Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2021 – #11

 

 

 

This early example of a Welsh quilt is a wonderfully graphic and balanced pieced composition that skillfully uses value to great effect.  The plain backing allows us to appreciate the many motifs and the layout of the quilting design that remained so common in Welsh quilts.  There are a number of quilts from this period that have flowering pots as the central motif, likely an indication of the house and level of society the quilts came from.  Pre-1850 Welsh quilts were mostly cotton patchwork or silk quilts and mostly in the larger homes and not in farm or village houses, where homespun blankets would have been used.

 

By the early 19^th century, distinctive welsh quilting motifs had evolved.  The museum listing notes the following motifs used in this quilt:  “central motif of large flowering pot plant, decorated with leaves, spirals, tulips, flowers and hearts, on a rectangular trellis ground with a flowering plant in each corner. Wide inner border of triangles filled with alternating hearts and spiral and flower motifs, with trellis in corner squares. Outer border of large veined leaves, filled with tulips, petalled flowers and spirals, and corner squares filled with petalled flowers and spirals.”

 

It’s the tiny pots in each of the corners of the central medallion that are just so adorable. And the addition of delightful little dots as fill. And what about those border tulips with spiral adornments!