Patchwork and Quilting at the Abergavenny Food Festival!

Last weekend people poured into Abergavenny in droves for the annual Food Festival. 

It’s definitely not a time to attempt any serious shopping in town as main roads are closed and café tables spring up all over the place!

It’s difficult to move through the throng. And because the cost of most of the ‘attractions’ is somewhat high for me, I usually give it a miss and stay at home. 

But this year I had seen posters in town for an Exhibition of Patchwork and Quilting – admission free!

It was held in a church where the quilts could be spread over the pews and hung from the gallery - which didn't always make it easy to take photos.

I used to do a lot of patchwork – hand-stitched both at the piecing together stage and the quilting itself. It was a great way of using up the snippets of fabric left over from the dresses I made for myself and my young daughters in the late Sixties and Seventies. 

My patchworking basket, with all the little bits of equipment I use, is still sitting on top of a bookcase and I’d love to start a new quilting project.

One of my favourites!

But unfortunately my stash of fabrics is hidden under a pile of boxes and other things that need sorting in a corner of my studio! 

One day . . .

So meanwhile, I braved the crowds and enjoyed looking at other people’s quilts and chatting to the quilters.

Some of the quilts were for the group's own use, others were for sale to raise funds for the hospice, with those left unsold at the end of the weekend being donated to the children’s hospice.

One thing the quilters were keen to impress on me was that, although we know that patchwork and quilting is much more popular in the US, it actually started in the UK and was ‘exported’ to the New World, when the Pilgrim Fathers settled there.

I hope you enjoyed this little taster of my trip into town as much as I did!