Welsh Blankets and Amish quilting

"Unnamed Pattern" circa 1930, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania 70 X 70

There are many similarities between early Welsh quilting and the Amish patterns and the exact reasons for this aren't totally clear to me yet (need to look into it more but there is some talk of the Amish passing through Wales on their way to Pennsylvania). I will show some clearer examples of this in a later post but I just wanted to quickly put up this interesting comparison of an Amish quilt and Welsh Tapestry blankets. This quilt is currently on show in the Amish Abstractions exhibition in San Fransisco. Jen Jones sells many wonderful quilts and blankets from her gallery in Wales. This blanket is currently on sale in her shop. Many of these designs date from the 19th century.