Hey Everyone, welcome back to Inspirational Sunday.

My friend and I returned safe and sound from our road trip to London yesterday where we saw the Out of Africa and Tent-makers of Cairo exhibit at the London International Quilt Festival. It was worth every minute of the 6 hours of driving that I did.

(Click on any of these pictures to see them larger – totally worth it – these are incredibly detailed)

The colour in this one was fantastic and it almost came home with me

We were both amazed at the talent of the African and Egyptian quilt makers – they certainly do exquisite work. The work was very diverse, creative and unique featuring appliqué of all kinds, hand painting, patchwork, curved patchwork, bead work and other  types of embellishment. I certainly have been inspired by each and every piece.

This quilt was made in one of Dena Crain’s classes called Structured Fabrics

The shapes, colours, lines and designs formed amazing quilts that I just wanted to gather up and take home. The quilts were for sale and I did consider buying one but then I went to a lecture by Magie Relph where she talked all about African fabric. She took us on a journey through many of the African countries telling us about the history of and the current making of hand dyed batiks along with the wax prints and indigo dyed fabrics. Very fascinating indeed.

The top quilt is separate from the bottom one but at first glance it looked like they belonged together – another favourite especially with the wonderful use of colour

After the lecture I went back to the exhibit hall to decide which piece I would purchase then changed my mind and decided that I would purchase the African fabrics from Magie instead and make my own quilt.

Great choice of colour

There were not many pieces of fabric left to choose from and I was lucky to get a 1.3 metre piece along with 3 packages of small pieces. I pulled all of the small pieces (10 inches x 11 inches) out this morning and there is not a single repeat in the 50 that I purchased. Wow, how fantastic not a single repeat, all different. To see some of these amazing fabrics check out Magie’s website The African Fabric Shop.

The applique in this one was phenomenal

Tune in tomorrow for some more great quilts from Africa and Egypt – far too many for one post.

Happy Quilting!