Some more quilts from the exhibition galleries

In this last post from the quilts I loved at the 2025 Festival of Quilts I’m sharing quilts displayed in a couple of the exhibition galleries, and they’re just as good as any of the others I’ve shared. I can’t quite believe that I’m getting ready to go along to the show again at the end of this month, where did that year go?

Anyway, let’s start in the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Haven Gallery, an exhibition which explores in quilt form the ‘universal need for a safe space—a place to rest, heal, or regroup’. The pieces on display ‘posed questions about nurturing loved ones, providing refuge for those in need, and expressing each artist’s personal interpretation of what a haven represents.’

DAYTIME DREAMING, KAREN SUNDAY SPENCER

There’s many interpretations to the theme, and the quilt title helps to understand what the maker had in mind, and that itself makes the quilts so much more powerful.

PUT YOUR FEET UP AND TAKE IT EASY, CINDY RICHARD

SAND AND SEA, PATTY KENNEDY-ZAFRED

The quilting techniques on show also vary, and it’s the more colourful ones that naturally caught my eye.

A BOY AND HIS IMAGINATION, DEB CASHATT

GREEN SPACE, EUNHEE LEE

But it was this final one from this gallery that took my breath away. As we walked past it we at first thought it was a painting, and therefore an odd inclusion at the show - it was a long day, we’d walked many steps by this point and had been wowed by many, many quilts.

ONCE LOVED, ALISON KING

But this one deserved another look.

ONCE LOVED, ALISON KING

It wasn’t a painting at all, but probably the most detailed quilting I’ve ever seen. And so amazing, just look at the attention to detail of the green staining on the corner of the once loved building.

ONCE LOVED, ALISON KING

They are all amazing, but that last one was just mind blowingingly so!

Having recovered from that amazing-ness, there was a final gallery on our list of things to see, and the next two pictures are from the Pat Pauly collection entitled ‘Pieces and Resistance’. The quilts showcase her decades of expertise in art quilting and textile design, her quilts are said to ‘bridge the worlds of painting and fabric art’ and you can totally see that when you look at the images below.

PAT PAULY

The gallery blurb said that from a distance her quilts often resemble paintings, but closer inspection reveals their complexity as intricate textile compositions. I can totally get that, and I love the explosion of colour.

PAT PAULY

Given the colour ways of these quilts, it’ll be no surprise to many of you that these were among my favourites from the whole show. The 2025 show was my first time at the Festival of Quilts, and I’m gearing up to go again at the end of the month so over the next year I’ll continue to share the quilts that catch my eye. I’m once again going to the show with my SIL and we already have a workshop booked, but knowing what’s ahead of me this time I know I need to pace myself, take a power supply for my phone and be better at giving myself clues on the quilt name and maker!

And I fully expect to be wowed and wowed again at this year’s show.

Circling back to the contemporary quilts

A cheesy title for this blog post I know, but when I looked at my favourites from the contemporary quilts category, all but one featured circles so it just had to be done.

This first one though could potentially be debated about it being a quilt at all, it wouldn’t be one to snuggle up under now would it? But the thought process, colour choice and pure skill in creating this aren’t in doubt.

RANDOM CIRCLES, DEBORAH COLLINS

The non-circle quilt in this post instead uses triangles to make squares and pinwheels in a beautifully chaotic way, and in a way that Chris English does so well. I love the mash of colours and patterns, all the while there’s a very distinct overall theme.

CHOOSE QUILTING, CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH

More circles in this quilt, and more structure too - though some of the misshapen circles do have an element of Pacman to them, but also a touch of Orla Kiely, don’t you think?

SPINNING TRADITION, DAISY ASCHEHOUG

I love the thin width of the quilting of this one too, and that it’s horizontal not vertical, small details really do make the difference.

The final quilt is for me one that has a cheery and summery look - that’s definitely down to the colours and patterns used. It’s also a design that the more you look at the more you see, are they diagonal rows of circles or a circle on top of four others, or something else.

FLOATING BROKEN CIRCLES, CARINA ENVOLDSEN-HARRIS

Either way, it definitely deserves its place in my favourites from this category - which do you like best?

Stunning yet traditional quilts

Generally I tend to veer towards more contemporary quilts so I surprised myself by liking many of the quilts in the Traditional Quilts category at the 2025 Festival of Quilts show. I assumed that I wouldn’t have many photos of the quilts in this category, but I was wrong as I discovered when I was editing my photos this week!

Let’s start with the winner in this category, which after a second visit to the Chateau of Villandry while in France recently I have a new found admiration for, let alone the skill required to make even one of these blocks let alone put them together to form a cohesive design, which is aptly named Parterre.

PARTERRE, SONIA HIGGS

This second one has a more ‘folk’ feel to it for me, and it’s none the worse for that. The images it prompts in my head are entirely different to the others in this post, isn’t it strange how a single image can provoke such thoughts?

THINKING OF SUMMER, HELEN STAMP

I loved the detail on this next quilt, and have included a section of the corner so you too can appreciate the piecing - how many small pieces just in this section?

LADY IN RED (MRS BILLINGS), MEGAN ARNOLD

I think the detail is missed when looking at the whole quilt, but I’d hope whomever this one keeps warm notices the detail as they snuggle up in.

LADY IN RED (MRS BILLINGS), MEGAN ARNOLD

It wouldn’t be a quilt show would it if there weren’t any Liberty fabric quilts, and this one is a joy. It uses a traditional quilt block and as well as the fabric choices, I love how the patterns draw your eye around the quilt.

LIBERTY STARS IN HEXAGONS, DOROTHY HILL

Similarly quilters do like a rainbow, and this is a whopping one that I think would look great anywhere.

THE RAINBOW QUILT, FLOWER CHILD

There’s a more structured approach to the blocks and colours used here, and while I love all the circles in the centre of the quilt it’s the border, and especially the corners, that I love most on this one. And those hearts on the green border.

CHELTENHAM, SONIA HIGGS AND SUSAN CAMPBELL

Another quilt with a great name, and an even better look. The quilting on this one ‘plays’ with the diamond shapes and I think also contribute to the overall effect of the quilt, along with the colours used.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, MAGGIE BREAKSPEAR

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, MAGGIE BREAKSPEAR

It’s another one that uses many small pieces, this time hexagons and I can’t even begin to imagine planning this one.

LADY TULIP VARIATION, SALLY FEATHERSTONE

This final quilt has many of the traditional quilt blocks that have rightly lasted for generations, and some of which are in my mystery block of the month and the charity quilts I made from my test blocks. While it’s traditional, I think the colours give it a more modern look, but overall I think this category goes to prove that there’s no such thing as a bad quilt!