Anyway, here are a couple pictures. The picture on top shows the outer border before quilting, the lower picture shows the quilting and other details of the patterns that make up the design. As I've said before, the color difference is due to the way the cotton sateen is woven. The light reflects differently off the sateen when it's turned 90 degrees. The color variation isn't usually noticeable but will show up in pictures. The top photo is the color of the sateen in normal lighting.
The lower picture shows a variety of patterns in one of the corners of the quilt. The challenge of combining patterns into designs seems to be getting the right mix of contrast between patterns. I try to get a mix of straight lines and curves such as spirals (snails). I also try to mix smaller patterns with larger ones. In the early days of figuring out Welsh quilts, I designed and quilted a pillow top which was visually boring. Eventually I figured out that all the patterns were the same size and even the space between the lines of quilting were the same. It was a good lesson for me.
A really easy way to add interest to a quilt design is to add small patterns to simply fill up space. An example of this is the loops that sort of hang down between the church window pattern. If you look closely at Welsh quilts, you'll see lots of examples of these little patterns and from what I understand, they served a double purpose... they added extra detail to the overall quilt design but also served to hold the wool batting (wadding) in place.
On the lower left of the bottom picture is a corner with a circle pattern. The circle is repeated and an 'X' has been quilted across the center. The double lines of the circle and the 'X' make the very simple circle more visually interesting. A plain circle would've been boring. It's also noticeable that the circles were marked free-hand rather than using a template. I'm doing a lot of free-hand marking these days because I think it is more interesting which reflects a more modern attitude on my part but this attitude wasn't traditional. Traditionally, the quality of the design was important but when Welsh quilters of the late 19th century quilted on popular floral cotton fabrics, the floral prints made it easy to get sloppy with the pattern marking and this period of quilting on floral prints has been blamed by some Welsh quilt historians for causing a decline in the standard of Welsh quilting pattern and design. For me, I enjoy the softer lines I get with free-hand marking but it wasn't always that way. I've had to learn to loosen up with my marking.
So, now to dig out the pink and green strippy from the cupboard and show you what Welsh quilting can look like when done in a hurry or in the dark. It's interesting to say the least.
