A blog about quilts'n stuff

A blog about quilts'n stuff

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Quilt Festival Groningen 1


The weekend following the (FQCR) retreat in London I visited a quilt festival.
For the second time it was organised in different venues, mainly very old and small churches.
So lots to see!
And I don't know what impressed me the most: the woodwork, the organs, the (richly decorated) benches, the tombstones or the quilts. It's probably the combination!

Church at Breede, a hamlet near Warffum (above)

 
On the left the church tower was built separate from the church, but close by. The church on the right has extra support: the tower started leaning outwards ... The extra support was built in the year (that in the UK the king brought back partying*) 1660.

These birds are made of all kind of fused bits of fabric. On the right of the organ is a quilt of 8 separate pieced or fused quilts. This was made by a quilter who lives in the same village as I do. Here's her website (in Dutch).

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of a lot of modern quilts by Nancy Crow and her pupils/followers. I bought the book accompanying this part of the festival: International Invitational of contemporary quilts; Curator Nancy Crow.  We especially loved the quilts made by Bonnie M Bucknam. (Google them both if you'd like to see pictures: I cannot show you any. Esp. Tangle and Bramble)
Wow, so many shapes, colours, quilting in straight lines and free motion.

Even some knitting was on display: don't you love these?


 Churches in this part of the Netherlands are very basic, very simple. The really old ones, like these still have the ornate woodwork in benches where the rich or the noble would sit. They're about the only ornate decorations.

I'll give you the rest tomorrow, because I'm having trouble uploading pictures ...
See you then.

Happy quilting to you!


* thanks to Horrible Histories, my favourite BBC programme

4 comments:

  1. That tangle series is very interesting - isn't it fun to see what other folks are getting up to and the techniques they're using? I like the look of the one to the left of the organ too - do you have a pic of that one?

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  2. What a great idea for a show, and I do love decorative bits in churches :o)

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  3. Great pics. those knitted birdies are too cute and I LOVE the big cranes! i used to make them from paper a lot! I also love small churches like that. I got married in a tiny one in the woods.

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  4. Great pictures - I love the knitted birds (I am after all basically a knitter who quilts) and the giant origami quilts!

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