Brown Durham

And here is the third quilt of the three that I bought all those years ago in the early 90's. This quilt is probably the most traditional one in terms of design; the quilt is large at 84 x 89 inches. The cloth is a dark brown cotton sateen, rather worn and now very soft, and the filling is cotton. You can see that the centre medallion is a dramatic one with a centre device of a wheel with circles, and large feathers. The border repeats the very centre and the motif is fans with circles.

Another look at the borders - lots of circles here. At first I thought they were coins - but the circles are too large. It occurs to me that perhaps the quilter marked around the wooden spool of thread but any household circular object would do.

A closer look at the centre of the quilt- there are ten large feathers - eight would have been more usual but here the feathers are too small, so there are five on each side to fill the space effectively.

The border of fans - the star quilt in Barbara Chainey project book has a similar circle device so it seems that circles were part of the quilters' repertoire although I would have thought them a bit tedious to quilt! You can see that this quilt is rather worn, especially on the edges.

The edges are the usual knife edge and there is one line of machine sewing at the edge. The panels have been sewn together using the sewing machine. A fairly traditional Durham quilt, and typical of many that were found on beds in the early part of the 1900's before store bought blankets took over.

A close look at the edge and the cotton sateen. This cloth does go very soft and velvety as it wears and seems much stronger than modern fabrics. This kind of fabric, cotton sateen, was discontinued in 1936 in the Second World War as it was very labour intensive to make. There was some fabric still out there, unused, but cotton sateen does usually date quilts as being made prior to this date.

Framed Black and Pink Durham Quilt

Here is the second of the three wholecloth quilts that I bought from Suzi McFarland in the early 90's. This is a frame quilt in pink and black. The thread is pink so the side with the pink centre and black border is the top side. This quilt measures 74 x 88 inches and from the feel of it, has wool as the wadding.

You can see the quilting motifs more easily on this side - there is a handsome medallion in the centre - a sunburst. In the corners are fleur de lys motifs, all with diamond infill. You can see that this quilt has been used and has a fade in one area. Ihe pink is an attractive peach or apricot that starts to look almost orange in some lights.

Another look at the corner motif, these are useful for being bold designs that cover the cloth well without too much work.

And in the border, a very handsome shell pattern. A quilt very much in the north country idiom even if it lacks the usual motifs. No provenance. The tops are put together by machine and the quilt has one line of machine stitching around the edge of the quilt.

Pink Durham Country Quilt

In the early 1990's, the US military Bases at Woodbridge and Bentwaters were open and five of us quilters met fortnightly - Kay and Shirley from the base, and Pat, Madelaine and myself. We would each take it in turn to teach a technique or run an exercise of some sort. We brought food to share, which resulted in some interesting and unbalanced meals!

I don't remember how, but we met Suzi McFarland, who lived in Ipswich and had some museum quality quilts. She and a business partner had run an antiques shop in Carlisle, and sold quite a few quilts there. She still had a few, so one day I went along to her house to see what she had left of the old stock - not much - some rather uninspiring utility patchwork - but I came away with three Durham wholecloths. Even then, I was interested in the quilting! This is one of the three quilts.

By the way, Suzi used to just pitch the Durhams in the washing machine and peg them out on the line in her backyard - apart from some notches where the pegs had been, they all came out great - these old quilts must be made of iron.

This is "country" quilt. It is made of cotton sateen and is a large quilt (79 x89 inches). It has cotton wadding but is a lightweight quilt. It has obviously been well used but someone was proud of it, I'm sure.

The design is rather home made, the quilter has not used the usual templates, but made up her own, the main one is this "palm leaf" motif.

In the centre of the quilt is this horse shoe in a small diamond. Perhaps, like the Suffolk farmhouses, there were horseshoes around - a symbol of luck - or perhaps a wedding quilt? This seems to have been traced as it is life sized - also, don't know if you can see, everything was traced around objects with a heavy pencil marking - many, many washings have not obliterated this pencil (let that be a warning to you!)

The crosshatching is wonky, to say the least - distinctly wavy - and yet the eye tries to make it straight...

