Festival of Quilts 2021

 On Friday I went to visit the Festival of Quilts, held at the NEC, Birmingham UK.

Of course the Covid19 pandemic prevented a Show being held last year and I thought long and hard about whether I should attend this year’s event. However, I bought my ticket online and also the Show Guide. Both were posted out to me so I was able to read about the Show and plan my route around the Competition quilts, Galleries and Traders before I went. 

Everyone had to show a Covid vaccination certificate along with their ticket, social distancing was observed and masks were worn at all times. The Festival used an extra Hall this year, so there were 4 instead of the usual 3, one Hall entirely devoted to the Competition quilts so the aisles were wide. I knew less tickets were being released this year - 16,000 over the 4 days instead of 26,000 - but it was very quiet so I don’t think all the tickets were sold.  Fewer traders too. The big Sewing machine companies were there and the smaller traders but none of the big ones which come every year were there. I normally go two or three days but I’m glad I just bought the one ticket as I got around everything really quickly. Less to see and also no crowds to work around. Very few wheelchairs which always slow things up as people wriggle past them in the aisles. Only a minimum of food outlets compared to normal which was fine because I only stopped for coffee and cake mid morning and a hot chocolate just before I came home. I always take a packed lunch and this year there were lots of seats where you could eat picnics. Normally it’s difficult to find one! I remember one year when my sister came with me and we ended up sitting on the floor to eat our sandwiches!

Anyway, there were lots of lovely quilts, the majority were the more “Arty” ones, very few Traditional quilts. 

A few photos of quilts that caught my eye:

And this amazing 3D creation depicting Cornwall, both sides were different.

As you can see from that last photo there were very few people around.

Didn’t buy too much.

These were 5 scraps I bought for £1 including a couple of neutrals which I’m always short of.

Then 5 pieces from the Project Linus Stall, fabrics which had been donated. The blue one is a favourite - I bought a couple of metres of that a few years ago and it’s been very useful in Baby and child donation quilts.

And  2 x 2m remnants and a metre of solid mauve fabric for my stash. 

A good day and I’m glad I decided to attend. Hope by next year things will be a bit more back to normal.