The 2nd Genevieve Awards: The Festival of Quilts 2022

 Hello everyone!

I spent Saturday at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham! 

It was my first time back there since the pandemic. The layout and organisation was clearly designed with Covid minimisation in mind, so everything was much more spaced out than in previous years. This was quite nice in a lot of ways, the space felt airier and less crowded. However, I got the distinct impression that fewer quilts had been entered into the main competition. Although this may have a been a trick of the new layout. And annoyingly, my phone ran out of battery about halfway through so there were a lot of beautiful things I didn't manage to photograph. It also means I couldn't check the quality of my pictures and take better ones where I needed to, so a lot of these photos have issues with their angles and lighting. Sorry about that.

But there is still lots of beauty and inspiration to behold! And as usual, I disagree with the judges. So I am presenting to you the return of the Genevieve Awards! These are entirely made up by me, and the only prize is the knowledge that I like the quilts. I made up the categories based on what happened to be at the Festival, so they are mostly different from 2019. Links to the artists' websites or social media are provided wherever I can find them. Happy to add in links if anyone knows any more.

Category 1 - Rainbow Quilts

This is the only category returning from 2019, and it is a very hotly contested category. There were so many stunning entries. Narrowing down the choices for this one was difficult!

Entry 1 - Spectrum, by Antari Foster

This took the real First Prize in the Novice Category. This Novice clearly has access to an excellent machine, here is a close-up of some of the amazing detail in the quilting.

Entry 2 - Many hands, many hugs, by Quilts for Care Leavers Block Drive Group.

 

This is a gorgeous rainbow blend of traditional blocks

Entry 3 - Gaja, by sylaquiltartist (website in Polish)

This stunning quilt is a whole cloth thread painted quilt. The fabric is plain black and the rainbow colours and pattern are entirely generated by the quilting.

Entry 4 - Rainbow Vortex, by Diane Wilks.

This lovely circular rainbow is created in a Bargello style, using Tula Pink fabrics.

Entry 5 - Northern Lights - Ribbons of Light, by Louise Jessop

This creation is made from pieced ribbons, suspended in front of a black background. It's a completely different sort of construction to a traditional quilt.

Entry 6 - Reflections, by Mary Baker. 

This bright and shiny quilt has a mirror in the centre! Here's a mirror selfie.

Entry 7 -The Windmills of Your Mind, by Barabara Gillespie and Iva Steiner

This quilt looks simple, but I am sure it took a lot of effort to get all those squares placed right.

Entry 8 - A Moment in Time, by Laura Golding and Sue Culver

Simple patchwork, but a very effective use of colour.

Entry 9 - Wow, it's Castles, by Ladies of WoW

Rainbow castles! What more could you ask for? And fun rainbow binding.

Entry 10 - Leaded Lights, by Patchwork People Quilt Group

I love stained glass effects in quilts, and this one is also rainbow! Plus rainbow binding - matching the blocks next to it - gets it extra points.

And the winner is... Gaja, by sylaquiltartist! The circle shape and the exquisite thread-painting-as-quilting made it the stand-out winner for me.

Category 2 - Textured Quilts and Quilts with 3D elements

I love quilts with 3D elements, interesting fabrics and a sense of texture generated by the quilting. And there were some beautiful examples of this on display. The most experimental people with texture, however, tend to be the Junior categories.  I think not being limited by the idea of a quilt being a blanket is a real advantage here, and you get lots of different non-traditional fabrics (i.e. not patchwork cottons) appearing in their work.

Entry 1 - Going for Gold, by Shenley Brook End School

 This has a 3D dragon! Here's a view from the side so you can see how it sticks out.

Entry 2 - Infinity, by Kyungjoo Kim. 

This quilt was not actually in the main competition, it was in a special exhibit called 'Bland but Bold, Quilts from Korea'. But these are my awards, so I can nominate anything I like. This gets its nomination for the beautiful 3D element in the centre, and the way the shapes of these feathers are echoed in the quilting for the 2D surround.

Entry 3 - Don't Ask, by Mary Mayne 

This is a fun quilt, with lots of non-fabric elements added on. And of course, mentioning something that a lot of quilters have had to deal with! 

Entry 4 - Whirling Dahlias, by Colleen Butler

The use of folded patchwork and prairie points to create the 'dahlia' motifs makes this quilt stand out, literally. And this is clearly another fan of Tula Pink fabrics.

