2010-3-A log cabin fields and furrows
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This large log cabin quilt in Fields and Furrows style was bought by the donor in the early 1990s at Dolgellau cattle market in North Wales for about £52.00. She took it to the quilt documentation day organised by The Quilters’ Guild as part of the British Heritage Quilt project at Shrewsbury in the mid 1990s. This is where the quilt was dated at c1860.
You can find out more about The Quilters’ Guild documentation project and the resulting book Quilt Treasures here.
The log cabin patchwork incorporates velvets, silks, cottons, and brocades in various colours. The brown cotton backing has been quilted in a trellis style onto an internal layer of carded wool in dark brown. The blocks have been hand stitched and pieced to create diagonal lines of darks and lights which are said to look like the rows in a freshly ploughed field. The quilt has a border of brown velvet with black squares in the corners, and has been turned to the back and sewn with a herringbone stitch.
Some of the silks have degraded over time, and on many of the velvets the pile has rubbed away, but the quilt is still an impressive example of a style popular in the late 19th century to this day.