Cricket Quilts by Linda Seward

FIT TO BE TIED Cricket Quilts by Linda Seward

THE TED DEXTER CRICKET QUILT, 47” x 47”, by Linda Seward. RIGHT: Ted Dexter and author Linda Seward in front of THE TED DEXTER CRICKET QUILT.

I am an American who has been living in England Ted Dexter was captain of England’s cricket team from for 20 years. I’ve tried to assimilate myself into 1962–1965. In England, Ted could be compared to America’s this culture, but there are certain things that I fi nd somewhat Mickey Mantle. Though now retired, he holds a fi rm place in mystifying. Cricket–that English game played on summer the hearts and minds of cricket fans all over the world. afternoons by men dressed all in white–is one of those things. Ted also happens to be an old friend of my husband, but The rules are so arcane that one would have had to be born when the telephone call came, it was completely unexpected. here to fi gure them out; however, cricket is intently followed Ted doesn’t waste words, so even though we hadn’t spoken by fans (mostly men) in every Commonwealth country from for a few years, he came straight to the point. “I have a box England to Pakistan to Australia. of old cricket ties–think you could do something with them?

82 AMERICAN QUILTER Fall 2007

007fall_67-82.indd7fall_67-82.indd 8282 66/6/07/6/07 111:36:271:36:27 AMAM the beautifully embroidered logos featured on the navy ties. Some of the ties were used in more than one block to get variety and also because I didn’t have a huge amount of any one color except navy. In fact, I was quite short on yellow and nicked one of my husband’s ties to compensate. When I took it apart, I discovered the back of the yellow tie was gray so I was able to use the same tie in reverse for the gray cricket ball! This led to using the reverse side of many of the ties for variety. When the blocks were fi nished, I straightened them with a rotary cutter and sewed them together. For a simple yet striking border, I featured some of the wilder ties that hadn’t been used in the center of the quilt. The machine quilting was kept simple, and the quilt was bound with strips cut from plain navy ties. Ted seemed genuinely delighted with the fi nished quilt. Detail, THE TED DEXTER CRICKET QUILT He contacted Mark Williams, the chief executive of the Lord’s Taverners–cricket’s official charity–who decided it Maybe make a quilt?” Surprised by the phone call and his would be a perfect auction prize for their next charity event. direct request, I agreed. Soon a big box arrived. One look It raised $15,000! inside revealed a jumble of ties in a riot of colors, confi rming About a year later, Mark contacted me to say that he that my job had begun. had found another box of ties stashed away. These belonged As I sorted and studied the ties, I noticed the marvelous to Jim Laker, who was also well known in the cricket world. motifs: a pelican holding a cricket bat, kangaroos, snakes, kiwi Jim had bowled a nearly perfect “19 for 90” game in 1956. birds, trees, Big Ben, geese, lions, wickets, and cricket balls. Because 2006 was the 50th anniversary of that game, the Each tie was unique. I then discovered words and phrases Taverners were having a charity lunch to honor his achieve- woven into the ties: England v. Australia Edgbaston 1989, ment. I accepted this second tie challenge and designed a England v. New Zealand 1990, National Cup Winners at quilt to replicate the score of Jim Laker’s game. This quilt was Lords 1984, Calcutta Cricket Club, and many more. I was cer- also auctioned and raised an impressive $10,000 for charity. tain that these words and images would have great signifi cance I’m just waiting for the next box of ties to appear! for anyone who had followed Ted’s career. After spending a few weeks looking at the ties and thinking about how that sport could be integrated into a patchwork quilt, I engaged the services of my 13-year-old daughter to take the ties apart, paying her 10 pence (about 6 cents) per tie. I now had 200 ties in every shape, color, and pattern ready for cutting. Because ties are cut on the bias, they are extremely stretchy once taken apart and must be sewn to a base. An off-center Log Cabin arrangement seemed like the perfect pattern. If four of these blocks are sewn together they create the impression of a circle: a cricket ball! I cut plain cotton fabric for the bases and carefully marked them for accurate piecing. I decided to only cut out areas that featured an eye-catching motif or woven words and phrases. Pieces were laid out on my worktop in piles according to color and length–shorter strips for the middle of the Log Cabin block, and long strips for the outer edges. In addition to the strips, 16 central squares were needed, and for these I utilized THE JIM LAKER CRICKET QUILT, 49” x 46”, by the author

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007fall_83-98.indd7fall_83-98.indd 8383 66/6/07/6/07 111:37:091:37:09 AMAM