Have you heard of the Magna Carta Quilt Association? If not you can go to their website. If you go there, you will find out that
"The Magna Carta Quilters are a group of quilters living near or having an association with Runnymede in England. The sole purpose of the Magna Carta Quilters is to create a series of eight quilts to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 A.D." The Magna Carta Quilts are 8 quilts which measure 60" x 80". It will be 4 Medieval Quilts (YAY) and 4 Legacy Quilts and when put together they will measure 30' long by 5' wide and 7' tall. Even if I wasn't a nut for medieval and history stuff, these quilts would take my breath away.
Be still my heart because the first quilts that I saw walking into the Festival was the Magna C arta Quilts. I was looking forward to seeing them and was overjoyed that I didn't have to "hunt' for them. It totally set my mood for the rest of the day. Even better, this year the International Quilt Festival had a tour for them so that people could find out more from the experts.
Speaking of Experts, One of them is Paula Doyle. I had the pleasure of meeting her.
"The four Medieval Quilts will tell the story of the Magna Carta in a graphic novel style based on 13th century illuminated manuscripts. The panels are being done with a combination of appliqué and embroidery in rich coloured fabrics and threads. The story starts with the death of Richard the Lionheart, which lead to the ascension of his brother John to the throne of England, runs through the events leading up to the sealing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede on June 15th, 1215, then beyond to the ascension of King Henry III, John's son, in 1217. The Magna Carta was the first document ever imposed upon a King of England , King John, by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights. The charter is widely known throughout the English speaking world. influencing the early settlers in New England and inspiring later constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution. The borders of the Medieval Quilts are based on 13th century encaustic floor tiles from Winchester Cathedral. There is one tile design for each letter of the alphabet, so the borders will spell out the message of the "Golden" Clause in the Magna Carta, which is the one that talks about Human Rights."
"The four Legacy Quilts in the series will show four oak trees appliquéd onto a background of hexagons. The hexagons represent traditional English patchwork as well as paying homage to the fact that the meadow of Runnymede was cultivated for bee keeping since Neolithic times, around 3000 BC. At the base of each oak tree will be the shields of the 25 feudal barons who drew up the terms of the Magna Carta, and the leaves of the oak tree will depict images and quotes from some of the key figures in the field of Human Rights, such as Abraham Lincoln, Carrie Nation, and Mother Teresa"
The back side of the quilts is the Thames Mosaic, which shows a pixilated outline of the stretch of the River Thames between Windsor and Staines,
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| This was part of the back. |
More details are found on their website which is also where I found my information in quotation marks.
More pictures will be posted throughout the week so stayed tuned.
2 comments:
Beautiful Thanks for sharing .
Very cool - I was a bit confused at first, as everything was past tense, but I see from the website that the quilts are obviously completed, and scale models have also been made. Were they the genuine quilts you saw displayed, or the scale models? I can't imagine them ever making it down to NZ for display!
sue:)
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