design, and the colours she chose were just beautiful. Her hand stitching was really well done, and it really inspired me to go home and start on my own!!

Another Lynette Anderson quilt. She is one of my favourite designers, and very "vogue" right now in the world of quilting. Her patterns are simplistic but not simple; a beginner could start working on the individual blocks, but I think it takes foresight to plan the colour combinations and really pull of the intricacies of this beautiful piece.

Sue R. made the most stunning small Moroccan gold and blue wall hanger. The detail was just exquisite, and I could almost picture it hanging in the bed chamber of some marvellous sheik in a desert temple. (Detail)

Another Lynette Anderson design, this time paired with log cabins in soft greys and blues. Really nicely done!

This was a detail of some hand embroidery of a larger floral design. I loved the 3D aspects, the way it was so tactile.

A gorgeous detail on a pretty floral patterned embroidery piece.

One of the most visually striking pieces in the festival; this beautiful red, white and grey piece really stood out.

The amount of work that goes into making a quilt that can look, from afar, relatively simple. Just stunning!

This is the work for sale by Sue at Daisy Chain (www.daisychaindesigns.co.uk) who also sells fabric and buttons at shows like this across Kent.

Very whimsical :)

Sue herself in front of some gorgeous quilts (the patterns/kits for which she also stocks).

The lovely ladies at PuddleDucks, our local quilt store in Sevenoaks. Just looking at those rows of fabric makes you want to go and paw through them! Oh it's not right is it, it's not normal.

We had such an amazing time, everyone did so well on their quilt entries. I hope next time to have an entry myself, but it will take a miracle to get my work up to this standard!
Hope this was as inspiring for you as it was for me.