INSPIRED BY WELSH QUILTS
These mini quilts are part of a challenge that I am documenting in my Fabric Paint Sitch membership.
The scraps are from a few Welsh inspired pieces that I have done over the years and I thought you may enjoy seeing them here.
My desire to use the traditional red and black quilts began when I set a challenge to my Quilters Guild region to make a small quilt referencing these quilts, and memories of St Davids Day which is celebrated here in Wales.
After completing the above I was drawn to make the following three pieces.
DIM SIARAD CYMRAEG I
Translated the title means ‘I don’t speak Welsh’ which was/is a comment on my situation as a Welsh born person living in Wales who does not speak the language.
I am of an age when I was not compelled to learn Welsh in school as it was seen as a dying language. By the time I had graduated the view had changed. I couldn’t get a job teaching in my home town of Cardiff because I wasn’t a Welsh speaker.
DIM SIARAD CYMRAEG II
I could go on about the politics of identity and language, but all I will say is that for a long time, despite being born in Wales, it seemed unlikely that I had any Welsh blood in me. An Ancestry DNA test has relieved that there is some in there after all.
DIM SIARAD CYMRAEG III
This unfinished piece below is the result of being struck by this image of the Ceredigion Star Quilt, that came to me in an email one morning.
There was something about it that struck me, and I spent the rest of the day putting this together. It has a mixture of painted, eco dyed and commercially dyed fabric that I had purchased for kit backings.I don’t know if I will ever do anything else with it, but it does give me pleasure everytime I look at it.
Last but not least, is this little mini piece that I called *Cariad.
It was a bit of an experiment as it is whole cloth with the elements stenciled on, apart from the heart which is fused applique.
*Cariad -used as a term of endearment, meaning love, darking, sweetheart.
Is there a traditional style of quilt that you are drawn to?
Have you been compelled to make one in your own style?
Let me know in the comments.