Festival of Quilts: Here I Come!

After all these months of preparation, can it really be true that tomorrow I'll be setting up my gallery at the Festival of Quilts in the Birmingham NEC?

I had absolutely no idea how much is involved in getting ready for an exhibition of this kind. I am featuring the work of 27 quilt artists as well as my own, and the logistics of getting all those pieces to the right place at the right time has been quite mind boggling. I hope it all works out tomorrow!

I've been making some little framed pieces to sell at the Festival, all based on a photo I took of a beach in Zanzibar in early 2013. I used that photo to test various colourways when printing on fabric, so I have purple, blue, lavender, yellow and turquoise beaches framed on top of cotton or silk fabrics.

I had so much fun free-motion machine quilting those pieces and then embellishing them with beads and seashells. I really like working small!

The only trouble with making pieces like this is that I never know when to stop. Shall I add just one more bead or seashell? Often the decision is taken out of my hands when the thread runs out. I have so much trouble threading beading needles!

I also had fun couching various nobbly threads on the surface and embroidering the boats, ocean waves and flying birds.

Some of the scallop shells have a secret pearl hidden underneath. I have been collecting tiny beads and shells for a long time, so it was a real pleasure to be able to use them for these mini quilts.

See you at Festival!