Sustainable quilts at the Festival of Quilts

This was a category I was keen to explore once I spotted it existed. You’ll know I’m trying to use as much of my stash as possible and am reusing old clothes in at least some of the quilts and pouches I’m making, so it was a category after my own heart. Having already seen some of the fantastic quilts on show I was keen to see, and be wowed, by the creativeness of these quilt makers, and I wasn’t disappointed.

To class as sustainable for the Festival of Quilts the quilt needed to have been made with ‘minimal negative impact on the environment’ with at least 75% of the fabric used being repurposed, and the remaining 25% would ideally be organic fabrics or taken from their stash, and ‘the maker should use biodegradable or recycled materials wherever possible, or use materials from sustainable and natural sources’.

And none of these criteria meant the quilts didn’t have the wow factor, in fact they do a brilliant job of showing what can be done with repurposed materials.

Prepare to be wowed

I did warn you, it’s stunning isn’t it? I am rather partial to a Cathedral Window quilt and I’ve long had an idea that I would make one in denim, but I think making one that looks good would be tricky enough so I’m not sure I need to add in the complexity and thickness of denim. I downgraded my ambition and that’s how I landed with my ‘jeans and pyjamas’ quilt on my 2025 list, there’s still some curves and some denim but hopefully in my doable category, although as I write this at the beginning of December I’ve yet to start this one - so maybe it’s optimistic to think this will make it this year, but who knows?!

ONE OFF THE BUCKET LIST, VICTORIA MILLER

I love the repeating circle pattern, and the uniformity of the white and almost taupe colour in the detailing of the circles, but most of all I love the colour and how much it doesn’t look like it’s made from repurposed materials! I bet those colourful centres hold all sorts of memories, and that’s what really does it for me especially when using old clothes that have been much loved.

This second quilt I’m sharing is a design I need to remember, as I have a growing pile of 2.5” strips from the quilts I’m making. With clever colour placement this quilt proves that you can use those strips effectively - note made!

ÅLAND, LINNÉA EHN

SHIRTSANDO, VICKY HAWKINS

The quilt above looks to have used old shirts in a really effective way, but again with a fairly simple pattern. I was drawn to this one by the circles in the quilting, and I suspect this is the quilt that influenced me to try something similar with my Half the Scraps quilt, but way less successfully!

Looking at this again now it looks as if those circles have been hand quilted, and I suspect that may be the way to go if I see circles in my quilting future. Those smaller fabric circles look to be appliqued on, which is another technique I’m trying in my latest quilt.

This next quilt also blew me away, I love a colour graduating quilt - but this one was huge and double sided. It was on display so you could view both sides, and while I’m sure I took a photo of the other side, I can’t find it for the life of me - I’m sure though it was equally as impressive.

ECLECTIC BECKY, ELIZABETH BARKER

But so many small squares, and so many seams to match up - but definitely a wow, wow, wow from me.

The final quilt that I’m sharing in this category (and there were more than I can include in this post) is this denim masterpiece with an equally clever title. The second picture shows the detail of the quilt, and the rivets, buttons, button holes and zipper sections used so effectively.

JUDGES’ CHOICE - RIVETING RESTRICTIONS - FROM WASTE TO WONDER, MARJA MATIISEN

RIVETING RESTRICTIONS - FROM WASTE TO WONDER, MARJA MATIISEN

It rightly deserved its Judges’ Choice label which admired the mind boggling texture, and how the madness is beautifully tamed by the dark central circle. It also called the quilt ‘Genius!’ and I have to agree, I think this was easily one of my favourite quilts at the show - and I thought I loved the Cathedral Windows quilt at the top of this post, this one I loved twice as much.

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 5 - 7 December

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.

Thanks for your good wishes last week, they have worked and my cold seems to have turned a corner. I feel less washed out, and haven’t needed to cancel things this week and managed to head back to my usual exercise classes, though opting for a Reformer Pilates class rather than a Yoga session, as I still wasn’t that sure that putting my head upside down would be a good thing!

It’s also been good to see some sun again - and feel its warmth - after lots of rain and a good few grey days. I did smile as I stepped out the back door though and noticed that the new olive tree seems to have found the sliver of sunlight, which I think can only be a good thing.

Have a great week.

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My garden in November

I didn’t get around to sorting out my bulbs while the weather was still mild, even though that mild weather lasted a good couple of weeks into the month. Realistically it’s unlikely that I’ll get to them this year, so that means this season but it’s definitely a job for once they’ve finished flowering. I think they’ll flower ok this winter, but would benefit from a repot and some attention.

With the end of the more tropical November weather ending our focus was getting the garden ready for winter, which meant moving a lot of pots around. Those which I’d dotted around the garden to test out locations have now mostly moved back into the shelter and additional cover of the established border, but I was pleased to spot the burgundy Mottisfont rose trying with another bloom. It’s still trying and I’m not sure if it’ll succeed or not, if it does I’ll nab a photo. But that attempt did secure it a spot where we can just about see it from the window!

My succulents are now overwintering in the gym, as they did last year. This year they’re in larger pots and have been joined by the bargain chilli plant (20p and not a chilli in sight yet!) and two young Amaryllis plants from my dad.

There’s actually nine pots in there this winter, and without it feeling overrun with plants so that’s something. I’ve made use of our new garden table and some surplus gym flooring for some of the pots, others are alongside the windows - and most importantly I must remember to set a reminder to check on them and water them, though much less than in the summer months.

Elsewhere in the garden things are growing, or not growing as you’d expect. The small crab apple has shed its leaves but not yet all of its fruits, so it looks a bit like a strange Christmas decoration - I need to look into and potentially make time for pruning this, as the poor thing really did have its work cut out with all the fruit this year, and some of the branches are twice as long as they were.

In, what I deemed the ‘sick bay’ both of my once yellowing bay trees have recovered brilliantly and are so much more healthy than they were back in May. It’s amazing what some light, regular watering and a bit of a feed can do isn’t it?

What I didn’t realise though until I moved this one into the gym, is that it’s had babies or extra blooms at least under the main growth (next to the blue mat in the picture), when it was on the patio we only looked at it from the other side so it just goes to show there’s benefits in many different viewpoints, and more specifically it’s a reminder to rotate my pots!