This was a new venture for Allston Tours. Having made many trips in the UK, we decided to try spreading ourselves a bit further afield this autumn and set off for Holland for our adventure.
Our hotel was the venue for the quilt show so we had very little distance to travel from our rooms to the show itself with a stunning display of quilts and temptations in the form of quilting goods from the traders.
I spent lots of time admiring quilts, wall hangings and quilted items. Some were hand sewn, like the beautiful wholecloth by Andrea Stracke from Germany and some were machine quilted like the exquisite designs of Ruth Shadar from Israel.
I really enjoyed being able to walk all round each of the exhibits as they were suspended on wires from the framework of the building high above us.
As The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles had a stand at the show, I managed to spend a while there, chatting to visitors from all over the world. It was so exciting to talk to quilters from the UK, Europe, Australia, Japan and Canada to name but a few of the countries where the visitors had come from. We were all there with a common goal – to admire the work of the textile artists who had been so generous with their work and time.
Of course, no show would have been complete without a visit to the Bernina stand. I met Aggy Burczk again demonstrating the new Q24 longarm machine. It was lovely to see that it was generating lots of interest and people were queuing to try it out.
Best in Show this year was a piece about time by Tuula Makinen.
Tuula spent some time talking about her work with me and the enthusiasm really shone through. As well as being a skilled and talented quilter, Tuula is a wonderfully friendly lady who gave me a real insight into her work.
All too soon it was time to set off for home again, knowing that this would be the last time the show would be held here, but I am looking forward to visiting the new venue in Maastricht and to exciting works of art there next year.
Jan Allston November 2014.
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