Yesterday our group went to the
V & A British Quilt Exhibition. I was blown away by the intesity of the colour of the quilts from the 1700's they would not have looked out of place in a bedroom today and the craftsmanship was incredible. We we not able to take photos and sadly the images online don't do them justice, I need to save up to get the book which went with the exhibition showing every quilt in the exhibition as well as the accompanying story too. The image on the right is the centre-piece of
The Rajah quilt 1841 which is huge and was made on board HMS Rajah by Women convicts on their long journey from England to Australia. The whole thing is made up of handsewn bedsheets and any other materials they could lay their hands on, and was worked on in complete secrecy. It's amazing that it has survived at all. There was also video footage of inmates of Wandsworth Prison who have taken up quilting through a group called
Fine Cell Work their finished quilt 2010 is also part of the exhibition
