If you’ve been following along with our newsletter for a while, you’ll know this year is our 40th Birthday and we have decided to give away a birthday present to one of our newsletter readers each quarter. Each gift has a connection to a piece from The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection, collected during one of the four decades of our existence. 

Our birthday gift for the fourth quarter is the beautiful book Kaffe Fassett’s Heritage Quilts, published by Rowan. This sumptuous book features 20 designs from Rowan for patchwork and quilting, based on a selection of quilts from The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection spanning three decades of quilt making.

This book includes a quilt design based on the Ridehalgh Quilt, 1860-1890. Acquired by The Guild in 2011, our fourth decade of collecting, this mosaic patchwork is made from rich silk, brocade and velvet, and each individual piece has been outlined in gold silk braid. The small pieces have all been hand sewn over paper templates, making the construction of this elaborate quilt very time consuming. It is backed with a paisley design cotton and red wool reverse which has been quilted in a chevron design to a central cotton wadding. It was made for Colonel J. M. Ridehalgh and his wife, of Fell Foot House and estate in the Lake District, supposedly as a gift from their female domestic servants.

Ridehalgh Quilt, 1860-1890, The Quilters’ Guild Museum Collection.

“I was attracted by this vintage quilt because of the charming choice of fabrics. I didn’t realise at first that it was arranged in groups of four snowballs in the same print. The crosses are outlined which adds such a wonderful note. The black ground gives it the appearance of an Indian carved screen.”

Kaffe Fassett

All newsletter subscribers will be automatically entered into the prize draw for this birthday gift. The winner will be drawn at random at the end of October. The Guild’s decision is final and the winner will be notified by email.