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I am a quilter living in Woodbridge, Suffolk who has made quilts since I was a teenager. I also ring bells! Both are great British traditions....I will try to feature some of my antique Welsh and Durham quilts, the quilts I make myself, my quilting activities and also some of my bellringing achievements. Plus as many photos as I can manage. NB: Double click on the photos to see greater detail, then use back button to return to the main page.













Tuesday 15 July 2014

Durham Club Quilt with Spring Flowers and Ribbon Edging


Here is a quilt which makes use of a very attractive fabric....it is cotton sateen with bright and colourful spring flowers. The quilting design is fairly simple, and I suspect that this is an example of a club quilt. There is a central wheel, infill of diamonds and then two borders, a twist and a square petalled flower...


I have not seen this treatment before, the edge of the quilt has had an attractive ribbon with matching colours, top sewn to the edge.


The reverse of the ribbon....


Although an attractive quilt, the stitching is not very fine...only about 4 or 5 stitches per inch...


The plain side of the quilt....you can see the central wheel or flower...


....some of the threads have popped or broken with use....


...a closer look at the flower quilting pattern...


And another look at the bright fabric, with tulips, daffodils, jonquils, irises, bluebells and other spring flowers. 

This quilt came from a house in Oxfordshire and has no provenance.

2 comments:

  1. The bright colors suggest a fairly recent date? I'm not sure what a "club quilt" is?!

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  2. Hi Claire, quilt clubs were formed by quilters in mining areas. About twenty people subscribed, each paying one or two shillings a week. The collected money was used to buy materials foe that weeks quilt. Names were drawn out of a hat to see when each subscriber got their quilt. And early form of hire purchase? The quikts were too much for poor families to buy outright, they cost about a weeks wages. The extra enabled the quilter to eke a living, altho it was hard work with long hours.

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