Like the houses in most of the neighborhoods in smaller towns and suburbs in the Netherlands, mine is built with bricks. Since we don’t have much mountains in our country, our bricks are made of baked clay. The clay is supplied by the major rivers. The Netherlands have got a big delta of rivers which have their origin in Germany, Switzerland and France.

The technique to use baked clay as building material is quit old. Since the 12th century it is used on a large scale in the Netherlands. The minerals in the clay give the different colors. Red stones are made of ferrous clay where calcareous clay give a more yellow stone. At first baking stones was a very local business. Stone is heavy so it was used close to the brick factory as transport wasn’t easy. 

Nowadays the names of the various types of bricks are still related to the original place they where made. I live close to the river Waal. The place where I live, Tiel, is the orange dot on the quilt. The river Waal is the blue line. There are still a number of brick factory’s along the river Waal. Originated and still they make the brick type ‘Waal format’. A brick which is approximately 210 × 100 × 50 millimeter.

Wholecloth quilt with applique. Breakdown printed cotton. Machine quilted. 

40×30 inch.

Tags:Neighborhood Sandra van VelzenPrompt 2-5