This story has roots that go back years. I've a book called 'Contemporary Quilts', first published back in 1994. It is, as the title suggests, about modern quilting, and despite it being a slim volume it manages to pack in a lot of inspiring photographs. The quilts are a mix of abstract and figurative, and two in particular caught my eye. One - which has nothing to do with this blog post - was by Deirdre Amsden, and if you haven't seen her Colourwash series of quilts then do yourself a favour and google 'em. The other was a glorious quilt by Ulva Ugerup, from Lund in Sweden. She'd sewn a stunning wall hanging, 175 x 150cm (that's 70 x 60 inches), with a scrappy background and lots of machine embroidery. The 'Girls of Glory' wall hanging features 90 'girls' who are remarkable for many reasons. We've everyone from Mary Wollstonecraft, Sonia Delaunay, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Edith Sitwell, Golda Meir and Aphra Behn. I've alw...