This quilt was originally from Carmarthen.It measures 76 x 78 inches, It was owned by an elderly lady and stored for many years in a plastic bag on top of a wardrobe. It doesn't seem to have been used at all, although there are some brown spots (not very visible due to the busy fabric - see the third photo and see if you can spot them).
The quilt is hand stitched with spiral patterns and diagonal lines as chevrons. There are lovely cotton sateen floral fabrics in pinks, reds and blues in two slightly different patterns. The wadding is carded wool. The quilt's edge has been neatly hand stitched.
The quilting patterns are simple here, but very effective and immediately recognisable as Welsh quilting. The spiral is an age old symbol - so old that the original meanings are now lost in time.
The spirals do remind me of the Neolithic Cup and Ring markings carved on outcrops in Northumberland and elsewhere - I am thinking especially of Goat Crag near Ford. Were they signposts? Ownership markings? No-one knows, but the carvings are only in visible places (ie not hidden away) so must have had great meaning for the local people and also the travellers journeying on nearby coastal routes.
Yes, a simple pattern but a very effective one, and one that imparts a great richness of texture. I love the way that the curved lines echo each other - there are more time effective ways of covering a quilt surface - but few as pretty.
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