Good news - my quilt history article has been accepted for the summer issue of The Quilter. Also, I have been promised exhibition space at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC this August to display my new and old quilts - all I have to do is sit by the two quilts for four days and talk to quilters - how difficult is that??
I bought an old "cutter" quilt for £30 last spring - very tatty and dirty - the first action was to give it a wash. It was still very faded and stained, but the quilting was very fine - it was obvious that it was a "stamped" (marked) Allendale quilt. I used my polythene sheeting and Sharpie marker to trace the quilting designs. I also found a very similar, almost identical quilt in the Beamish book, Quilts and Coverlets, which had a date of 1900.
I decided to recreate the quilt with a new top - whereas the old quilt was a very faded blue, I used a pink polished cotton for the new top. I used a very fine mechanical pencil and my light table to mark the quilting patterns; the finished top was 80 x 100 inches. I did have to rearrange the elements slightly: after 110 years the old quilt was no longer truly rectangular!!
The new quilt is now finished and as you can see contrasts well with the old quilt. I am hoping to promote the Quilt Study Group and quilt history in general. Next project -to sew a Welsh quilt, using vintage red paisley fabric for the backing and carded welsh wool for the wadding. I am also working on a red and white Hawaiian quilt which will be entered into the FOQ - but more of that later.