Entry 5 - NIVA - Japanese Garden, by Lynne Pretty

This quilt gets its nomination for the use of 3D rolled-up blinds to create the effect of windows. I've seen curtains added before, but never blinds.

Entry 6 - The Gift, by Linda Mazunik

I love the effect of the flower spilling out of the box. You can see it better in this detail pic taken from the side.

Entry 7 - Just Chillin', by Louise Jessop

The reeds are embroidered over the top of the pieced work, enhancing the realism and sense of perspective in this pretty pictorial piece.

Entry 8 - Jambu Savari (The Elephant Procession), by Sindhu Aragam

This lovely quilt is also tiny - it's from the Miniature category.

Entry 9 - Butterfly Tail, by Ayfer Aksehirli Bickford

There are so many lovely textured and 3D details in this pretty sampler quilt. Here's a couple of close-up pics of some of the embroidery and appliqué.

And the winner is... Going for Gold, by Shenley Brook End School.  It's a 3D dragon. What more could you want?

Category 3 - Fun Quilts

This category is for quilts with a sense of fun. Typically, these are pictorial quilts, but any quilt with a sense of humour could qualify.

Entry 1 - Las dos caras del teatro (The Two Theatre Faces), by Maria Ragusini.

 This mosaic-effect is great and such fun. It was really difficult to work out how the artist had pieced this, and I am still not sure how they have managed to piece on to netting, as you can see in this detail picture.

Entry 2 - Life's a Beach, by Cabin Crew

This quilt is full of fun elements. I am a particular fan of the beaded curtain and the woman quilting on the far right, featured in these close-up pics.

Entry 3 - Britannia, by The Quilt Goddesses

This quilt/set of 6 was clearly designed to be fun. The various different forms of Britannia all talk about how they do their quilting. One does it with cake.

Entry 4 - Digging the Gold, by Balthazar Battais, age 8

I am a gamer, and my own 8-year-old child is a big Minecraft fan. So this quilt ticks all the fun boxes for me. And is an amazing achievement for the young artist.

Entry 5 - Photocall Alas, by Sonsoles Ponti and Anna Gonzales

Again, this quilt was not part of the main competition, but what could be more fun than a quilt literally designed for selfies and Instagram. There should be more quilts designed with photography in mind like this. (I am afraid I didn't take a pic without me in it).

And the winner is... Life's a Beach, by Cabin Crew!  There are just so many fun details in this quilt, I am sure the group had a lot of fun creating it.

Category 4 - English Paper Piecing Quilts

At the 2019 Genevieve Awards, I lamented the fact that EPP quilts seemed to be declining in number at the Festival, and sadly that trend has continued. EPP must be going out of fashion. That's not going to stop me from continuing to do it as my main form of quilting. However, it does mean there are fewer entries for this category than I would like.

Entry 1 - Homebound 2020-21, by Ms Rose Thorn

This is a scrappy quilt with a strong sense of design and colour placement. It also features some fabrics that I also own, which is cool. Seeing as I own them, I know that those particular fabrics are inexpensive, which goes to show that you don't need expensive designer fabrics to make a visually effective quilt.

Entry 2 - Summer Sun, Old Sadness, by Lizzie Foster

This was the only Millefiore Quilt I spotted in the competition this year. It is a La Passacaglia quilt, the same pattern I am using for my Halloween quilt.

Entry 3 - Tumbling Storm, by Tracy Price

The classic tumbling block motif taken to a different level, giving the effect of a rainbow city in a storm.

Entry 4 - Pollinate, by Sally Wakeford

 A beautiful example of Kitty Wilkin's pattern, using Tula Pink fabrics.

Entry 5 - A dog's picnic, by Karis Guzman

EPP as pointillism! This quilt reminded me of a Seurat painting. Such a clever use of the EPP technique.

Entry 6 - The Evolution of Rainbows, by Marion Goodrich

This quilt clearly uses quite a lofty batting, to get this puffiness. The artist has enhanced the puffy effect with quilting in-the-ditch.

And the winner is... Homebound 2020-21, by Ms Rose Thorn!  The amazing use of colour to tame the scrappiness kept me coming back to look at this quilt again and again.

Special Award for Focus Cutting

Just the one quilt in this special award category, so it's an instant winner.

