Win's 100 year old Welsh Quilt

Win's 100 Year Old Welsh Quilt

In actual class today our most Senior Member, Win, brought in one of her mothers quilts. Obviously being in Wales this is a Welsh Quilt.  It is about 100 years old.

Above, Win with her mum's Welsh Quilt

Below showing both sides of the quilt.

The plain side shows off the quilting beautifully

While the patterned side has some wonderfully colourful flowers on it.

 Above and below are close-ups of the lovely quilting patterns.

I was tempted to record her telling the story behind the quilt. But she was half way through when I thought of it and I didn’t like to ask her to start again.

Anyways. As I said this quilt belonged to Win’s mother. And in typical Welsh fashion, the quilt was made by the village quilter/sewing lady.
Win was brought up on a farm. And sadly her mother died when Win was very young.  But she knows the story of her mums quilts very well.

I’ll try and tell you the story as best I can.
This story is set in Pontrhydyfen in South Wales in the U.K.  One thing they had plenty of on the farm was sheep – no surprise there – if you come to Wales – your gonna see sheep.

And after sheering, their wool was taken to a wollen mill in Neath Abbey where Win’s mum would insist that   A, the wool she took in was used for her blankets (she insisted that her wool was of the best quality and very clean going in and she didn’t want anyone elses wool in her blankets) and B, that only the best, most skillful girls worked on her wool to make her blankets. 

Win has previously brought in one of her mothers blankets which had a beautiful woven design.
However, they also got plain white blankets and these were used as the ‘wadding’ in their quilts.

I have been teasing Win, that her family must have been well off to afford a Wholeclothquilt – and when I heard the wadding was a brand new blanket – they must have been very rich indeed! As the more lowly people would have used old bankets, wornout clothes, an old worn out quilt, or even paper,  as their quilt wadding. But Win assures me that they were not rich – they just had lots of wool.

We then had a discussion about how the quiltmaker may have been paid. I thought maybe a barter system – with woolen blankets as payment  - but who knows.
Anyway this quilt was kept for best (Doctors visits etc).  Which is why it has survived all this time in such a good condition.

We marveled at the quilting designs used and sat and stroked the quilt for ages. I just love, love, love the texture that quilting makes on fabric.
We noticed that the valance had been stitched on by machine. And thought most probably at the time the quiltmaker would have been the only person in the village to own such a modern invention.

 Above the central Medallion pattern 

such a tradition feature in a Welsh Quilt

 Above is a laughing Win

and below is

a concentrating Win.

So, can I say thank you, thank you, thank you Win for bringing your quilt in to share with us all today.

And of course I must mention that Win herself has made many a beautiful quilt over the years.

I know it's an 'oldie' but I just had to share this with you all. It's a cushion I made using an old photo of my daughter and her twin cousins taken on St. David's Day about 30 years ago.
St. David's day is on March 1st and St. David is the patron Saint of Wales. And on this day here in Wales, all the little girls dress up in National Welsh Costume and the boys tend to wear Welsh Rugby Shirts. The girls wear a daffodil which is our National Flower and is usually in bloom by 1st March. The boys wear a leak often in competition with each other over who has the largest leak! This picture was taken after they had been to school that day. You can just make out the yellow of the daffodil on my daughter (centre) but it looks like the twins daffs didn't survive school that day.

The cushion itself is made using fabrics that would be in a typical Welsh Costume. The paisley fabric was typically the shawl. The black and white check the apron and the red, or a red and black check the skirt.  This would make a wonderful 'upcycled' gift, using an outgrown Welsh costume to make the wearer a 'memory cushion'.

I'd like to thank Deb O'hare
http://thebluehare.blogspot.co.uk/ who issued the challenge a few years ago to make a Welsh Babe item. Mind you I wasn't too thankful at the time as I ended up making five of these cushion.  You know how it starts. I was going to make one. Then I though I'd make one each for my daughter and the twins - three not too bad.  Then I though, well, I'd like one, so four ok I can do that. Then guilt kicked in. If I was making one each for the girls and one for myself the only one left out was the twins mother (my sister) so the final number was five. But if the other four cushions are loved and get anywhere near the attention, ohhhs and ahhhs that mine gets it was well worth the effort.
Happy St. David's Day to you all!

Plodding along

Slowly, slowly in very short bursts making progress on my Welsh quilt.
I'm taking pictures from the back because the quilting shows better in a picture from the back.

Welsh quilting.

Do I just ignore the fact I haven't posted for some time or not. Ok, sorry. But I'm back for the moment at least.
I have been making slow progress on my Welsh quilts.
The picture of the back looks a lot lighter in colour than it is. I's actually the same navy blue as on the edge of the front.
I'm loving how the quilting creates texture. And as I'm working in a traditional Welsh way even I don't know exactly which patterns I'm going to use next. I'm thinking about paisley shapes and curls and swirls.....

Out of the blue - Welsh Quilts

I haven't posted anything for a while. But I have finished a couple of Welsh quilt tops. Inspired by the pictures of Welsh quilts from Jen Jones gallery I have completed two Welsh Quilt tops.

Never ending Welsh Quilt

I've been trying to get some hand quilting done on my never ending Welsh quilt. I am quilting the outer border so the end is in sight. Mind you I've been quilting it slowly for years so don't hold your breath. No picture today it's late, dark and I am very tired. In fact I'm in bed. So it's goodnight from me.

Welsh quilt edging