The Cottage Orné Quilt

The Cottage Orné Quilt
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Monday 30 December 2013

Fabulous quilt - what does it remind me of?

It is only in recent years that I have appreciated Amish quilts.  In my early quilting years, though I appreciated their impact and workmanship, I really preferred mixed print quilts, as not only do I love mixing prints in the quilts I make, but enjoy studying them in old quilts.  I still feel this way and think that imaginative use of printed fabric is under-estimated. Now of course, with the proliferation of specifically designed fabric ranges, quilters can take the easy option and don't have to cudgel their brains which I am sad about!  Mixing prints yourself is the best fun!

Ah well, off the soap box, let's just look at this beauty!



It's recently sold at auction, listed as an Amish 16 patch and my first thoughts on seeing it was that it reminded me of some of my favourite Welsh blankets -


The above is one in the Jen Jones Collection on display at the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter.  The one below being used on a chair is in the Welsh home of the Prince of Wales -


His decorator is his sister-in-law, Annabel Elliot, whose work I admire tremendously.  She has a great love of old textiles and uses them extensively in her work. HRH has some nice examples in his Welsh farmhouse, both quilts and blankets, sometimes, as here, covering a chair and sometimes a table or bed.

Welsh blankets are fashionable at the moment.  Many new designs are being produced as they seem to chime with the spare look that many designers are favouring now and you see them appearing in decorating magazines in differing ways.

While I was doing picture research for this post, I came across these beautiful old ones -



 

Wishing you warm greetings and a happy and healthy New Year from a wet and windy Wales!



3 comments:

Susan Briscoe said...

Love that Amish quilt. A lot of the Japanese cotton tsumugi cloth I use reminds me so much of Welsh blankets and flannels...

Hester said...

Hello, I saw this quilt in the Elsas last Septmber, Carrefour du patchwork 2013, in St. Marie aux mines. At the shop of Labour of love. It is a dramatic quilt, as we say here. The colors are so beautiful. I was in love of this quilt and go back 3 times to look and make more photo's.

Hava a nice day,

Hester Goossens

Stacey said...

Thank you for posting a photo of this quilt, recently I found a quilt in an antique store in Australia using this exact pattern….unfortunately it's condition is not as good, but it has been very interesting seeing another one in the same pattern! I have blogged about at http://funfabricquilts.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/omg-is-that-quilt.html if you would like to see the quilt in different colours.