The quilter also went into the garden and collected leaves to serve as patterns - this is a sycamore leaf - again traced in heavy pencil...

...and an elder leaf or other compound leaf ......

The corner where you can see the machine stitching along the edge.
There are two slightly different shades of pink.

A final photo to show the VERY heavy pencil markings on this quilt. One gets the feeling that this quilter didn't have much to work with, but still made a quilt which is charming and very much in the north country idiom.

Pieced Flowers and Vegetables Quilts

I thought that you might like to see two of the quilts that I have made using Ruth McDowell's patterns. This one, Flower Garden, uses the patterns in "Pieced Flowers" which is one of my favourite books of all time. It was difficult to find suitable green fabrics - so many green fabrics look unnatural and rather ugly. I also had to stock up on gold and orange fabrics for the daylillies. A trip to Kisco in Leicester was a good source of unusual fabrics in fat quarters (ususally only small amounts are needed). I also enjoyed the freehand quilting with the coloured rayon threads. I did not use a binding but instead used a facing.

And here is my "Pieced Vegetable" quilt, with a blue background. There was a spate of stolen quilts at about this time - so the name of the quilt and my name as the maker are quilted into the border! The pumpkins and squash were good fun - just proves that almost any subject can be used as a colour study.

Send in Your Bell Blocks!!

Many of you have agreed to make bell blocks for the Christchurch Bell Quilt - this is just a reminder that if you have not already sent in your block, now is the time to do so. Many thanks to Ernestine Colwell, Pat Masters, Frances Spence, Robin Booth, Catherine Watson and June Nixey whose blocks are pictured above. I am really pleased at the variety of fabrics that have been used.

I have written a short article about this project for the Ringing World (the bellringers' weekly newspaper). It hasn't appeared yet! but perhaps is being saved to accompany some articles about Christchurch bells which will be published in the next week or two. Karen R. from Christchurch will be travelling to the UK this autumn, so perhaps that is the time to hand over the quilt. Hopefully, she will have the chance to do some bellringing while she is in this country.


Here are the copy photos that I will be working from in making the central panel - I will use the larger one. The loss of detail was less than I was expecting - the original photo must have been a good one.

I will be using Ruth McDowell's techniques - you can see that I have quite a collection of her books. I have made three quilts using her patterns, which I did enjoy. I have even met another woman who bought the "Pieced Vegetables" book! so at least two sold....

Here is the pattern for one of Ruth's Daylily blocks - you make paper templates (actually, I just use a photocopy cut up) and piece the block from those using registration marks to piece it all together correctly. I enjoy the look of the pieced blocks and finding just the right piece of fabric. Ruth often uses quite wild fabrics, which is fun too but work surprisingly well.

O f course, using Ruth's patterns is easier than making your own pattern! I'll keep you posted as to how I get on.....

Quilting Motifs

After Andrea's comment, I went away to look at the books on my shelf - here is a design from Osler's North Country Quilts - Swirl and Cockscomb - which looks similar to the motif on the pink and gold Durham quilt - very dramatic.

I also got out a "Quilt Pack" published by Tyne and Wear Museum Service in the 1990's - it has some design motifs and three post cards. Here is the design called variously shell or goose tail. I also found my original handwritten notes taken during a work shop given by Dorothy Osler in the early 90's. I will have to read these more carefully. We marked a cot quilt in the Durham style but I have to confess that I never completed the project. Dorothy gave a talk at an Area Day and gave a workshop the next day -the Area Day was at RAF Bentwaters, a huge American Base which closed very suddenly.

And here is Goosewing, essentially, half a curved feather. This is used as a border element and also as a central motif; its curve makes it very attractive, especially in pairs.

And finally, here is the progress on the sawtooth quilt - I have mostly completed the central area and I am about to start quilting the borders.

