Festival of Quilts

Having come back from a week in Cork, my two girls and I set off for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Originally we had planned to go on Thursday for shopping in the city and to go to the show on Friday and Saturday and return home on Saturday night. We were up very early on Thursday morning (3am), drove to the airport, checked in our two very light suitcases (heavy coming home)and got the 6.30am flight. We stowed our bags in our hotel and the concierge assured us that it was safe to go into the city during the day. So off we went on the train. After the riots we didn't know what to expect. When we were leaving the train station in the city, eldest daughter (age 16) was a bit ahead of me and younger one. She was wearing a hoody and carrying a backpack and looked like she was on her own. The ticket collecter did a lot of looking at her ticket and at her but when he saw her waiting on the other side for us he gave her a smile as if to say "okay". We've been to Birmingham many times and it looked a lot different this time. A lot of the shop windows were boarded up with the shops still trying to sell inside. One of the banks was completely closed and boarded up. There were also a lot more police around. We did feel safe and were able to enjoy our visit and spend some money.
Friday was our first day at the quilt show. We all had workshops organised to go to so while one was at their workshop the other two could wander around, buy some things and look at some of the amazing quilts.
Here are a few photos.

this one had two different views depending on if you were looking at it from the left or from the right side

This carousel was one of my favourites.

The stitching on this one made it stand out in more detail.

This one was made up of very small hexagons.

The colours in the pyramid quilt were stunning.
I'll try and post some more photos later on in the week.
Needless to say, we bought quite a lot (some heavier things to come by post later on), a lot of fabrics, some patterns, some gadgets, threads etc.
The girls both sail and they went around every stall that had fabric looking for nautical fabrics as they've decided to make a sailing/boat themed quilt. One stall Lady Sew and Sew had a wave fabric that they liked but they had none left. The lady very kindly arranged for some extra fabric to arrive on Saturday so that they could get some. Now that's what I call service. They will have fun sorting out all their fabrics and deciding what pattern to do with it.
We saw some wonderful quilts and had a great time. On the plane home on Saturday night, youngest asked "Mum, we'll be going next year as well won't we?". Better start planning.
LindaC