Sunday 23 August 2009

Festival Notes

I know its been ages since I posted. Where time goes is a mystery to me. A few of the girls from our Tuesday morning group took a trip to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and had a very enjoyable day.

Ferret had the most wonderful display of quilts, some we had already seen and a few superb new ones. she had even taken her longarm and when able was demonstrating that YES her quilts are all done using hand control, not programmed. All power to her elbow! I particularly liked the mother and daughter small quilts. It was especially nice to see the mother finished, as she had just started when she conducted a workshop for us in June. I hope that Phil will put the photos up on the website for everyone to enjoy, although I know Ferret already has them on hers. Please remember to credit any photos of other peoples quilts with THEIR name. These quilts take hours of designing and construction.

A cautionary note to all retailers out there. Is a fat quarter a fat quarter? When I cut a fat quarter I ensure that my measurements are slightly OVER the quarter, but on returning home with a few purchases (things I don't sell) I noticed that some of the fat quarters measured short. You may think this is a discrepancy between Imperial (inches) and Metric (metres), but NO these were even short on the Imperial scale. Should I name and shame? At the moment I am waiting until everyone gets home from the show to complain to those involved. Fabric is too expensive now to be given short measure.

Lady Longarm had a trial run this weekend and with a little more practice we should be up and away.

2 comments:

  1. Jo is quite right. I recently purchased some fat quarters from a european stallholder at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. When I got home I wanted to make sure they matched the colours of some fat quarters I earlier puchased in Canada whilst on holiday. The colours matched perfectly but I noticed the ones I had just bought were a lot smaller than those from Canada. I instantly got my tape measure out and to my horror I found that the new ones measured only 17". They should have been at least measuring 18" being cut from a yard but no, they were smaller. Also, to add salt to the wound, they were quite expensive too, so ladies, beware when buying your fabric that it is a truely measured fat quarter, whether from the yard or the metre.

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  2. I've seen so many postings and debates on the net regarding this subject. It is so frustrating when you receive a short measure. Just think how much they can make if they can pinch an inch from every quarter that they sell, they're certainly making money with that one.

    See what the sellers response is when they're back up and running after the show. If you don't receive a satisfactory answer, then yes, I do think you should name and shame and warn others.

    I didn't buy any fabric from the show, so can't compare with your purchases.

    Glad to hear you got the longarm up and running, can't wait to see the work you've done on there.

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