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From Our Founder Val Shields Croeso! Welcome!
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River Dee at Llangollen
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It was suggested that as founder of the event, I should be asked to pick a favourite from each display. It is an Impossible task, I fear.
In the early years, I picked every item and I admired them all for one reason or another. To paraphrase something written by Jerome K. Jerome concerning work I will say
“ I like quilts. They fascinate me. I can sit and look at them for hours. I love to keep them by me...”
In July 2001, I agreed to present a display of Quilts in the Pavilion in Llangollen during February 2002. During August, I approached quilters in Region 13 whose work I admired and asked them to give me a wall-hanging come February. In September, my husband and I drove across France to Alsace to attend that year’s Carrefour in the Val d’Argent. (It was the day of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York – never to be forgotten).
The next day, we went first to see the display by June Barnes who was the British Quilter being promoted that year. I told her about the coming display in Llangollen and she immediately offered me my choice of anything she was showing in Alsace. This immediately widened my horizons! I made a list of those I considered my twenty top British makers and when we got home, I wrote to them all, asking them to send me something. I enclosed a SAE hoping that would at least ensure a reply. It did and all were positive. How could I choose a favourite from amongst that selection? I could perhaps suggest June’s and also Janice Gunner’s. She was then The Quilters’ Guild’s Exhibition Officer and had offered to open the Exhibition. She had a Nursing friend in Wrexham and could visit her.
Happenstance and serendipity played a part in future years! An article in Merched y Wawr, the publication of the Group similar to the WI in Wales, in late 2002, had caught Gwenfai’s attention. Whilst phoning me on another matter, she happened to ask why there was nothing by Edrica Huws in The Guild’s Collection. I had never heard the name and asked her to explain. The upshot was that the second Quiltfest (yes! The first had been such a success that I was asked to make it an annual event every February) introduced the work of this amazing artist to British quilters. She was already famous in France and Japan – and that’s another story. Everything in 2002 was shown after my sending a special request to the makers. I promised to hang items carefully and securely and to return them by the same method as they were sent to me. This year I also set up a Trading Day on the second Sunday in February which was designed to raise enough money to cover all exhibition expenses. It turned out to be a great success and established Quiltfest in our national quilting calendar – where it remains today.
At the first Festival of Quilts in 2003, I wandered into a gallery showing work by a group called “By Design”. Hilary Richardson was on duty and I knew her from Guild AGMs. I was much taken with their display and the upshot of our discussion was that it appeared at Quiltfest the next year. Several later displays have also come to Llangollen. This Group delivers and helps hang on occasion. They also return to pick up the work.
At the Torquay AGM in 2003, the final lecture was given by Susan Denton, a much admired quilt artist. She happened to mention that her well-known Venice series, which consisted of six views over the city In different lights, had never all been exhibited together because of the amount of space necessary. It was another lightbulb moment! Quiltfest could provide the space. I approached Susan at the end of her talk and we discussed the matter. Cost of suitable transport to and fro was a concern but we agreed to try to find the means necessary. We did it.
The following year, at Malvern Show, I was awarded the Amy Emms Cup for Services to Quilting. This led to featuring work by all the previous winners of this honour, as well as some items by Amy herself in 2005.
And so it went on. Family needs meant I retired after the tenth event and Susan Briscoe, who was then a member at Gresford, assumed the mantle. Little did we know then that her life was about to change quite damatically with a move to Scotland and marriage. She had agreed with Barbara Howell to have a retrospective of Barbara’s work in 2015 and this could procede. Sadly, Barbara died suddenly after suffering a stroke but the exhibition went ahead and many of her quilts were sold at the event.
Barbara’s sudden death made me consider Quiltfest’s future. The obvious answer was to persuade Region 13 to take over the event and I was very happy when this was agreed. The Region with the most QG Members is Region 2 on the south coast and we and Region 16 (Scotland) take turns at being second!
We are now the only region to have our own annual exhibition! We regularly have two venues with the Pavilion and also the Museum Gallery in the town centre which is ideally placed to attract some of Llangollen’s many holidaymakers and day trippers.
Trading Day on the second Sunday is the busiest and continues to provide all the latest fabrics and other necessities for our visitors. This year our exhibition has had to go on-line but our programme is already full for some time ahead.
Llangollen lies on the route the Romans made to reach our west coast and it remains easily accessible.
Once our on-line Quiltfest is over, the website will revert to showing the history of the event. I am indebted to Linda Bilsborrow who set up and financed the original facility. For many years now, it has been maintained by Sue Horder to whom we owe our thanks.
If you have enjoyed your visit to our 2021 display, the website can help you trace the development of contemporary quilting during the current century.
