Going through my photos

I am spending some time going through my photos and trying to decide what I want to do with them. Here are a few from our visit to Lancaster, the area where you can see LOTS of quilts. We started off at the Amish Quilt museum (I'm not sure if that is its actual name but that will do). I was once again surprised that we were allowed to take photos.


There were some beautiful quilts and explanations of how the traditional Amish quilts are made and why they are like they are. Most of the quilts on show had exceptions to the traditional style, I don't think I saw one that was totally in traditional style.

We then walked around and had a look at some of the shops that sell quilts and supplies. It was amazing. I have never seen so many quilts for sale in the one place. It made me realise that I don't actually know where I would go here in Melbourne if I wanted to buy a quilt. All the quilt shops here sell supplies for making your own but you rarely see quilts actually for sale.
I have discussed this with friends both in the USA and here and we have come to the conclusion that it is not as cold in Australia, so we have not had the historic need to have such warm bedding.


However, that does not mean to say that we don't have a history of quilt making. There is a very interesting site that gives quite a good overview of Australian Quilt history. Here is the link to the National Quilt Register. It has some fascinating stories about the women who migrated to Australia and lived in difficult circumstances and still managed to make these amazing quilts. It is an interesting view of Australian history from a very different perspective from the one I was taught at school.