Jeans Garden, by Tracy Price

Sorry the photo is wonky! But you can see the nice, precise whole-motif focus cutting in the details shots here.

Category 5 - Log Cabin Quilts

I love a log cabin quilt (see my previous designs and quilt for a mini quilt swap), and there were some interesting takes on the genre on display.

Entry 1 - Not like any log-cabin I have ever seen, by Chrystine Livingston

To be honest, I don't think this is quite as original as the title makes out, although it did fool a couple of my fellow visitors, who remarked they hadn't realised it was a log cabin until they saw the title. But it is a beautiful quilt, and a nice use of scrappy, monochromatic fabrics.

Entry 2 - Garden Party, by Steph Short 

Again, sorry for the bad photo! This very traditional take on a log cabin quilt has little flowers embroidered in the centre of each block. I am a particular fan of the use of to highlight the centres. Here's a couple of detail shots.

Entry 3 - Japanese Log Cabin, by Chris Harvey

I am a massive fan of the bubbles effect in this quilt. Overall, the colour placement is very carefully worked out to create the effect of circles - even though, being a log cabin, it is entirely made out of rectangular strips. Here's a couple of close-up shots.

Entry 4 - Victoria's biggest challenge, by Victoria Miller 

This is a stunning example of a pineapple log cabin. It was in the Novice category, which probably explains the title. Here's a close-up, showing the lovely neat piecing.

Entry 5 - Going to the Beginning, by Jungmi Kim 

This is another quilt from the Bland But Bold: Quilts from Korea exhibition. I love the sparkly details generated from both the fabric and the metallic threads, although that doesn't really show in the photo.

And the winner is... Japanese Log Cabin, by Chris Harvey ! The clever creation of circles is what won it for me.

Category 6 - Genevieve's Favourite

These are the quilts that happened to catch my eye and speak to me.

Entry 1 - My Crafting Journey, by Fiona Jones

This quilt is a scaled up version of a cross-stitch kit. As you may know, I am also a cross-stitcher so this appealed to me very directly. I love everything about the way the artist has reinterpreted the cross-stitch for a quilt design, particularly the way they have used embroidery to reflect the back stitch.  Here's a couple of detail shots, showing the cross stitch kit itself, and the head of the figure.

Entry 2 - One Day in Barcelona, by the Crafty Cruisers and Jennifer Allan

I am a big fan of Gaudi's works in Barcelona, and the inspiration for this was clear and jumped right out at me.

Entry 3 - The Garden of my Childhood, by Magdalena Galinska and Agnieszka Wietczak

The gorgeous use of quilting to create the fan effect is what really caught my eye in this quilt.

Entry 4 - Alisa, by Vendulka and Olivier Battais. 

This was from a special exhibition of these two artists. I notice they have the same last name as the creator of the Minecraft Quilt in the Fun Category, so perhaps that child is their son. Anyway, their exhibit was of colourful mandala quilts, of which this one is the stand-out best one for me.

Entry 5 - Goat for Ben, by Caroline Harvey.

This Picasso-esque take on a goat jumped out at me. I love it.

Entry 5 - Milioner, by sylaquiltartist (website in Polish)

Syla's second nomination this year, this time for a quilt that won the real First prize in the Art Quilts Category. This is a stunning One Block Wonder quilt - which is the technique used to create the hexagons. There are some lovely details on the central figure, such as this beaded bracelet.

Entry 6 - Typhoon, by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga. 

This artist also featured in the 2019 Genevieve Awards. I love the colours and composition in this quilt. It is long-armed quilted in exquisite detail, but leaves the sails of the ship unquilted, creating the effect of them billowing out. Unfortunately, my detail photo didn't really capture it properly, (argh, stupid phone running out of battery meant I couldn't check my photos to get a better one) although it is just visible in the top left. Such a clever use of textural effects.

And finally:

Extra Special Award for Quilting What Genevieve Did Yesterday

Just the one winning quilt for this category.

This beautiful triptych is Gawain and the Green Knight, by Catherine Millar and Tim Millar. They based the architecture for Arthur's hall in the left-hand panel on Tintern Abbey in Wales - and I literally visited that on Friday!

So that's the Genevieve Awards for this Year! Let me know if you agree with my winners, and which quilts were your favourites from this year's Festival of Quilts.

Thanks for reading!