quirky quilters: Quilts (and lots of other things) at Hever!

On Sunday 18th September three of us (CB, CD, HW) went to see the Quilters' Guild Region 2 annual exhibition (the 20th) at Hever castle. This year it was held as part of a Country Life at the Castle event so there would be a lot to see.

This years challenge had the theme 'In an English Country Garden' into which 25 quilts were entered from Region 2 members, one of them by CD. Various techniques had been used to interpret the theme giving rise to an interesting exhibition of small quilts for which 3 prizes and 3 judges' choice rosettes were awarded.

The main exhibition consisted of 68 quilts of varying sizes and techniques. With so many lovely pieces of work it was difficult to pick only one to vote for as your Visitors Choice. CB and HW chose a Wholecloth quilt started at a Lilian Hedley workshop and CD chose an appliqued rose sampler. Both had been hand quilted to a standard we all envied. Better keep practicing and who knows we could be the envied ones in a future show. There was a Round Robin challenge with several people in a group working on each quilt in turn. These are always interesting to look at and interesting to work on too, so we thought we would discuss the possibility of doing one ourselves next time we get together.

Also in the marquee there was a table for the Young Quilters with work on display from students at Babington House School to inspire and encourage 'would be' young quilters. The Contemporary and Traditional Groups had nice displays. The Quilters' Guild had a table selling all sorts of quilty stuff including calenders, patterns, bookmarks, notelets and more. If you missed the 'Put 'em ins' at FOQ then you could pick one up from here. There was also a lovely raffle quilt made by Bromley Quilters in aid of the Quilters' Guild.

The traders were in a separate marquee along with the demonsrtators this year. There were about 10 traders selling fabric, haberdashery, books and sewing machines. Two of our favorites were there Creative Quilting and Daisy Chain Designs. There were also thermofax printers selling screens and hand-dyed fabric, felt makers, weavers, ceramics, woodturners, face painting, an art exhibition and outside there were demonstartors for basket weaving and trug making, a stall selling plants and one promoting organic vegetable boxes. There was also an area where you could have a go at Archery. Last, but not least, were the beekeepers and chickens. I think HW may have found the chickens more interesting than the quilts as she came away full of enthusiasm for keeping her own chicken coup in the very near future. Those little Bantums are cute, they look like feather dusters on legs. Although the bee keeper outfit was also an attraction for HW!

In between all this we were entertained by Elizabethan Musicians and dancers, ate our lunch sitting in the sunshine by the moat, went for a stroll around the lake and gardens and had the treat we can't do without - a cup of tea and slice of cake, quite a large one at Hever! All in all a good day out which we thoroughly recommend.