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Reverse Appliqué White Flowers
Ref: 2002-2
This is a large reverse appliqué quilt featuring nine striking white flowers surrounded by a wide white border. The background is now a faded pink, but was perhaps once a terracotta red.
The four petalled flowers feature star shaped centres. All the appliqué work has been done by hand, with the pink plain weave cotton being cut away to reveal the white fabric layer beneath. Large appliqué flower symbols seemed to be popular quilting motifs in Mid Wales in the mid – late 19th century. Another prominent example from our collection can be seen here. A red and white flower appliqué quilt from Llanbrynmair is held in the quilt collection of the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans near Cardiff.
The quilt has been handquilted in a white thread, and features a central medallion with rays, spirals, and zigzags. The reverse fabric is a white plain weave cotton, and raw cotton wadding provides the centre of the quilt sandwich.
The quilt has featured in several exhibitions at The Minerva Art Centre, including the Turning Twenty summer show in 2014, when the Quilt Association celebrated twenty years of quilt exhibitions in Mid Wales.
Appliqué Flowers Quilt
Ref: 2002-15-B
This is a red and white nine patch quilt with flowers appliquéd on squares. It was made by Ellen Ann Hamer (1896 – 1987) before she married, probably when she lived with her aunt and uncle in Beulah, Llidiartywaen, near Llanidloes. The design of red and white appliqué flowers was based upon an earlier quilt, also in the collection (2002-15-A), made by her mother Mary Evans also of Beulah.
This large nine patch (2120 x 1850mm) is very striking, with its four petalled simple flowers in alternating red and white cotton twill. There is a star shaped centre to each of the flowers. The work is hand appliquéd, with hand quilting in pink thread, and reverse appliqué on the corners.
The quilter, Ellen Hamer, was known as someone “always busy, doing something, turning collars, but never on a Sunday.” She did a lot of craftwork, including sewing, crochet and knitting. John Hamer, Ellen’s husband, was a farmer at Glynbrochan near Llanidloes, where they lived for sixty years, having a total of four children.
This quilt has been exhibited on many occasions, including The Quilt Association summer show “Reds on the Beds” of 2005, and at The Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham in August 2008.
Appliqué Diamonds Coverlet
Ref: 2009-1-D
This striking appliqué coverlet was donated by a Cheshire family along with several other textile items. The Quilt Association has since bought a wholecloth quilt from the same family which you can view here.
The coverlet (2045 x 1883mm) in red, white and blue, is made of cotton, mostly plain weave, with a strip of white twill at the top and bottom. It features both applique and patchwork techniques. Red triangles and blue strips have been sewn onto white squares along one edge and then flipped over. The other edges have been turned under and slip-stitched into place.
There is no wadding, but the coverlet has been hand-quilted in the ditch in white thread to hold the two sides together. The edges are butted. It was obviously a much-loved and used piece, as the fabrics have faded through repeated washing.
Appliqué Flowers & Patchwork Coverlet
Ref: 2009-1-F
This is one of a series of coverlets donated by a Cheshire family in 2009. The Quilt Association has since bought a wholecloth quilt from the same family which you can view here.
The central medallion of this large coverlet (2125 x 2065mm) is an appliqué floral wreath (a red and black geometric pattern with a beige and red floral pattern), with patchwork around the edges. It is all hand-sewn.
The fabrics used are mid to late 19th century shirting and dress fabrics in cotton in various colours. The two sides of the coverlet are simply held together with white lines of hand quilting. The binding is made of strips sewn on and then turned back with mitred corners.
Harvest Feathers Quilt
Ref: 2002-26
This is a contemporary quilt made by Anja Townrow which she made in 2001 and donated to the Quilt Association in June 2002. It is based on a quilting design from one of her own books, Dutch Flower Pot Quilts which was published in 2001. All of the designs in her book were inspired by the flowers on her mother's window sills in Holland. The name of this particular quilt and the colours used were inspired by the Henry Alexander fabric called Harvest Feathers. It is made using a combination of foundation piecing, curved piecing and appliqué.
The quilt is machine quilted with a variety of metallic threads and is further embellished with small beads for the birds’ eyes. There is cotton wadding and the reverse is a green floral fabric. 1790 x 1793mm.
