V&A and Penshurst Place

One of my favorite things to do in London is visit the V&A. I have been many times, and never get tired of it. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit for the quilt exhibition, but I did buy the book from Amazon and have enjoyed looking through it.

This time, I took my daughter, who was patient enough to help me look through the textile samples. I was specifically looking for anything that looked like boutis, or could be related to boutis - and I was not disappointed ! Initially searching through the whitework samples, I didn't find anything, but once I moved to quilting I saw a sample piece that I thought was exactly right and the right time period. It was a pillow cover described as "Cotton quilted with linen, backstitch. English first half of 18th century". It had the typical flowers and vines, plus an unusual star motif. I was thrilled, how did that stitcher find the pattern, know about the cording, and so on ? Please contact me if you can shed some light on this type of stitching in England.

Being English, and loving gardens, I can usually find time to visit a country house with a nice garden, and this visit was no exception. We visited Penshurst Place in Kent, a lovely old home with a beautiful garden. I have been before a number of years ago, but still enjoyed the beautiful house with its antiques and comfortable sense of history

I have almost finished my large boutis piece, more on that at the beginning of next week .....