Val Shields
Quiltfest Founder
In the early years, I picked every item and I admired them all for one reason or another. To paraphrase something written by Jerome K. Jerome concerning work I will say
“ I like quilts. They fascinate me. I can sit and look at them for hours. I love to keep them by me...”
In July 2001, I agreed to present a display of Quilts in the Pavilion in Llangollen during February 2002. During August, I approached quilters in Region 13 whose work I admired and asked them to give me a wall-hanging come February. In September, my husband and I drove across France to Alsace to attend that year’s Carrefour in the Val d’Argent. (It was the day of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York – never to be forgotten).
The next day, we went first to see the display by June Barnes who was the British Quilter being promoted that year. I told her about the coming display in Llangollen and she immediately offered me my choice of anything she was showing in Alsace. This immediately widened my horizons! I made a list of those I considered my twenty top British makers and when we got home, I wrote to them all, asking them to send me something. I enclosed a SAE hoping that would at least ensure a reply. It did and all were positive. How could I choose a favourite from amongst that selection? I could perhaps suggest June’s and also Janice Gunner’s. She was then The Quilters’ Guild’s Exhibition Officer and had offered to open the Exhibition. She had a Nursing friend in Wrexham and could visit her.
Happenstance and serendipity played a part in future years! An article in Merched y Wawr, the publication of the Group similar to the WI in Wales, in late 2002, had caught Gwenfai’s attention. Whilst phoning me on another matter, she happened to ask why there was nothing by Edrica Huws in The Guild’s Collection. I had never heard the name and asked her to explain. The upshot was that the second Quiltfest (yes! The first had been such a success that I was asked to make it an annual event every February) introduced the work of this amazing artist to British quilters. She was already famous in France and Japan – and that’s another story. Everything in 2002 was shown after my sending a special request to the makers. I promised to hang items carefully and securely and to return them by the same method as they were sent to me. This year I also set up a Trading Day on the second Sunday in February which was designed to raise enough money to cover all exhibition expenses. It turned out to be a great success and established Quiltfest in our national quilting calendar – where it remains today.
At the first Festival of Quilts in 2003, I wandered into a gallery showing work by a group called “By Design”. Hilary Richardson was on duty and I knew her from Guild AGMs. I was much taken with their display and the upshot of our discussion was that it appeared at Quiltfest the next year. Several later displays have also come to Llangollen. This Group delivers and helps hang on occasion. They also return to pick up the work.
At the Torquay AGM in 2003, the final lecture was given by Susan Denton, a much admired quilt artist. She happened to mention that her well-known Venice series, which consisted of six views over the city In different lights, had never all been exhibited together because of the amount of space necessary. It was another lightbulb moment! Quiltfest could provide the space. I approached Susan at the end of her talk and we discussed the matter. Cost of suitable transport to and fro was a concern but we agreed to try to find the means necessary. We did it.
The following year, at Malvern Show, I was awarded the Amy Emms Cup for Services to Quilting. This led to featuring work by all the previous winners of this honour, as well as some items by Amy herself in 2005.
And so it went on. Family needs meant I retired after the tenth event and Susan Briscoe, who was then a member at Gresford, assumed the mantle. Little did we know then that her life was about to change quite damatically with a move to Scotland and marriage. She had agreed with Barbara Howell to have a retrospective of Barbara’s work in 2015 and this could procede. Sadly, Barbara died suddenly after suffering a stroke but the exhibition went ahead and many of her quilts were sold at the event.
Barbara’s sudden death made me consider Quiltfest’s future. The obvious answer was to persuade Region 13 to take over the event and I was very happy when this was agreed. The Region with the most QG Members is Region 2 on the south coast and we and Region 16 (Scotland) take turns at being second!
We are now the only region to have our own annual exhibition! We regularly have two venues with the Pavilion and also the Museum Gallery in the town centre which is ideally placed to attract some of Llangollen’s many holidaymakers and day trippers.
Trading Day on the second Sunday is the busiest and continues to provide all the latest fabrics and other necessities for our visitors. This year our exhibition has had to go on-line but our programme is already full for some time ahead.
Llangollen lies on the route the Romans made to reach our west coast and it remains easily accessible.
Once our on-line Quiltfest is over, the website will revert to showing the history of the event. I am indebted to Linda Bilsborrow who set up and financed the original facility. For many years now, it has been maintained by Sue Horder to whom we owe our thanks.
If you have enjoyed your visit to our 2021 display, the website can help you trace the development of contemporary quilting during the current century.
Val Shields
Quiltfest Founder
2002 Carnival
by Janice Gunner |
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2013 Pink Paradise Birdsong
by Susan Briscoe |
2014 Blue Vine
by Barbara Howell |
