The Blue and White Show

On Wednesday six of us went to an exhibition in Bath, called the Blue and White Show, an amazing collection of Blue and White china, the theme of which was taken up in some of the exhibits by Kaffe Fassett, Candace Bahouth and Carole Waller. Unfortunately cameras were not encouraged. The Exhibition continues until 30th March, so if you get the chance to go it's well worth it. The Victoria Art Gallery is at the end of Pulteney Bridge, there is no charge for entry but a donation is hoped for, and there are excellent greeting cards on sale in the shop.

From the front cover of the brochure.

Here some of us are waiting at the bus stop, five out of the eight of us are proud possessers of free bus passes! and it's actually quicker than driving in and using the park and ride.

The thing that draws the eye on entering the gallery is a huge display of Blue and White china on the end wall, mostly large platters but some jugs and plates. The theme is taken up by jugs and bowls arranged on plinths around the room which have inspired the quilts and needlepoint. Some of this pottery is quite modern in its design. We did not automatically love all the quilted exhibits, but a couple of them have inspired us, and later on in the day we went to our favourite Bath fabric and quilt supplies shop - Country Threads - and saw a good collection of the Kaffe Fassett fabrics which give his quilts their distinctive look.

I loved the ingenuity of Candace Bahouth in having used corrugated cardboard to make elaborate box frames for her collages, and although the mosaic shoes did not appeal to me on a personal level the little children's shoes similarly decorated were strangely touching.

The painted silk panels at the entrance are easily overlooked when ones eyes are drawn to the huge china display. I'm not sure how these were made, but are of banner like proportions and quite stunning - naturally they are blue.

Time for a quick lunch,

after which we went shopping, firstly to Hampstead Bazaar, where we tried hard to find something in the sale we wanted to buy, then we split into different directions for a while. Trish decided it was time for her to go home, Imogen dashed to Marks and Spencers and Caroline went on ahead to Country Threads, where we would all meet up later. Sandra, Sharon and I went to Waterstone's to look at Jane Brocket's book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity, all being fans of her blog www.yarnstorm.blogs.com We loved the book, so three more copies sold!

We were so long in Country Threads, all tempted to buy yet more fabric, even though it was only Caroline and Sharon who had genuine purpose, that we missed the next bus home and went to while away the time with tea and cakes.

Caroline!

Quilt Exhibition at Radstock Museum, Somerset

Yesterday I went, with husband and a friend to the Midsomer Quilting Exhibition at the Industrial Museum in Radstock. There are 213 exhibits listed in the catalogue, we didn't expect such a large number. The lady on the welcome desk told us proudly that Quilts UK only had 15 more quilts on display.

Had I known that there was so much to see I would have made a visit with quilting friends, I might still do that because the exhibition continues to the end of November, as I don't feel I have paid each quilt the attention it deserves.

I have to say that there was no one particular quilt which blew me away, nothing which made me want to rush home and emulate it, but I left feeling that more people, probably all woman, are enjoying this form of creativity. There were a lot of people in the gallery, and what I love most about these exhibitions is the feeling of kinship one has to fellow visitors, you can talk to anyone and find common ground.

It was difficult to give distance to view some of the quilts, and even more tricky to get photos of whole quilts, so these three details are just to give some idea of what there was to see. I loved the vintage quilts in their faded splendour, the original inspiration for my love of quilting, there are lots of fun pieces, one reminded me of a Beryl Cook painting, another favourite was a beach hut scene. The one we all remarked upon was the hanging which stated "Well behaved women seldom make history"

Radstock Museum itself is well worth perusal, it is about the coal mining history of the area, with a mock-up underground mine and many details of the sites of coal mines in Somerset.

There is a nice little shop selling books about local history, and a small, but yesterday very well used, tea room.

Quilt Show Birmingham

Finally, after waiting three long years, I made it to the quilt show in Bham. My sister Michelle, over from Boston, went with me. We looked at many mad and fantastic works - nice to see so many done by machine these days - in fact my sis thinks I should buy a long arm quilter! She's not really into quilts and sewing but was a very good sport about the whole thing - didn't grumble once in 6 hours! My love of all things primitive or with hearts on it made her decide that I must be Amish - my husband agrees and simply says "that explains it."

While there I got very close to Kaffe and Janet Bolton (actually telling her "I love your work" she smiled at me kindly).

I was very good and spent hardly a penny, we were there after all to see the quilts, AND I didn't even go near the book stalls!!!!

Before going on the train , we sat down for a coffee. Two women from Cornwall joined us. They are part of a group of 4 who meet at each others homes. They USED to belong to a formal group BUT....