Visit to Calico Kate and the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter, West Wales - Plan your visit!

 On our trip to West Wales we enjoyed driving through stunning valleys along roads fringed with daffodils. The blue skies and unbroken sunshine made the Welsh landscape more dramatic than my previous memories of our last visit which was pre-Covid.

The plan was to visit Calico Kate's quilt shop and then to a customer to service her Amara so a two-day trip. What we hadn't appreciated was that the Welsh Quilt Centre had recently re-opened and it's located only two doors down from Calico Kate's shop. Things were getting better and better!

You can find out more about Calico Kate's shop by watching the  YouTube video. These are photos of the inside of Kate's shop.

Kate has recently purchased a Handi Quilter Moxie and describes how she is looking forward to learning new skills in longarm quilting.



High Street Lampeter - Calico Kate

The proscenium arch that is Calico Kate's window display

Lovely post by Kate about Helen's quilt and Pinhole Quilting!

Calico Kate on the High Street Lampeter. Next door is a tea shop and then the Quilt Museum

Pete and Kate - welcome to a joyful and bright fabric shop!!

A recent finish by Helen Burnham showing how she zig zags the edges to keep the edges consistent prior to binding

Top floor cutting room, Japanese fabrics, retro and 50's

Janet Clare and more!

Janet Clare and more!

Janet Clare and more!




Children's and novelty fabrics

Fun sheep - so appropriate for Wales!

Tilda Fabrics

Tilda Fabrics

Helen in the Kaffe Fassett area

Kilmt closeup quilted by Helen Burnham on her Handi Quilter Moxie

Kilmt closeup quilted by Helen Burnham on her Handi Quilter Moxie

Kilmt closeup quilted by Helen Burnham on her Handi Quilter Moxie

Kilmt closeup quilted by Helen Burnham on her Handi Quilter Moxie

Lots of Haberdashery, Thread and Wool supplies

Quilt Eat Sleep & Repeat

Kate of Calio Kate




Exhibition on until Christmas Eve 2022


Here is a selection of quilts from the Exhibition. They have a lovely book that accompanies the exhibition that tells you more about some of the quilts.


 


Bold applique - a variation of Rose of Sharon. Hand quilted. Traditional folk art piece.







I particularly loved this Victorian purples patchwork. From Queen Victoria's half mourning period. Stunning piece.


Traditional welsh quilt made as part of the Rural Industries Bureau scheme








We thought the two above were modern quilts (perhaps a Kaffe Fassett fabric in the centre of the one on the left) only to find that they were made around 1910 by Mrs Annie Davies. She lived above a drapers shop in Aberystwyth. She probably used offcuts from the drapers. The striking fabric on the inner central pinwheel really creates a "zany design" as the catalogue calls it!





Grandma's garden quilt. Silk and velvets made by a lady in Neath just prior to emigrating to Canada at the end of the 19th century. She made it as a keepsake. The papers were left in and can be seen through some of the fabrics that have faded away.






Paisley Pageant Exhibition by Sandie Lush

This is Sandie Lush's third series of hand quilted Welsh cot quilts. It's based on paisley patterns and variations from an original prize-winning quilt by Mrs May Thomas in 1901.

Sandie's work has always been a big draw for me - I've met Sandie over the years from Cabot Quilting conferences I attended in the 1990s and at various quilt shows over the years where her hand quilting quite often took the top prizes (along with a few other significant well-known hand quilters who have preserved this quilt form at a high level).

It was fantastic to see how Sandie has produced another body of work around a traditional design and theme.










We hope this has given you a taster of Calico Kate's Shop and the Quilt Museum. Plus don't miss contacting Jen Jones for Antique Quilts and Blankets in her 18th century cottage shop.

Find out more on the following links:











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