Patchwork & Quilting Exhibition at Radstock Museum

This the third major quilting exhibition arranged by Midsomer Quilting and hosted by Radstock Museum, has now started, and will run until May 31st (for times of opening and so on please see www.radstockmuseum.co.uk).

Visitors to the previous exhibitions - in 2007 and 2009 - have been exceedingly complimentary about the scope and quality of the work displayed. One visitor, from Stourbridge (a round trip of over 200 miles), came three times to the first exhibition and wrote:  I go to every quilt show that I can and I've never seen better than this - in fact this is the best I've seen. She came to the second exhibition, too, and said: Fantastic. I didn’t think it could be better than last time - but it is.

The stories behind the quilts are always interesting and often fascinating and a brochure (£1.50) will be available with details of all 225 quilts on show. For example, the notes for a silk Grandmother’s Garden quilt, that is as fresh and vibrant today as it was when it was made, read:  This quilt was made by my great grandmother, who was born Anna Maria Cradock, near Hemington, on 6th February, 1836. In 1856 she married my great-grandfather, John Edgell, in Hemington, two and a half miles from the museum. In 1760 they moved to Foxcote Farm where they had three sons and two daughters, of whom my grandmother, also called Anna, was the only one to marry. Grandmother was the youngest of the children and was only 11 when her mother died. We believe this is why my great-grandmother’s quilt was unfinished and was stored (together with her wedding dress) in the large wooden chest that has housed it for the past 130 years.  

                                  

Anna Maria’s wedding dress and family bible will also be displayed. Anna’s wonderful quilt is just one of several antique quilts on show. This quilt, like everything else on display, was lent or made by MQ customers or teachers who include at the time of printing Alicia Merrett, Anya Townrow, Chris Porter, Dawn Cameron-Dick, Gail Lawther, Jenny Raiment and Pauline Ineson.  Sizes range from 12” x 12” (including some made for MQ by members of the international Twelve x Twelve group) to 108” square.

The overall standard of quilting is exceptionally high and has been compared favourably with work shown at national exhibitions, both here and abroad:  . . . designs and workmanship to rival quilts seen at NEC and Houston.

One lady came from France especially to see the first exhibition and, having seen it, left, bought a toothbrush, found bed and breakfast and returned the next day for a second viewing! . . . it was absolutely worthwhile. It's amazing.  And following the last exhibition, in 2009, a German visitor emailed the Museum to say: To see this exhibition and meet with exceptionally welcoming friendliness was certainly the highlight of my two week’s holiday in England. When is the next one?  



Lynne Quinn’s international award winning quilt A Future and a Hope was first seen at Midsomer Quilting’s last exhibition at the museum

At our request Midsomer Quilting will not be trading at the exhibition but if you would like to shop as well as visiting the exhibition then Midsomer Quilting - just three miles away in Chilcompton - is always open between 10am and 4pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays (10.30am) and Mondays can always open by advance arrangement for visiting groups.