Pink and Gold Durham Quilt

This is a quilt that comes from Durham county. I am hoping to find out more from the dealer when she next sees her "contact" - most often there is nothing, but sometimes there are some interesting snippets of information.
This quilt was not very expensive, as the edges are worn, but seems to have some quilting patterns that I have not seen before.
The measurements are 79 x 89 inches. The right side is a shell pink, while the back is an old gold colour cotton sateen. the filling is a rather thin cotton - a light weight quilt.The centre medallion is a feather wreath,

but there are some interesting scroll-type patterns seen on the rest of the surface. The centre is surrounded by goose wings and rose in a ring plus other scrolls.

The corner treatment is an asymmetrical scroll or spiral design.

On the border is a floral (tulip??) design.

Corner showing the two colours - north country quilts are often bi colour.

To look at the quilting patterns more closely it is helpful to trace the patterns onto polythene - I use a Sharpie pen. Here you can see the floral design - it is rather freely drawn and it seems that a template was not used. One half of the design does not always match the other half!! But the use of scrolls is very handsome and covers the surface well.

And here is part of the central cartouche - I will have to complete the tracing to see "what is going on" here. I like the rose in a ring.

You can see that there is a rather columnar set of feathers connecting the corner with the centre - they are rather V shaped at the base and the individual sections are rather straight.

And here is the corner device - an asymmetrical design - a spiral is surrounded by feathers and leaves , all looking very freehand, as if the quilter marked the designs out on the cloth with pencil or chalk.

Royal Wedding - Llwynywermod

Did you watch the Royal Wedding this morning? Wasn't it good fun? I enjoy the pomp and sense of history. And, I enjoyed listening to the bellringing from the Westminster Abbey bells. The bellringers were all invited, and were a highly experienced band. Included was David C Brown from St Peter Mancroft, Norwich - a highly respected ringer with over 4000 peals to his name. The ringers had to go through security at 8.30 this morning, and will not be let out until 4 this afternoon. But they will be ringing a full peal today.

As it is Royal Wedding Day, I thought that I would set out below a piece that I wrote in 2008 on the Prince of Wales' Welsh home,Llwynywermod.
Prince Charles can be considered a collector of Welsh quilts.

In June 2008, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attended an opening ceremony for their new "environmentally friendly" Welsh country house. Costing 1.2 million pounds, and with 1.8 million spent on renovations, it is located within the Black Mountains National Park at Mddfai near Llandovery. The Llwynywermod Estate contains not only an 18C farmhouse, but a 192 acre organic farm. It is found at the end of a long lane and is set in what was once a mediaeval deerpark. The views of the rolling countryside include the estate's ruined monastery.

It took the Prince's agents three years to find a suitable property. Historic and secluded, with a lovely range of old farm buildings, it will be used as a Welsh base for the Prince's annual visits. The farmhouse had previously been used as a B & B, and had a range of older buildings as well as some 1960's built worker's accommodation. The modern buildings were razed and the former courtyard re-created. A new conference hall has been built to one side, complete with vaulted dining hall. There is also ancillary accommodation for the Princes Trust charity workers. The house will be rented out as holiday accommodation when the Prince is not in residence.

The royal couple were heavily involved in the restoration, being regularly consulted on all details. All the buildings have been renovated using traditional materials, sourced from Wales wherever possible. New oak and slate was installed, using some materials salvaged from the demolished buildings. Local craftsmen and contractors were used for the building and interiors. The rooms are decorated in a simple and tasteful manner. New iron window frames and door furniture accompany traditional Welsh furniture. Welsh textiles and artwork have been hung on lime washed walls. Even the curtains have been woven at the century-old Solva Mill, which also made the floor coverings. Welsh shirting flannel lines the curtains while early 20 C Welsh pottery is used.

Eleven antique Welsh quilts have been hung on the walls. These were purchased from Jen Jones who also supplied a number of Welsh blankets. Pictures of the house interior show a number of striking collectors quilts, mostly flannel and woolen quilts in bright and dark colours, hung from dowels.

Three quilts can be seen in the hall - one is a wool flannel quilt in grey, black and red squares; the second is a single "hired hand" quilt in sombre wool rectangles and the third is another wool flannel quilt with a chequerboard centre of red and balck squares with borders of grey, red and navy wool.

Quilts can be seen on some beds, but these are sturdy modern quilts.

