Autumn 2013

Happy Halloween! It's not celebrated as much in the UK as it is in the USA, but there are still parties taking place, and a bit of "Trick or Treat" activity. Luckily, Mischief Night has not been transferred across....

A neighbor up the street had these for sale, grown in their garden. I think turbo pumpkin should read turban squash?? Anyhow, I saw various people carrying away pumkins that they had bought. And the pumpkins stayed out overnight without being damaged....unheard of where I grew up.

These gourds were being sold as alien eggs - there were smaller gourds for sale as dinosaur eggs.....

These Chillis looked good, priced at 5 for £1. I used two in Saturdays meal and they were very hot! I have vivid childhood memories of unwittingly biting in to one of our neighbors hot peppers and being in great distress.....

Hawick Quilt #2

Here is a quilt that I recently bought from a dealer from Builth Wells in Wales - it is a Hawick quilt. The quilting patterns are a real clue here. There were many of these quilts made by church groups in Hawick in the 1920's, to bolster church funds.

A clear indicator are these wild-looking thistles. Hawick is located in the Scottish Borders and of course thistles are a Scottish emblem. The yin-yan design in the border is typcial too.

The other real tip off are these spikey hearts. This centre arrangement is typical of these quilts, too. The background filler is a "Scale" pattern.

The other side of this quilt is a very faded paisley cotton sateen. Most of these quilts were made either in white or in two contrasting coloured fabrics. This is the first time I have seen a print used in a Hawick quilt.

The other pattern which is typical of these quilts is a large "gowan" or daisey. It is typcial of what I would call club quilts - a large, showy pattern that wasn't too complicated, yet covered the fabric well. The stitching on this quilt is rather coarse - the stitches are large and again this is typical - the quilts were being made fairly quickly. Although the seller was from Wales, she had bought this quilt from a textile fair, and had bought it from a dealer from the Northeast...no other provenance, I'm afraid...

1954 Wedding Quilt - Sunderland

Here is a nice wedding quilt - it was made, relatively late, in 1954. Quilting survived well in the Sunderland area, and the seller says that there were lots of quilters in the area at that time.....this quilt was made for Lillian Maguire's wedding, and her mother also had a quilt made for each of her three sisters. The fabric is a cotton sateen.

As you can see, the quilting patterns had become more simplified by this time; and the patterns are what I would describe as "club" patterns: simple, bold and large, covering the cloth well and not requiring a lot of close work. These quilts were well made but were turned out fairly quickly. Note the large bold feather pattern......

And the large twist, and "gowan" or daisy pattern....

Both sides of this quilt are the same, of a soft green colour. In good condition, but worn in places, with some snapped quilting lines where the stitching has disappeared. My friend Liz and I have several quilts from the Sunderland area; as well as having many quilters in this area, there also seem to have been many church and Women's Institute groups that made quilts.

Scottish Quilt - Dingwall

Here is a quilt from Scotland. I don't know very much about Scottish quilts, and apart from one marked Allendale quilt that came from Ayr, this is the only quilt that I have that comes from Scotland. This quilt came from a house clearance in Dingwall, which is in the Highlands.

The quilt is rectangular and measures 63 x 78 inches. The fabric is a pink cotton sateen. There is a central flower, with diamond infill surrounded by straight lines with a simple twist. the outer border has a bellows pattern with daisies in the corners.

Another photo of the central flower motif.

The edge is neatly machine sewn..

There are large daisies - this was a popular pattern. The wadding is a thick cotton filling.

Last photos from FOQ 2013...

Last photos from the Festival of Quilts in August...in no special order, I'm afraid...

One of the pictorial quilts...

Reds in the Beds by Cowslip Workshops, Launceston. Quilt made from leftover scraps, longarm quilted. Third prize, group quilts.

Winner of Miniature Quilts, Rose of Versailles, by Kumiko Frydell of Texas. Trapunto with free machine quilting, using metallic and silk kimono threads.

Detail of the quilting....

Moving World - Spring and Winter, Taiwan Art Quilt Society. Hand piecing, hand quilted with hand applique. Commercial cottons. Group quilt.

Winning group quilt, by DE12 A2, Barcelona. Inspired by advertising signs that change...one view...

....and the other view....

Quilt Creation, Hannelore Nunn of Southwell, Anyone for Chess? Hand embroidery, machine piecing and quilting.

Little Broken Dishes  bu Suzi Corke of Kettering. Machine pieced and machine quilted.

Hunting Song, by Silvia Dell'Aere of Dresano. Applique, painting, dyeing, machine quilting, thread painting.
Third prize miniature quilts.

Bridesmaid Memento by Jean Parrot of West Wickham. Made from the remnants of bridesmaids dresses. 

Buzz Saw by Dorian Walton, Stevenage. Foundation piecing, machine quilting. Inspired by an Amish cot quilt in the Sara Miller Collection.

Linzi Upton won first prize in Quilt Creations with her Quilted Coracle. Woven wicker, freehand longarm quilted. embellished with beads. Coracles are small bowl shaped fishing vessels, used in Welsh rivers. Inspired by a Bronze Age coracle in Elgin Museum, Instead of tarred  canvas, decorative fabrics were used.

Detail of the quilting...

Second prize in Quilt Creations was won by Philippa Naylor of Beverley.

Scarletts Crimson, an original design inspired by couture of the 1950's. 

Machine and hand pieced, free motion quilting, contrasting piping.

Detail of the quilting, done on a domestic sewing machine.