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I am a quilter living in Woodbridge, Suffolk who has made quilts since I was a teenager. I also ring bells! Both are great British traditions....I will try to feature some of my antique Welsh and Durham quilts, the quilts I make myself, my quilting activities and also some of my bellringing achievements. Plus as many photos as I can manage. NB: Double click on the photos to see greater detail, then use back button to return to the main page.













Monday 21 November 2011

Turkey Red and White Quilt from Llanelli

Here is a red and white quilt from Llanelli, Wales. Apart from the hand quilting, it is entirely sewn by machine. Someone was either an expert seamstress, or very proud of their sewing machine!

The quilt measures 82 x 76 inches, and has various sized stars and blocks on the front.



The quilt is worn and was rather musty and grubby. It had been stored in a loft for many years. I did wash it but some stains and dirt remain. The edges are frayed in places.




The interesting thing to note is that the stars are machine applique, done by top stitching the shapes, layering one star atop another.






The edge is machine sewn. The hand quilting is just chevrons and could be from anywhere.





The back of the quilt is all machine pieced and is the typical Welsh pinwheel design surrounded with squares and rectangles.





Some of the fabric here was of a lesser quality and has worn through in places. Better fabric alongside has lasted well.




It is difficult to date this quilt - the plain fabrics could be from any date - but I rather think that it is older, about 1900. It has seen a great amount of use.



This quilt was found in a loft by the decorator when a house was being cleared prior to renovation. The house had been left to a relative who had no interest or knowledge of the items. Two quilts were found in a old blanket box amongst other old items. The family that once lived there had lived in Llanelli for the past 70 years, and before that, in rural Llanelli.




In the next post, I will show you a heavy wool quilt that was found with this one, made from locally-made woollen offcuts.

4 comments:

  1. I love those stars on the front of the quilt, open spaces in the ones on the side is interesting, love the shape. The backing is just fun
    looks like an idea for a little quilt. pinwheel and then rectangles. Is it common to have pieced backs like this on the antique quilts?

    I think its a great way for us to use up some of our fabrics and I have seen some that are great, some that people just used up fabrics that they don't like anymore, I just haven't done it yet myself...
    Thanks for sharing
    Kathie

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  2. lovely quilt the machine stitching is so precise too .......x

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  3. Thank you for such nice close up images - whoever made this quilt understood her machine technique quite well...such neatly edged appliqueing...and the fact that both front and back were pieced is interesting. Is it possible the back was once used as a quilt top and then as it began to wear, repurposed to the back of the other top. I suppose one could see older quilt lines though..?

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  4. It's a verry nice quilt, I love red en whitebquilts!
    Greets, Wilma from Holland

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