Minerva Part Two

Some more of the wonderful quilts in this years exhibition.

A large cotton scrap quilt made in Cardiganshire. No known maker or date, though it does look like very early twentieth century from the type of materials. 

A close up of some of the patches in the border. Several of the squares here are made with two or three small scraps of fabric.

The maker of this quilt has put a lot of thought into this impressive quilt, but is not going to get hung up on the fact that she is running out of of the right fabric. These small compromises not only do not detract from the overall look of the quilt, but also give it a freshness and vitality that a more ridgedly planned quilt would not.

A more modern quilt.  Possibly 1920`s or 1930`s from the pinkish colour scheme.  The label says it was made in the Aeron Valley and not expertly quilted.  I`d be very happy if my quilting was this good!

Finally as anyone who has read Jen Jones or Mary Jenkins will know, one of the characteristics of Welsh quilts is wholecloth quilting on patterned fabric. Hours and hours of painstaking work on a background designed to conceal the work completely. 

Yes, this is quilted, and quilted by a rather famous South Wales quilter to boot,  but very little shows in this photograph or indeed on the displayed quilt itself. You have to get up close to see the stitching. 

I have no idea why they chose patterned fabrics.The only explanation I can think of,  is that these woman worked professionally as quilters, travelling sometimes from farm to farm and they had to work with whatever the farmers wife had picked out for them to use.

I cannot imagine the difficulty in marking a top like this for quilting, let alone trying to quilt amongst  that busy pattern!