Sandie Lush Exhibition, Lampeter, 2016

This was a lovely exhibition displaying a selection of cot quilts all made using just 3 quilting motifs taken from a vintage Welsh quilt.  The artist's statement follows:

Sandie has always been interested in crafts and for many years spent her spare time both hand and machine knitting, making crochet lace and working counted thread cross stitch designs.  She had never seen a patchwork quilt until moving to New York in the early 1980s and it was another ten years before she attempted to make one herself.  Initially interested in machine piecing, she regarded hand quilting as a chore.  However, seeing a wholecloth quilt at a quilt show was a revelation and soon she was designing and stitching her own wholecloth quilts.  Without the need to stitch over bulky patchwork, hand quilting became the love of her life.

Sandie's first wholecloth quilts were all inspired by Amy Emms and her flowing feather designs traditional to North Country quilts.  It was several years before Sandie discovered that traditional Welsh wholecloth designs were very different.  Their infinite variety and sculptural quality made them much more of a challenge to design.  It was love at first sight.

This collection of cot-sized quilts was inspired by two motifs used to make her quilt, Yn y Pinc in 2002.  The original quilt was in reality more akin to the Durham quilts, albeit using two Welsh motofs; a cable known as Welsh Trail and a paisley pear motif taken from the cover of a traditional quilt group newsletter.  It was several years later that Sandie discovered that the paisley had been copied from a quilt in Jen's (Jen Jones) collection made by Mrs May Thomas at the turn of the 20th century.  Mrs Thomas's quilt and her novel paisley design inspired Sandie to try to create as many designs as possible using this motif.  the decision to limit herself to only a few additional motifs added to the challenge.

The project started slowly.  Yn y Pinc was made in 2002 but the idea for a series of quilts lay fallow for another ten years.  Sandie created two quilts in 2012 and then one in each of the following two years.  It was following a conversation with Jen in June 2015 that the project really sparked into life.  In the following seven months Sandie designed and had stitched another 18 cot-sized quilts as well as a small pram quilt.  Her original intention was to make 12 quilts, but new fabrics were found, the ideas kept flowing and Sandie kept stitching.  Sadly, making all these new quilts has not even made a dent in her fabric stash!