BQSG Seminar at Bath University - October 2016

In October, I attended the 2016 Seminar of The British Quilt Study Group, which was held in Bath. As I have a new  part-time job, which is less flexible than previous ones, I was not able to attend the study day on the Friday. It was held at the Museum of Costume, held in the basement of the Assembly Rooms. I understand that it was excellent!

I arrived late, and took the bus up to Bath University, where the seminar was being held - I got totally lost, wandered far and wide but could not find where the evening meal was being held - I finally called into student counselling (open, but not busy on a Friday evening) and was very kindly given directions....

I always enjoy going to this seminar, as it visits places that I would not otherwise have reason to visit. Bath is firmly on the tourist trail, but I had not visited in many years and was keen to see it again. But in addition, Ron Simpson was a speaker and I was very interested to listen to someone that I had always heard about as a major British quilt collector and quilt enthusiast.

Ron now lives in Thailand for the winter, and returns to London for the warmer months - and who can blame him! I cannot show all that he brought, but perhaps a few photos will suffice....

A small item - a dogs head made from incredibly tiny hexagons - never finished and you can see why - a real labour of love, this one...

Ron Simpson with Bridget Long...

Ron's talk was very informal; we gathered 'round on the stage while he uncovered the various items that he had brought along.....

This was a small strippy - cot sized.....these items collected over many years with some good finds in the days when perhaps more was available with less knowledge of textiles..

A quilt made from wool off cuts..

and the famous Welsh quilt with the cow in the centre...very charming...

A classic Amish Centre Diamond quilt...as Ron said, the feathers on American quilts are generally much looser than those on British quilts...

Quilting stitches on the Amish Centre Diamond...

Some of the quits were very striking....

The food was good as ever, and the papers were once again very interesting. The results of Dorothy Osler's study into the Spennymore Quilters was shared.

The hotels in Bath tend to be very expensive, so several of us stayed at the YMCA, which was fine for budget accommodation. I had taken the train, so no problem with cars and parking....

The venue of next years seminar is still to be decided - the problem seems to be the cuts in government funding. Many collections of textiles do not have curators or are currently closed. The collections still exist but are not available for viewing, even to specialist groups......