Craig Hamilton, the architect stated that "the project was intended as a celebration of the Welsh vernacular. I think it has been very successfully accomplished. The whole makes for a very very peaceful location. Further information can be found in a recent book, A Royal House in Wales - Llwynywermod by Mark Baker.


The courtyard at Llwynywermod

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall

Interior shot showing the use of traditional textiles and materials.

The new hall, which has several antique quilts hung on its walls.

White Weardale Quilt

Here is a really lovely quilt made of white or light cream cotton sateen - no provenance but it has an interesting story attached to it! It measures 98 x 80 inches, so is a large quilt. The patterns are really stunning on this one, and the quilting is nicely done with good depth.

Here is the centre medallion - a centre rose with circles of shells and running feathers. It is fairly typical of quilts made in this area.

Around the edges are running feather borders - compare these with the last quilt - the feathers are fairly straight on this one. And the quilter clearly didn't know how to turn a corner - she just ran the feathers right off the edge of the quilt!

Another photo of the medallion and the corner treatment.

The story goes - Christine (who I bought it from) lives in Whitley Bay and often goes to the Tynemouth market, where she bought the quilt from a furniture dealer. He had found it in a large linen chest bought locally - this quilt had been left in one of the drawers. Perhaps it was an unused gift - it looks unused. The quilt was actually being used to wrap around furniture in his van!! It's amazing that it survived in such good condition.

When Christine got the quilt, it was BROWN - only after two hand washes and a trip down to the laundromat did it emerge as a light cream colour.

The postscript is, I came home one day from work to find my son Tom vigorously washing this quilt in the bathtub with soap - he had washed his skiing gloves and set the wet gloves down on my stack of quilts - the black dye had seeped out of the gloves onto the top quilt, this one. Luckily the dye came out and the quilt was none the worse for its further washing. I did note that, when the quilt was wet,you could see that the cotton wadding does have bits of cotton seed in it ( I don't know if this signifies anything - perhaps that it is a bit older??).

This is the same lady that I got my Allendale quilt from - and the paisley panels - I have also just bought another £50 quilt from her, interested to see it when it arrives. I just wish that I lived near a north country market! Christine does say that the supply of quilts is rather erratic - sometimes nothing, then suddenly you find a couple. She usually washes and repairs them before selling them online. Thank goodness there are other people that are interested in old quilts.

By the way, Borderline Quilter has just posted a Durham quilt that lives on the back of her sofa - it is a good example of a Hawick quilt - see her post here: http://borderlinequilter.blogspot.com. The hearts with the thistles are very distinctive!!

I like this blog - the machine quilting is lovely and well done and the Borders scenery and horseriding is great to read about.

Cockfield Quilt - Running Feather

Here is a quilt that was rather difficult to photograph, as it is a white quilt. I bought this quilt three years ago from Sarah Truelock of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees. The quilt had belonged to her mother's family, and had been made in Cockfield, a village in Weardale. The quilt measures 79 x 94 inches so is a large quilt. The pattern is a running feather in a "bellows" (in and out) configuration. This pattern is common - it was striking, easy to mark and covered the fabric well without being too intricate. The templates showed the outline - the quilter just had to add the lines for the feathers -some quilters made the lines straight, but the better quilters drew more curving, naturalistic lines.

You can see that either end has a row of daisies - another well-liked pattern, it covered the fabric well. No attempt to turn a corner here!!

Another view of the running feather pattern - very attractive.

This quilt is unusual in that it has Pauline Adam's "edge"- ie the front and back were seamed together before being set on the frame. Here, it is well done and hardly noticeable, unless you look very carefully for the machined seaming stitches. The edge is machine top stitched.

This quilt was clearly made by a professional quilter, it is very nicely done without being complex, and the stitching is neat and regular. It could be a "club" quilt.

A view of the centre of the feather, with its double line for the feather vein.

And here is the running feather pattern in another quilt, the Rothbury quilt - I did not show this pattern very clearly in that post, so here is another photo. In this version, you can see that there is a "worm" or vein with a twist, in the centre of the feather. A popular pattern like this is bound to have several variations.