Quilt Creations to wow

I’ve said before that I was overwhelmed by the number of quilts I saw on my first visit to the Festival of Quilts at Birmingham’s NEC earlier this year. Since then I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of photos I took - and I didn’t (physically couldn’t!) photograph every quilt there. Though I have finally looked at the photos I did take, and there’s so many I want to share - and still to edit - but I have worked out how I’ll do that.

Usually my ‘go to method’ would be to share a selection of my favourites covering as many of the categories as possible, and then share more from the categories and displays in turn. But that’s not working for me this time round as I have so many favourites, which would make for a very long post!

So over the next however many number of weeks I’ll share my favourites from many of the categories, and if I can make enough of a decision by then to edit down my favourites then I may share my favourites from the show - but there are a lot of categories, so there’ll be plenty to see before then.

And I’m not starting with quilts as such

But they are equally as spectacular, in fact I was drawn in to this gallery section by the Liberty 150 creation, and I can’t even imagine how that came to be, but it is amazing (spoiler: they all are!) The Quilt Creations category contains clothing, wearable art or be three dimensional pieces, which leaves a lot to the imagination and it’s a category that definitely delivers.

I was absolutely wowed by the Liberty One Hundred and Fifty creation, which was by far my favourite here. In fact, so much so that I’m not sure if I saw most of the other items, though this was one of the last sections we saw so I might have been quilt-dazed.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY @ZESTANDLAVENDER

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY @ZESTANDLAVENDER

I told you it was good didn’t I? And the 150 ties in with Liberty celebrating their 150th anniversary.

But I do have more to share, and I’d love this chair in my living room…

SHIFTING SEASONS @EMILYBODYUPHOLSTERY

It is just my colours.

I admired the work in this jacket, even though I’m not sure I’d ever have occasion to wear it. I wonder though if any of the creators have?

OUR URBAN LANDSCAPE @NORTHLONDON_STITCH AND TEXTILES

OUR URBAN LANDSCAPE @NORTHLONDON_STITCH AND TEXTILES

I can’t finish this post without sharing the winner of this category - another amazing entry, which no doubt is full of intricacies, engineering and a lot of hours of work in the show stopping kind of way that winners of this category should be.

WEAR YOUR WINGS WITH PRIDE @MATTWILDING

Seriously wow - all of them.

If you enjoyed this post from my visit to the Festival of Quilts 2025 then please do check out my other posts from the show. Even though my mind was blown by the sheer volume of quilts on display, I’m pretty sure I’ll be going again!

Post Comment Love 10 - 12 October

Hello there, and welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

10 October, it’s a date that always takes me back.

On this day back in 1983 I started at what would become my first full time job at a City institution - it seems so long ago, but also not that long ago, surely? It is though, it’s 42 years ago and while I left that employment in 2014, so after a good few years (!!) it’s a date that still sticks with me. During my time there I made many, many good friends - and many who continue to be good friends all these years on. It’s also where I met MOH some twenty five or so years ago. I’ve no idea where any of that time has gone.

I do wonder though if 1983-me would ever have imagined how life turned out, or that I’d be posting pictures of nuts from our neighbour’s garden online, let alone on my own blog. I know that 2025-me is very grateful for the message offering us some chestnuts and some walnuts, with some apples thrown in too though, so here’s that picture.

It’s funny how things work out,

Have a great week.

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Interiors inspiration from Yorkshire

One of the things we enjoyed on our weekend trip to Malton was browsing around the independent shops - and there’s plenty of those. What I realised afterwards is that it’s not only the interiors store which provided interiors inspiration, so in this post I’m sharing photos from our mooch around the shops, and more.

But let’s start at the interiors shop Interiors at Nine to Eleven who had planned a ‘yard sale’ for the weekend, but had valiantly moved that inside given the weather forecast - that’s where I found my £1 fabric sample. Around the shop there was a riot of colour and pattern, and I was smitten with the green sofa pattern, MOH less so. I’m less sure about the wallpaper but the bold prints definitely do it for me.

In another section of the shop it was the black and white wallpaper that caught my eye. I think it’s too ‘tame’ for what I have half an eye out for, mainly as I think this will be an even harder sell than the patterned fabric above with MOH who already thinks our house is too white!

Heading back to the stairs and the main shop I did stop and admire the fun carpet, and I mean if you can’t have fun in an interiors shop trying out things to assert your style and brand, then when can’t you?

I kept coming back to these ‘cheeky’ plates by Yvonne Allen, as they just made me smile - and in fact I’ve since bought a set and am keeping up with my ‘making cake era’ just so we can use them, though I did resist the matching cake forks - mainly because they weren’t dishwasher safe and I can’t be doing with that kind of faff, and reminding MOH every time we use them.

Looking around the curios shops in The Shambles we found plenty of tins, too many to make a choice (or even photograph) decanters and a gorgeous wire chicken.

Our next stop was the secret whisky bar at McMillans, and there was plenty of good looking interiors there too, no really there was.

Our hotel was it seemed prepared for the weather with a selection of wellies for use in the entrance lobby, as well as chest of dreams (for me at least) which doubled up for room key storage.

We’d struck it lucky with our hotel room which had a lounge for our use - and with the weather on Saturday, that was very welcome and very much used by us. Though we still didn’t use the TV, something about being away - we just don’t, I don’t know why.

So if you’re looking for interiors inspiration and getting stuck, then think about looking in some less expected places - you never know where you’ll be inspired.

If you enjoyed this post and/or are looking to visit Malton and its surrounding area, then check out all my posts from our impromptu weekend away.