Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Welsh Quilts

The other day I picked up an old Victoria magazine to read. I still have a few scattered around the house. They never, ever go out of style.
This particular issue was March, 1995. Over twenty years ago! I'm feeling a bit nostalgic.
This was when Nancy Lindemeyer was the magazine's editor. Remember her friendly but elegant style?
And before I launch into Welsh quilts, just look at this!!! Back in March of 1995, they invited readers to Bloomingdale's in NYC to meet Tasha Tudor, who would be there drawing and reading to them in the children's department. Can you imagine? Oh, I wish!! Now Tasha is gone. Nancy Lindemeyer is gone from Victoria. Time marches on and life changes, and sometimes it is not for the better.
Well, as I glanced at the magazine's cover, I noticed an article about Welsh quilts. My blogging friend Dasha is a quilter extraordinaire, and she derives such pleasure from quilting. I do not quilt. I wish I did.
I tried quilting once about 27 years ago. I know it was 27 years ago because my first nephew was a baby, and I wanted to make him a baby quilt. I did try. I cut fabric and sewed a few pieces together and made a stack of stars. Many years later I forced myself to finish the quilt, which was very ugly. I never gave it to him or any baby. It's around here somewhere, unused. I learned a valuable lesson about quilting: Do NOT use random pieces of fabric you have lying about the house to finish a quilt. They will match in neither color nor texture the lovely quilt stars you made so carefully a decade before.
On to Welsh quilts and why I think they may be my answer to quilting angst!
Apparently Welsh quilts are solid single pieces of fabric on both sides -- no cutting and piecing and making little two-inch seams. No worries about the fabrics looking good together. The secret to Welsh quilts is apparently the intricate stitching.
If you go to Google and type in "Welsh quilts" you'll see many lovely varieties of these solid quilts with so many lovely stitching rows, or perhaps a floral fabric, with that same stitching. I think I could enjoy this particular type of quilting. The idea of lots of curly stitching appeals to me. So maybe ... maybe ... I'll quilt again someday?

4 comments:

Lisa Richards said...

I'm with you! That sounds like my kind of quilt, too. It's the hand stitching that I think would be satisfying. And so many pretty fabrics to choose from!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

The straight line stitching reminds me of Kantha stitched quilts. That's what my next quilt will be...Kantha stitched...Kantha is Indian stitched quilts...beautiful and so easy even I can do it -lol.

Dasha said...

I'm blushing! "Quilter extraordinaire" I definitely am not. Thank you my lovely friend for the complement. Hugs. db xx

happyone said...

I'm not a quilter but I love them all. : )