A TALENTED quilt artist from Launceston has scooped a major international prize at Europe’s largest patchwork and quilting event, ‘The Festival of Quilts’.

Sandy Chandler won the traditional quilt category in The Festival of Quilts’ acclaimed competition and £1,000 prize money.

The Festival of Quilts takes place at the NEC in Birmingham each August and this year’s festival attracted 25,000 visitors from across the world.

The competition attracted over 800 entries and is judged by a panel of leading figures from the art and quilting community.

Sandy won praise for her stunning entry, ‘Cachemire’.

Judges said: “This is a well-conceived, clear design. The pale cream fabric is complemented by a deeper cream thread which is used to great effect in a variety of background fillings, all executed with accomplished technique.”

Sandy estimates that it took her around 300 hours to create Cachemire — around 160 hours actually quilting and the rest designing, drawing, ‘squaring up and blocking’ to make sure it hangs properly, binding etc.

She began quilting ten years ago — which she said was really by accident: “We imported something called a long arm quilting machine from the USA to enable me to make bedspreads — I used to be a bespoke curtain maker, and I was often asked to make matching bedspreads to go with curtains — an almost impossible job on a domestic sewing machine.

“I quickly realised that I had an aptitude for quilting and thankfully, I absolutely love doing it. The rest is history and I have been offering my services as a long arm quilter to patchworkers ever since. I work from home on our small farm between Launceston and Egloskerry.”

Although she is often busy with work Sandy always tries to find time to enter the major competitions and she has certainly had a good year so far in the competitive quilting world having previously won the best in show at the spring quilt show in Malvern with a quilt called ‘Juno’.

She said: “As I quilt professionally for other people, I do not have time to enter a lot of competitions, however, I do always try to enter quilts into the major shows. It means that I always have to keep pushing myself to get better and improve as a quilter.”

Repeating her success from 2016, Sandy was delighted to have won this year.

She said: “I was absolutely thrilled to have won this award and yes, a little surprised, as this is the second time that I have won this prize. I came first in the same traditional category in 2016 with a quilt called ‘Infinity’ which also went on to win Best In Show that year.

“The Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham is the biggest and most important quilting show in Europe and it attracts entrants from all over the world — I think that they usually have somewhere in the region of 800 quilts entered into the competition. The traditional category alone this year had 79 entries.”

Sandy’s prize-winning quilt will be on display in the textile galleries at The Knitting and Stitching Show, the UK’s biggest event for the textile art, craft and design community, in London’s Alexandra Palace this October and in Harrogate in November.