Lamport Hall Quilt Exhibition - by Jackie S


This exhibition was run by Grosvenor Exhibitions and this is the first that has been held in Northamptonshire at Lamport. It was in the stable block at the back of Lamport Hall, a Grade 1 country house that originates from the 16th century but has been added to and re-built over the years. The stable block consists of a large open square with enclosed stables around the perimeter, that have been restored and now used as small open “rooms” for events such as antiques fairs and now a quilt exhibition.


The space for the traders was quite small and when a few customers were at their stalls it was quite tight. There were some traders around the edge of the square, Doughty’s being one of them. The quilts were also in the stable block but hung in a long area behind the stables.


I was a bit disappointed in the number of quilts on display, they mainly consisted of collections of quilts either by an individual or a group. There were some larger individually hung quilts but not what was expected of a Grosvenor exhibition although they were restricted by space.


The Cambridgeshire Modern Quilt Guild had a nice display with very accurate piecing and quilting, my favourite being a black and white large star. Also a display of Mariner’s Compass quilts by married couple Karin and John McKelvey was excellent, the piecing and colour arrangement was stunning. My favourite was a red and white lap size quilt with a modern border.


Another outstanding collection, Art Portraits and Decorative Quilts, was by Hopkin Rees, now 84 years old, who uses a layering technique to create pictures, portraits or illustrations. Very impressive.


After visiting the traders and making a couple of small purchases, it was time to hit the road back to Northampton. Fortunately it was a nice sunny day and very enjoyable.