A ‘QUARANTINE quilts’ project is being launched by Ceredigion Museum.

The museum already has an exceptional collection of quilts, bursting with social history and stories about the past, which will be exhibited once visitors can be welcomed back to the museum.

Now, two new quilts, one real and one digital, are going to be added to the collection, to help commemorate shared experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic and to capture the experiences of the community

Ceredigion Museum is asking the public to get involved by sending in content to be displayed on both of the quilts.

Ceredigion is no stranger to isolation and quarantine, having faced several epidemics, including smallpox in 1738 and 1819, cholera in 1840, the 1918 flu pandemic, and typhoid in 1946.

What patch would you place on the quarantine quilt? Everyone can get involved by sending the Museum voices, videos, photos and sound pieces, to reflect a broad range of experiences across the county.

From those working on the front line to those working at home, to those embracing new skills, from parents turned home-school teachers to the older generations adopting online get-togethers and young people technologically partying.

Examples could include something that illustrates how physical spaces have been transformed – the quieter streets, the resurgence of nature; the effects on key and home workers; life without school, online homework, the things that have people laugh and cry, a favourite P.E. session with Joe Wicks, the clapping for carers, face timing relations and friends, the random acts of kindness or the repeated Stay Safe, Stay Home messages?

Contributions for the ‘virtual’ quilt can be emailed, using a file sharing app, to carrie.canham@ceredigion.gov.uk.

People can also get involved with the creation of the ‘physical’ quilt by sending in their creative creations. These could be poetry pieces, drawings, soundscapes, songs or even fabric and thread.

For contributions to the physical quilt, send patches of 14cm x 14cm (including a 1cm seam allowance) to: Ceredigion Museum, c/o Ceredigion County Council, Canolfan Rheidol, Rhodfa Padarn, Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3UE

Contribution to either quilt should include an explanation; why it was chosen, what it means to the contributor and the story it tells.

Questions about the quilts can be e-mailed to carrie.canham@ceredigion.gov.uk or phone 01970 633 088 and leave a message.

The Quarantine Quilts will form part of Ceredigion Museums exhibition ‘Quilts: Human Threads’. This exhibition explores these objects as gateways to fascinating stories and social histories and considers how remarkable they are for both their exquisite craftsmanship and their emotional resonance.

Closing date for contributions is September 30.