Pink and Black Star Quilt

Here is a quilt which was sold as a "cutter" quilt - the reason is that although the pink sateen is still in good condition, the plain black cotton is very worn and whiskered, to the extent that the wadding is clearly visible in many places. The quilt is partly hand pieced, the quilting is good and the quilting patterns are different to those usually seen for this pattern.

The quilt was bought from Christine at the Linen Cupboard. It comes from the Shotton family, from Wylam in Northumberland. The seller had it from her mother who was born in Wylam. The wadding is of cotton and the quilting thread is pink. The stitching is very neat and made by a competant quilter.

The reverse of this quilt echoes the front,having black and pink borders except that there is no central star. The edge of the quilt is hand sewn, and the borders are put together using the sewing machine. However, the central star is hand sewn and the quilter seems to have made hard work of it in the corners - or is it just so worn that it has pulled a bit? Anyhow, a lot of thread and stitching is showing at the inset corners. The other point is that the star has no sashing around it, so that the points of the star touch the next border - the star does not "float" like the other three quilts. The wadding is a thin cotton and the stitches are neat and small, about 16 stitches to the inch.

The quilting patterns are not the same as is seen in the other three quilts.
The centre has a daisy with a central circle and other circles drawn around coins. In the diamonds, there is a rose plus double outlining. In the squares - there is a four lobed flower with a simple twist on each lobe. Borders 1 & 2 - small and large twist. Border 3 - Chevrons and a "rose in a square" border pattern. Outer border 4 - Twist plus a trefoil filler.

This quilt must have been a very striking quilt in its day. It was carefully made by an expert quilter, and received many years of use on a bed.