Pink Hawick Quilt

I have long been interested in the Hawick quilts, after seeing examples and then reading Linda Lane's article on them in Vol 9 of Quilt Studies. So when I saw another on a auction site at a very reasonable price, I had to have it! This one has the tell-tale " spiked hearts". It is in pink cotton sateen on both sides. 

You can see that the sizeable outer border is a double row of spiked hearts. Then, a simple twist, with the centre being filled with swags - usually a border pattern! There is some infill to complete the design...

But no thistles, gowans, yin yan or scale patterns...which are other templates commonly used on these quilts...

Three of my other quilts have "the edge" whereby the top and bottom sheets are seamed together before putting into the frame. One of the quilts is rather worn and it is hard to tell.....this quilt also seems to have the edge, although it is not so obvious...

These quilts were made by church groups in Hawick, to raise funds, initially to replace a church that had had a serious fire. Annual sales were held, evidently it took some time to make enough goods to sell..

Can you see the edge that looks different to the bottom? I think this might be "the edge".

The spiked heart...quilting not the greatest (as one would expect from a group quilt where not everyone was a expert, and the sewers wanted to make speedy progress....)

An odd seam, where the sewing machine tension seems to have gone a bit mad....

There is just one slight stain on the quilt.....these quilts were made in the 1920's....so not bad for a quilt almost 100 years old....

My other quilts did not have the swag pattern.....but here is Barbara Chainey's Hawick quilt, and you can see the same swag template used in a different manner....only single hearts, a double swag border and then the four heart centre.

After my bad experiences with My Hermes ( one Hawick quilt delivered to the wrong address, and small item sent to Inverness not Ipswich and never recovered) I insisted that I pay extra for Royal Mail. The last Hermes  parcel I had was left sitting next to the front door...when I arrived home, the box with this quilt was sitting next to the back door...I guess that's what an extra £15 gets you these days!

Just out of interest, I went upstairs and measured the other Hawick quilts. This one is 64 x 78 inches. The others were all the same size, within an inch or two. It seems that the group had a trusted method of making up the two sides, but varied the patterns within their repertoire of templates.

This quilt was given to the seller in 1996 by her mother, with two other stamped Allendale quilts, both rather worn...no other information available.....