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.

A dressmakers dummy covered in Liberty fabric with a patchwork lining to the skirt on show — ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY @ZESTANDLAVENDER

Viewing the design from the back and the outside of the shop is replicated on the skirt's outer side — 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…

A comfortable looking green chair with a patterned fabric addition on the seat and up the back - the colours range from blues to oranges imitating how the seasons change - in triangles. — 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?

A highly embroidered jacket with each section showing some of the urban landscape — OUR URBAN LANDSCAPE @NORTHLONDON_STITCH AND TEXTILES

Looking in detail at the stitching on one section of the jacket - showing a streetscene with trees — 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.

Butterfly wings complete with a harness using the colours of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag — 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!