BQSG Farnborough October 2019

At the end of October 2019, the annual seminar of the British Quilt Study Group was held in Farnborough, Surrey. The hotel was the Holiday Inn, more "up market" than some we have been to!

 

 

Our study day was at the Craft Study Center, University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. I had never been there before, and did not even know that it existed, so was interested to visit. In the Craft Study Centre, there are two display rooms with various crafts displayed.

The quilts we were shown are not the property of the Study Centre, but were brought across from the Textile collection at the University.

Quilt circa 1834-45. Aged, so darkened. Colour combination of Prussian Blue and Brown is characteristic of this period. Also seen is indigo. Wavy border is unusual.

Cushion cover - second half 19C. Lined with linen. Silk, but not salted. Fabric samples? Some ink spills seen.

Piece made by professional workshops - Pattern and texture, not warmth. Paisley motifs, vermicelli, eyelets.

Chair cover - c 1790. Complete chair cover, Dimity, chintz. Is fringe contemporary? Seems unused.

Mid 19C - Brown, Prussian blue, some crudely printed. Purples are browning. Less yellow. Pieced with both running stitch and whip stitch.

 

Quilt mid 19C - Pieces are roller printed and block printed - 1 green patch.

Later quilt than two previous quilts - double pinks, seconds, Creases in printing. Unfinished. Not quilted. Still glazed, raw edges. Paisley border was machined. From an antique store in Farnham, but probably Westmoreland origin.

Patchwork quilt cover, predominantly blue with geometric designs, Includes indigo discharge fabrics. Reverse is resist printed indigo over discharge and an earlier fabric than the front.

 

The Seminar was interesting, as always. I had brought some of my Rural Industries Bureau quilts and samples. This is Liz Nally showing a lovely bed jacket.

 

One of Jenny Barlow's quilts - a Sanderson Star.

The Archives held at The Craft Study Centre include the archives of Muriel Rose and The Little Shop. It was interesting to look at the receipt book - prices were high for that time and customers seemed mainly the aristocracy. There was also a complete copy of the catalogue - this proved what I has always thought, that Margaret Williams was a RIB quilter from Wales. Here is the page showing one of her  characteristic quilts. One of the cushions also looks to be her work.

Signature Quilt 1893 Greengates Sunday School

Here is a quilt that is in very poor condition! It was probably made as a fund raiser.  The winner of the raffle obviously used it - the corners and edges are worn. However, the interest is that the squares and setting triangles all have embroidered names which could be used in a research project.

The quilt has a central panel which states "Greengates Sunday School Christmas 1893".

The red and white squares all have a name embroidered on them. It looks as if the names were signed in ink and then embroidered, as there are a variety of handwriting styles. The embroidery has a lot of variety as well, a few not so well done, the rest nicely done in stem stitich, chain stitch and back stitch.

That is a cat's tail there! The squares are set diagonally, with setting triangles at the edge. The quilting is by hand.

It is a large quilt at 100 x 80 inches, and you can see the wear clearly in this photo. The quilt is in a rather tattered state.

The signatures usually have a first and a last name, rather than the initials sometimes found on these quilts - a real bonus for anyone doing research.

Corners usually receive a lot of wear, as with this corner. The wadding is of cotton. The binding has been sewn on by machine. The backing is a white cotton and has been taken to the front to make the binding.

You can see how the triangles also contain names. Family groups can be seen.

I did a bit of inital research online - it seems likely that this church was in Bradford, Yorkshire. The church is redundant now, and closed, but there are items about the war memorial on the internet.

 

 

This quilt was bought online for £120 - it had previously been bought for £450 ten years previously, at a craft fair in Cambridgeshire.

There is a "Signature Research Group" associated with BQSG. Anne Jeather researched another fundrasing quilt, from a Primitive Baptist church. There are Baptist archives which can be consulted. But most of the research was done online using ancestry websites. Another project for the retirement (when that finally comes in 3 or 4 years!!)

More Amy Emms cushions

I was offered the chance to buy some more cushions by Amy Emms. These came from a seller in the Borders, near Hawick. The sellers mother had these made by Amy, who was often to be seen at craft fairs in the area.

 

Many of the cushions made by Amy have feather wreaths. These three are similar, but not identical.....this one had feathers plus corner motifs....

This one is very similar to the first...

...but this one has feathers only and no longer has its pad. The backs of all have larger crosshatching, there is no frill and no label. The colour is an old gold colour in "art silk".

The three cushions came as a group, but I did not need duplicates. So one has gone off to Norfolk, the other off to Sheffield, where I am sure they will be admired, and used as teaching aids.