Collecting EB

As you know I am a china buff and am particularly fond of spongeware and love EB - that's Emma Bridgewater to those of you unaware of my addiction!   Well last week was a big three days at the factory in Stoke on Trent as the annual Collectors' Open Days took place.

Fans from all over the country (and some from abroad) descended on Stoke, where very special one-off pieces created by the sponge decorators were for sale and lots of factory activities with food and music thrown in - there was even quilt making! The pictures above show the plan of events, drawn by Matthew Rice and everyone enjoying their lunch last Thursday - look at all that EB Polka Dot!

Sadly I haven't managed to get to one of these days yet but follow all the excitement on Facebook, a great way to feel involved but not spend any money!

This is a picture of the corner of my living room with some of my collection, together with my beautiful new vase, not EB but a birthday present bought at at the craft gallery at the Brewery Arts Centre in the centre of Cirencester.  I used to visit it regurlarly at one time but many years have passed and things have changed there, but for the better as it has been enlarged.  There are some lovely things to buy and it is is a great place for meeting friends and snacking in their cafe.

Tea in the garden on a little Welsh quilt

This week has been very hectic as we have been filming video demonstrations for my ebook which is to be launched at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham next month.

I have developed my own way of working based on how I believe 19th century Welsh quilters worked   We don't really know how they did things because almost nothing has been recorded, so there is a great deal of guess work involved. I like to think that I quilt in an ''organic" way (new word for quilting), in that I mark my quilting patterns as I go along and use very simple tools to form my motifs as the old quilters did and I will be demonstrating this in the videos.

We had great fun styling the shots and this is a picture of one of the projects together with one of my little tea sets.

Portrait of a Stuart Lady c .1611

I love portraits and if I was as wealthy as Andrew Lloyd Webber, I wouldn't bother with the Pre Ralphalites,  I would be collecting pictures like this one, which has just sold at Christies for £1,721,250.

It is a full-length portrait of Frances Howard, Countess of Hertford, later Duchess of Lennox and Richmond, in a masquerade dress with a wreath of pansies in her hair which was painted by Macus Gheeraerts II in 1611.

For an textile person who particularly loves 17th century embroidery, this picture is full of goodies.  Just look at the wonderful dress with a bodice richly embroidered with roses and pansies in the typical style of time, together with that intricate lace around quite a daring neckline and then the cuffs!  Just imagine the work that went into each piece. Then there is the velvet and brocade 'thingy' (non-technical term) draped over one shoulder and the skirt intricately embroidered with spangles which would have shimmered in the candle light as she moved.

Portraits like this one were all about showing the wealth and status of the sitter and every item included is full of significance. Oh I would love to talk it through with someone who understood - maybe Philip Mould of Antiques Road Show fame, but maybe he's bought it, it's very much his thing?
http://www.philipmould.com/aboutus.php

Well who was she?  She was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I, married at thirteen and considered one of the beauties of the Stuart court and painted by other artists including Van Dyck in 1633.  She married three times but didn't seem to have produced any living children but did accumulate great wealth.

 

A much more sombre outfit in this portrait, obviously now in widow's weeds.  She died in 1639 and was buried in Westminister Abbey next to her third husband.  As there were no children, the title of Duke of Lennox was passed to a younger brother and the Richmond part became extinct, but Frances was still known as the Duchess of Richmond.

Now you on the other side of the pond will probably know about this, apparently she was a patron of Captain John Smith of the Virginia Colony and gave him financial support.  Is Richmond, Virginia named after her or her husband?  If so, maybe some rich Virginian might have been interested in buying the portrait?  However there would be problems as an export license would be difficult to obtain.  I would love to know what will happen to it!

The orginal Daylesford

When browsing blogs,  I sometimes get confused with place names as so many are taken from towns and villages here in the UK.  For example just before I went on holiday, I saw a post entitled "Return to Daylesford" and immediately clicked on it.  It wasn't "my" Daylesford but one in Australia - very confusing!  However it gave me the idea to share with you one of the places I enjoy visiting.

My Daylesford is a most fabulous organic farm shop in the Cotswolds.  It is very expensive, as all the great and the good with weekend homes in that up-market area of the North Cotswolds, shop there. I'm talking about Kate Moss, Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley etc.  I go just to have a cup of coffee and look!

It is the brain child of Lady Bamford whose husband's company is JCB.  Apparently she was inspired by the Duchess of Devonshire's farm shop at Chatsworth and decided to open one herself.  However, when I visited her inspiration last week I thought it very different.  It is a much more practical and work-a-day set up and I could actually imagine myself using is regularly if I lived near, Daylesford is a much more decorative establishment -

This is the original - Daylesford House, where Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford now live.

It was a medieval manor house but was remodelled in 1788 for Warren Hastings, who had been the Governor General of India.  It has had other well known and wealthy owners since. Viscount Rothermere, the newspaper magnate, restored the house with the help of the interior decorator John Fowler, and Baron Heinrich Thyssen also lived there for many years. 

I would love to have a peep inside but it's not open to the public, so have to content myself with visiting the Farm shop, which is uber stylish!
http://www.daylesfordorganic.com/engine/shop/page/our+shops

After a holiday - hard at work!

I have returned from my lovely holiday in the Peak District and have lots to tell.  The cottage we stayed in was as delightful as it's picture.  A true Georgian one, built in 1806 and beautifully restored, surrounded by wonderful countryside. A perfect place for active walkers but a bit wasted on us rather more sedate house and garden ramblers.

It had a rather scary Aga type cooker which we found really frightening and by the end of our week ended up eating a cold collation bought at the wonderful Chatsworth Farm Shop - even in deepest Derbyshire I can track down good ready made meals!  No doubt we would have got the hang of it eventually but it was quite an experience!

After the Lord Mayor's Show etc., now I have to get down to work and finish all the odds and ends for the BOOK which is being launched at the Festival of Quilts in August.  We still have to do some video inserts so I have to do some preparation for that.

The above picture is from the book - the easiest project - just to get started on the Welsh way of quilting.  Do you like my Welsh teddy which I bought at Jen's?  He's called Chuck - I don't know why, it just seemed appropriate at the time!

In my absence

This blog is beginning to read like a guide book of places in the UK, but summer is my time for travelling about and I can't resist sharing some of my visits with you.

As you read this I will be in Derbyshire staying in a delightful cottage - at least I hope it will be delightful, I will report back!

I can't wait to see some of the places on our itinerary, places I have longed to see, such as Chatsworth and Haddon Hall, not to mention more lovely gardens.

Will write soon!

A very famous Welsh Folk Art quilt

This coverlet created in 1842 by James Williams, a Wrexham tailor was featured in our book MAKING WELSH QUILTS.

It is such a famous piece that I wasn't certain about featuring it yet again and of course it is not a quilt but a coverlet.  It is also a complete one-off and unlike any other Welsh quilt that I know of. However, my friend Philip said that no book on Welsh quilts would be complete without it - it must go in he said and he was of course right.

We were very fortunate that we were allowed to exhibit it in our gallery of Welsh quilts at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in 2007 and it was also on show last year at the V&A Exhibition.  When we Welsh "girls" stood in front of it at the exhibition we felt so proud, we wanted to shout out to everyone that it was WELSH as well as fabulous.

In my opinion it is the best folk art quilt ever!  Every time I study it, I marvel at the workmanship, the dedication of its maker and the time it took to make and where did he start?  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we knew how he went about it because I certainly can't work it out!