Ysgol Cedewain School Quilt
Ref: 2016-5
This was made in 2010 by Janet Ball of Rhayader and was presented to Peter Tudor on his retirement as head teacher of Ysgol Cedewain in Newtown, who passed in on to us for safe-keeping in 2016. Made of cotton and polycotton fabrics the quilt has a central horizontal panel which has three sections. In the centre is a panel embellished with appliqued leaves and acorns with the wording ‘great oaks from little acorns grow’ hand stitched in stem stitch. The panels on either side depict children in outside scenes – on in a forest, the other by a lake with mountains in the distance – which have been appliqued. Each panel has a red border and below the panels are the words ‘the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt within the heart.’
Above and below the central panel on a white background are the signatures and some messages written in felt tip pen. The whole quilt has a border of black fabric with gold stars on. There is a wadding of thin polyester and the reverse which has a central panel of plain cream fabric and above and below are pieces of white fabric with a spattered pattern in red and blue. The applique stitching in the centre of the top goes through all three layers to hold the quilt together and there is also some zigzag stitching around some of the signatures through all of the layers. On the reverse is a label which states ‘ A big thank you to headmaster Peter Tudor from all at Ysgol Cedewain 2010. Made by Janet Ball, Rhayader, Wales.’ 1690mm x 1680mm.
Flower Basket Appliqué
Ref: 2017-9
This striking quilt, which was probably made some time during the 1920s, was purchased by the donor at a bargain price via ebay. Made of lightweight cotton, the top features four flower basket designs in green, yellow and pink appliquéd onto a cream background. The wadding is possibly of kapok and the reverse is a very thin piece of cream cotton. The layers have been hand quilted together and the stitching is done to a high standard in a cream cotton thread. The flower baskets have outline quilting around them initially and then the rest of the background is quilted using a trellis design. A good example of hand appliqué. 2000mm x 1770mm.
Rare Welsh Appliqué Quilt
Ref: 2020-1
Purchased by the Quilt Association in 2020, this is a rare example of a Welsh appliqué quilt. It was made around 1890 in Cardiganshire .
Appliqué is mostly used in Welsh quilts only as an addition; whole appliqué quilts are a very rare find. Made from cotton fabrics, the top has a white background made from blocks onto which onto which has been appliquéd a tulip pattern of red and orange flowers with green stems and leaves. The reverse is plain white cotton fabric. The very fine hand quilting is in the traditional Welsh style and has a circular medallion with spirals, small flowers and wavy lines. Despite its age, this quilt is in excellent condition and the colours are still clear and vivid.
2180mm x 2160mm
Cigarette Silks Quilt
Ref: 2020- 2
This is a quilt appliquéd with cigarette silks on a floral theme. The background of forget-me-not blue rayon has been appliqued with a variety of small cigarette silks, some of which form a central medallion and others form a border. There are also others scattered randomly.
The quilt has a binding of a darker blue and the quilt is machine quilted in a diamond pattern.
Cigarette silks were given away free by tobacco manufacturers, firstly in the USA between 1905 and 1917, but also by twenty British tobacco manufacturers at the start of the First World War Their use had faded out by the mid-1920s, except for a small resurgence in 1933-4. Smaller ones came in packets of cigarettes, larger ones could be obtained by collecting tokens. The tobacco manufacturers used them to persuade women to smoke or to persuade women to encourage men to have brand loyalty.
Pinwheel Quilt
Ref: 2022-11
Probably made during the 1950s, this quilt is made from cotton and cotton sateen, mainly dressmaking fabrics. There are twenty-four blocks in 6 rows of four. Each block has a hand appliquéd pinwheel on a white background. The pinwheels are in a variety of colours and in a mixture of plain and patterned fabrics. The blocks, and the pink sashing which joins them have been joined by machine.
There is some rudimentary hand stitched shadow quilting around each pinwheel and a zigzag pattern across the sashing. The reverse and hand stitched binding are in the same fabric as the sashing. The wadding is probably cotton waste – it’s very thin and lumpy. 1560mm x 1860mm.