Summer Festival: My Festival of Quilts 2025 picks
- Helen Moyes
- Aug 17
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 18
Whilst to many Summer Festival means camping, music and drinking, to those of us who are into stitch it tends to mean the Festival of Quilts, the biggest quilting show in Europe, featuring workshops, talks, demos, Textile Galleries one of the world’s largest quilt competitions, a range of materials, and brands to shop from. And even though our usual Festival mode of transport and accomodation, our elderly motorhome, broke down on the last morning , I have very fond memories and will share some of the highlights for me. Here are my Festival of Quilts 2025 picks: I've just unpacked from my workshops at "Festival" as I went straight away to a couple of family events. I had a full workshop programme with a little time to wizz around the galleries and quilts. My workshops ranged from hot textiles, mixed media, hand and machine stitching and from 1 hour to a whole day. Here are some photos of highlights:












Any of these workshops can be tailored for you! Either you book a workshop from the upcoming events section, contact me to arrange one, or I can come to your group or event.
Now I'lll share my Festival of Quilts 2025 picks of the quilts on display, first in the galleries and then from the competition quilts.
So here is my small curated gallery of some of my highlights of textile art at Festival:

Beverly Y. Smith is a mixed media fiber artist whose quilt-based works draw deeply from her Southern roots and ancestral connections. I loved catching her in her "Above The Fray" gallery and her description of both her inspiration and her graphite drawing technique


Interesting conversation with Nienke de Lange in the Colorminds group "Colour Relationships" Gallery about her frayed hand dyed circles which create such a wonderful texture on her Rose and the orange part of the group XXL quilts shown above.

The texture and colours also caught my attention in Shannon Conley's "High Desert Garden" in the SAQA Gallery, inspired by New Mexico and achived by large scale smocking of a quilted coloured upcycled cloth.

This colourful hexi crazy quilt "For The Love of Stitch" by Lea Dishoi caught my eye and drew mw in to study the intricate hand stitching and embroidery.

The final gallery I stopped at was the Women's Encyclopedia Gallery by Gralla Grotto. My favourite were the Dreamers above!
Out of the competition quilts I have chosen a few to share, although many others were eye catching and inspiring.

This small quilt in the Quilt Creations category was quirky used free motion embroidery and Inktense pencils (two of my loved techniques) and was based on a family photograph of Richard's ancestors Forge.

The other Quilt Creation category entry that appealed was the one using wet felting among other techniques, Seed Pod by Keta Jones. If you are interested in textile sculptures, take a look at Keta's Pinterest board

In the Art Quilt Category, the simplicity of this moonscpe drew me, but I'm also facinated by the use of sya milk and earth pigments to colour the wool and linen fabrics.

Another Art category moonscape but much more detailed warrented time enjoying the intricate piecing and quilting and the inspiration to step through walls to infinate possibility.

This storm at sea was the winner of the Art Quilt category, and uses curtain fabric pieces placed so well to crete the image.
Moving onto the Pictorial Quilts category, three in particular caught my attention, all due to the movement they evoked.

You may know that I love both watching and attempting Flamenco Dancing, and the fiery A Woman Dancing captures the dance so well.

Based on traditional Chinese opera spinning and dancing on stage and expressing the interplay between reality and illusion, stillness and motion.

Andrea Lea McVey’s @quiltpaperscissors stunning quilt A Wind from the North is this year’s Visitors’ Choice Award winner and I particularly like the inclusion of the quilted frame and the fabric effect.
Andrea shares: "Inspired by J.W. Waterhouse’s painting Boreas, I set out to create my own foundation paper piecing (FPP) pattern. I was drawn to the way the painting captures the movement of fabric and the invisible power of wind and rain. Recently, I lost my partner, and through this design I sought to express the presence of unseen forces, the desolation they can bring, and the deep ache of lost love.”
So this is my selection to share with you. I would love to hear about your experience of Festival, and your thoughts on the quilts/workshops.
Please share in the comments below. Looking forward to hearing from you.
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