Patchwork Quilts

National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame
Patchwork top made in the Log Cabin pattern in cotton fabrics, 10 x 10 squares. Hand sewn. Most fabrics are patterned, colours in darks and lights include blues, red and pink, greys, browns. The wide border is made from 3 rows of blunt ended triangles (tumbler), the edge is bound with a narrow strip of patterned grey and white fabric. Each corner of the border has 3 chequered squares set on the diagonal. Hand sewn, the binding is machine sewn. No padding or backing.
2360 x 2340mm
Kathryn Thompson
Crazy patchwork quilt in a variety of cotton materials. There is no padding. The backing is old flour bags.
2000 x 2000mm
National Trust of Australia (SA)
Hand stitched unfinished crazy quilt with patches placed around a centre hexagon pieced in log cabin type strips. Materials are mainly silks and satins and pieces are mounted on grey cotton material. Seams are overstitched in herringbone stitch. 1520 x 760mm
Rita Fiddian
Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Hexagons are from cotton and polyester material mostly from 'Reverse Garbage' Melbourne. Hand pieced by Rita Fiddian, the owner. Hand quilted. The padding is wool and the backing cotton.
3049 x 2109mm
Art Gallery of South Australia
Patchwork quilt in the Tumbling Block pattern in light and dark silks in bright colours. On both sides and at the bottom is a wide border in Tumbling Blocks, the pattern vertical at the sides and forming a triangle centre bottom, with an edge on both sides of two black bands with pieced diamonds between. Made for a poster bed. Hand sewn.
1790 x 1750mm
Helen Sparkman
Hexagon quilt made from dressmaking scraps, nearly all woollen. The hexagons measure 150mm. It is hand stitched.
1170 x 1100mm
Valinda Gale
Patchwork quilt made from squares of cotton prints in florals, stripes, spots and checks, joined together in rows. Colours are predominantly blues, reds, yellow and pastels. Binding is of turquoise blue fabric. Materials appear to be from the 40s or 50s. Patches caught in the middle with a woollen knot - red, yellow, blue wool. No quilting. Backed in blue fleecy flannel.
Single bed length and width.
Barbara McCabe
"A single bed cover made up of squares and recrangles of woollen fabric pieced together by a Vicker Sewing Machine from Myer Melbourne. The fabrics are either new (left over scraps) or used (unpicked woollen garments). The backing is an old (used) candlewick bedspread. There is no padding. It is faded and worn due to being used for other purposes later. There is a 66 cm high clown that ahs been appliqued on mainly by hand using blanket stitch. It is also made from scraps of fabric. The hands were cut from an old felt hat."
2400mm x 1660mm
Fran Williams
150 x 210mm pieces of bound suiting samples overlapped and machined together then herringboned with gold/yellow thread. Each piece has an embroidered motif, using single thread, mainly non Australian birds and animals. '1903' is embroidered on a centre piece. It is hand quilted. The backing is a black floral print. There is no padding.
1800 x 1940mm
Griffith Pioneer Park Museum
Patchwork quilt made from hexagon patches of cotton, silk, brocade, sateen and wool. Some silk patches are individually lined. Colours are mainly red, blues, purple, black, yellow and brown, with some pastels. Many silk patches have disintegrated, showing the paper templates. Quilt has a brown cotton inner lining, then a blue cotton backing, and is edged on the reverse with checked silk. Hand sewn by more than one person: one experienced sewer, one not so experienced.
1370 x 1170mm
National Museum of Australia
A 'Farm Life Quilt' made from alternate squares of beige linen and brightly coloured cotton headcloth. The coloured squares are farm animals and birds in a variety of embroidery stitches. The beige squares have a cornucopia design embroidered in dark brown stem stitch. There is a wide border front and back of beige linen. The backing is brown and white check cotton. There is no padding.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Cot quilt of mixed textiles and techniques. Made in sections and stitched together possibly with some padding. It features embroidered and appliqued animals (cats, donkey, elephant, squirrel, birds, kangaroo, emu) and nursery rhyme characters. Materials are cotton, silk, wool, imitation fur. There is a black velvet patch with a cross stitch parrot and embroidered date and initials 'May 1925 AE'. The backing is woven self patterned curtain material. There is a ruffle around the edge in the same material.
1400 x 930mm
Albury Regional Museum
Log cabin patchwork pieces (2) with each block approximately 120 x 120mm. They are diagonally divided into light and dark side. Materials are mainly silks including silk velvets. Each block is stitched on to a backing square, pieces of old blanket, woollens, cottons, many very worn. There is no other backing.
Quilt is hand pieced.
1000 x 1000mm
The Embroiderers' Guild of S.A.Inc Museum
Wholecloth quilt in white cotton voile with alternating designs of Australian wildflowers worked in multi coloured cottons and shadow work. It is backed with yellow voile. There is no padding.
2010 x 1910mm
Gloria Martin
Double sided quilt machine made from clothing scraps. Shapes are mainly rectangles in corduroy and wool blend. The padding is an old grey blanket.
1524 x 1372mm
Robert O'Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Miniature crazy quilt either for a baby or a doll. Plain and patterned materials including velvet, satin, sateen and brocade. 4 patches are embroidered and the central patch has a hand painted flower. Each patch is embroidered around the edge with a variation of feather stitch. It has a brown binding and lace edge. The backing is twill cotton.
490 x 390mm
Margery Smith
Patchwork quilt made from hexagons 63mm across in a variety of cotton prints and plains. The bright coloured patches came from children's clothes and dressmaking scraps. The 'set included a large cot cover, a pillow cover and a circular stool cover. No padding. Backing of unbleached calico. Hand sewn.
2300 x 1840mm
Ida Blenkiron
Rectangular quilt with front and back made of rectangles of cotton samples of shirt materials, in checks, stripes and plains. Colours are soft muted reds, greens, blues, yellows and browns, and pastels. Construction is 3 to 4 rows of rectangles joined across the quilt. Padding is probably an old blanket. There is a row of hand quilting approximately the width of one patch in from the edge, holding the layers together.
1870 x 950mm
Pioneer Settlement Authority
Cot quilt of cotton hexagons. There is a central diamond of hexagons and then a repeat diamond motif radiating to the edge. Each hexagon is 40mm. The backing is sheeting or similar and the padding is dacron type.
1200 x 700mm
Wendy McPhail
Repeat block in Ohio star pattern. Wide border of triangles, pieced blocks and stripes. Stars are in greens, pinks, mauves (all now very faded) and white. Wreath quilting in squares with smaller wreath quilting in triangles. There is padding and the backing is a poly/cotton sheet. 2500 x 2450mm

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