Anne Williams gives us the lowdown on this year’s Festival winners!
This year was a special show for The Festival of Quilts, as it celebrated its 20th anniversary! Following its launch at Birmingham’s NEC in 2003, The Festival of Quilts rapidly became Europe’s premier quilt event and an important date on many quilters’ calendars. Although the founding ethos remains the same – to promote and encourage all aspects of patchwork, quilting and appliqué – over the decades the festival has evolved, adapting to developments in both the quilting and wider worlds. One of the features that remains unchanged, and that helps to give the show its distinctive character, is the international aspect, whether that’s guest artists, competition entries, traders or show visitors from beyond the UK’s shores.
Over 700 quilters from across the globe entered this year’s competition, and below, we give you a whistlestop rundown of the top prize winners. Congratulations to everyone who entered a quilt – whether you won a prize or not! And keep an eye out in a future issue, where we will be featuring the Young People Awards winners.
THE HANDIQUILTER BEST IN SHOW AWARD
‘Antics at The Quilt Show’ by Nine to Five (Group Quilts entry)
The Best in Show quilt is selected as the most outstanding piece from all the winners, but it does not also win a category prize. The winning quilt was a Group Quilts entry by Cheshire-based group Nine to Five (members Dilys Fronks, Sue Horder, Jenny Mann, Barbara Harrison and Marion Barlow). The judges said: “This group quilt draws you in with the fascination of the detailed individual mini quilts, which show outstanding technical skill. Every quilter will relate to the words and actions of the delightful Sunbonnet Sue figures. We all know quilters like these.” The HandiQuilter Best in Show Award was sponsored by HandiQuilter
THE QUILTERS’ GUILD CHALLENGE
‘Couched Birds’ by Sheena Norquay This themed category is open to all individual members of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles and to all individual members of European Guilds that are part of the European Quilt Association. This year, entrants had to reflect the subject “Express Yourself”. The judges said: “This is an excellent interpretation of the theme. We were impressed by the level of creativity and quilting patterns. The difficulty level and the colour choice make it a winner.” The Quilters’ Guild Challenge was sponsored by The Quilters’ Guild
SUSTAINABLE QUILTS
‘We Talk About Love, We Talk About Dishwasher Tablets’ by Russell Barratt This new category for 2023 is for quilts made with minimal
