OLD PATCHWORK QUILTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22030, 9 February 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

OLD PATCHWORK QUILTS

BECOME AGAIN THE MODE ]f you, have an old patchwork quilt, deep in musty dreams under somebody's wedding di'ess, dig it out of its hiding place, air it and press it, and fling it on your'bed. For old-fashioned quilts are the new-fashioned rjuilts, and there is no touch quite so modern in the present-day bedroom as that lovely relic of grandmother's time. It is the story of English women from Elizabeth's time; the story of their thoughts and hopes and dreams as well as the skill of their fingers. For a quilt will tell no tales, and into it may safely go all the thirst for adventure and the hunger for beauty that hardworking, secluded women cannot satisfy. And it is a story 'that is not finished yet, for.to-day there are women still putting all the art that is theirs into the making of beautiful and coloured quilts, devising their own patterns.

It may seem to be a poor substitute, this vicarious adventuring instead of the real thing, but the thrill of playing with colours, of creating new patterns for them, of putting blue where everyone else puts yellow, of doing the unexpected,, the novel, the daring thing, with bits of cloth and a needle and thread, is a thrill just the same, and artistically satisfying, however humble it sounds. And there is no need to apologise for the humbleness of quilt making, for in the world of handicraft it has a high and-honourable position.