Copper and Beige Welsh Quilt

It looks like someone didn`t buy enough copper fabric for the front of her quilt and had to do some creative filling out.

The fabric looks silver in the photos but is actually a beige colour.

Here we can see it filling out one of the corners of the quilt.

A rather jazzy 1930`s print is also used on three out of the four corners. It is the print that makes up the back of this quilt.

A close up view of the central pattern. I wonder why the maker didn`t just use the beige fabric on the two ends of the quilt rather than have that tiny central strip.  

Here a  'Welsh Pear'  is used to fill out the awkward space around the circle.

The pattern was derived from the shapes on traditional Kashmiri shawls. Factories in Paisley, Scotland produced their own versions that were cheaper and they became very popular in Wales. In fact they almost become part of the national dress.

Sidney Vosper`s famous painting 'Salem' shows a lady in traditional Welsh dress with a magnificent Paisley shawl. 

Some people think that you can make out a devils face in the folds on her arm..... 

A characteristic of Welsh quilting is that it pays little or no attention to the underlying pieced work. It`s difficult to make out but the corner fan is quilted across all three parts of the quilt.

And this is the back. I don`t think you could pick a fabric better designed for hiding quilting stitches if you tried! 

This is another weighty quilt. Almost certainly with either a blanket wadding or tightly packed, carded wool.  It has to be something woolen as this quilt absolutely reeks of moth balls, almost to the extent that I thought someone had been trying some DIY dry cleaning with petrol.

It won`t be going within a hundred feet of a naked flame!