Pour l'Amour du Fil 2015 - Part 3 | Exhibitions

I'm back with my third instalment on my trip to the Pour l'Amour du Fil quilt show in Nantes (finally!). Quilt shows are about the exhibitions, and the Quiltmania team of organisers did not come up short at this years show. There was so much talent in one space it took me a while to take it all in, and looking at the pictures again to write this post has made me remember how beautiful they all were. Enjoy!

 

This was the stunning collection of New York Beauty quilts as compiled by collecter Bill Volckening. Do you read his blog? You must. It's great. It was a real stop and stare moment when I saw these beauties. There were over 50 quilts on display and they filled the space magnificently. He's collected these very rare quilts for almost 20 years, with the earliest quilts dating back to 1850, but what's also interesting is the more 'modern' day quilts from his collection - all very unique and each telling a very different story I'm sure. What a wonderful coffee table book that would be! It's on my Christmas list...

Tomie Nagano was a 'new to me' quilter, who I discovered at the show, and turned out to be one of my highlights. Her quilts were absolutely incredible and I'm thrilled to have come across her work. I couldn't get over the scale of them, they were huge!  

This person in the shot below can help give you an idea of the size. 

Tomie is well known for her indigo quilts, so much so that it was also the theme for this years competition. 

Tomie has strong ties with Japanese culture, and became fascinated by indigo dyes 'noragi', which was worn by farmers many years ago. She inherited some noragi family heirlooms from her father, which started her indigo collection some 26 years ago and continues to collect antique indigo fabrics and Kimono's for her quilts. 

She has a collection of sixty quilts, all pieced by hand! I can tell you seeing her work up close was just breathtaking, so inspirational and the amount of workmanship, wow. Her quilts are very coveted art pieces now, so you can imagine the eye-watering prices some of her pieces sell for! Which apparently, only few collectors and galleries can afford to have. Some of her quilts are in a permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 
You can read more about Tomie Nagano here. 

Fumiko Nakayama was another new to me quilter at the show, and opened my eyes to the world of Mola. A technique originating from South America, which is also referred to as reverse appliqué. Instead of regular appliqué, building up small layers of fabric, Mola involves through three of four layers of fabric and needle-turning each layer to expose the underlying fabrics. My friend Sheilah, from British Patchwork & Quilting magazine will be teaching a class on Modern Mola at this years Festival of Quilts in August, so I would highly recommend it if you want to learn more about this intriguing technique. Fumiko is the world specialist on contemporary Mola, and created an amazing burst of colour at the show!

Kaye England was also exhibiting at the show, she is a well known quilter from the USA and has her own publishing company releasing books, patterns and DVD's, she's also popular on YouTube and has her own line of rulers and designs fabrics for Wilmington Prints. She is one busy lady! Not to mention travelling around the world for workshops and lectures. She was also super nice, so I snapped a picture of her in her house. 

Her collection of quilts are of a traditional nature using lots of chintz fabrics. I loved the country feel of them, and it made her 'house' feel very cosy indeed. I loved this basket sampler quilt below. I've has an idea to make a quilt with varying basket blocks buried in my head forever, so it was fun to see a real version! The quilt on the chair is the Fruit Chutney quilt she was teaching as a workshop class during the show. Unfortunately my timetable clashed with other workshops so I couldn't attend on this occasion. 

It was such a diverse show and I would highly recommend a visit for the 2016 Pour l'Amour du Fil show! Perhaps I'll see you there?