Patchwork Quilts

Teona Smith
Suffolk Puff or puff-ball quilt is made from scraps of dresses and pyjamas, mainly cottons, but also taffeta lining fabric, net, lurex, flocked organdie. The quilt is in bright clear colours, the fabric mostly in small prints, ginghams, different size spots, a few large prints, Chinese brocade, nylon. Puffs are 5cm across, and set 31 puffs across by 45 down. Puffs are squared off when whipstitched together, so corner holes are smaller than usual.
2180 x 1500mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
The top has a segmented circle in the centre surrounded by a border of small rectangles. The circle is featherstitched on to the background. Materials are wools and cottons and it is hand pieced. The other side appears to have been originally men's suiting materials strip pieced. It is now covered with a children's print in light cotton joined in long rectangles. The padding is coarse heavyweight cotton.
1410 x 1080mm
Marjorie Treasy
Machine sewn quilt made from 125mm squares of scraps left over from dressmaking joined in strips and then the strips joined. There is a border of fawn cotton and the backing is the same material. The padding is an old blanket and the border is padded with sheep's wool.
1400 x 925mm
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
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
Barbara McCabe
Patchwork quilt made from squares of woollen fabric scraps from dressmaking. Squares are stitched together in no particular order. Colours are bright, with pink, yellow, green, brown and light blue predominating. Fabric is plain, checks and stripes. No padding or quilting. Backing is a cotton bedspread, striped in pinks and magenta.
2530 x 1640mm
Ryder Lundy
"Hexagons pieced over cardboard hand-sewn together. Each rosette was then machine quilted 1/8th to 1/4 inch from edge of rosette in shape of each rosette. Quilt is mainly cottons with a few rayons. Some checks and stripes are used but mainly florals. Has been machine quilted in rosette shape using green on green fabrics, lemon on lemon, orange on orange and red on red." [Ryder Lundy] There is no padding and the backing is gold curtain fabric extended at the end and one side with matching taffeta. 2220 x 1270 mm.
Tricia Bowdler
Small patchwork piece in crazy patchwork in silks, satins, and velvets. Embroidered initials 'A.N' also an embroidered crest, the date 1869 with initials 'A.W.N'. There is also decorative stitching over the joins of most pieces. It is not padded. The backing is Jacquard.
661 a 649mm
Fran Williams
Crazy quilt made from a lot of light wools including gabardine types. Patches are outlined in embroidery stitches and there is additional embroidery on some patches. It is worked in 3 ply wool thought to be Patonyle (early blend of nylon and wool). The backing is a floral print mainly black with a cream flowers, brought to the front as a binding. Occasional stitches holding front to back by way of quilting. There is no padding.
1600 x 2100mm
Jean Winchester
Patchwork quilt of hexagon patches with a large central group of 14 rows, then groups or 'flowers' of 6 patches placed over the rest of the quilt. The colours are red, black, white and blue, in a mixture of stripes, florals and plains. No padding. Backing is a double bed sheet. Hand sewn.
2591 x 2566mm
Lorna Calder
Patchwork quilt of multi coloured silks and brocades. Crazy patchwork borders, mainly rectangular fabrics pieced together in diagonal patterns, radiating from a central frame embroidered with flowers. Many pieces are extensively embroidered in a great variety of stitches and motifs; butterflies, sunflowers, cats, daffodils, crown, pawn broker's symbol, 'money to lend', 'good night', the initials of family members and 'mater 1890'. The quilt has a deep border of maroon sateen. There is no padding visible but it is possibly a blanket. The backing is green/gold silk with a self stripe with red cotton damask showing underneath, possibly an earlier backing.
2165 x 2165mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine constructed log cabin quilt using a wide variety of strips of used clothing including cottons, men's suitings and wools. Each square is about 250mm and arranged in the 'light and dark of the fire' variation of log cabin. There is no padding. The backing is brown twill with an orange pattern and is probably a replacement backing.
2180 x 1710mm
Annette Gero
This quilt consists of many blocks of different colours with etchings and verse from the bible machine appliqued on to a red backing material. It is a kit quilt.
2580 x 24100mm
Diana Cameron
Square quilt top. Floral centre piece with borders of squares set in a diamond pattern. Squares are in plain colours and patterns. There is no padding or backing.
920 x 920mm
Anne Langford
Hexagon quilt with rosettes centred in an all over diamond pattern. It is hand pieced and hand quilted. All the materials are either linen or pure cotton. The quilt is padded with batting (American) and the backing is floral cotton.
2360 x 1800mm
Yvonne Hore
Reversible quilt. Both sides are small squares of cotton scraps mainly left over from children's clothes. Plain and patterned pieces in a wide variety of colours. Hand stitched. Padding is pieced men's clothing, jumpers, cardigans, trousers. The present owner zig zagged over the seams, bound the edges and 'clouted' (her term) it in circles and squares.
2080 x 1570mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
The top is strips of mainly wools in blue, maroon and purple. The backing is imitation fur in brown and grey. They is no quilting. The padding appears to be a double sided pieced quilt from men's suitings or tailors' samples.
1500 x 1130mm
Annette Gero
Hand pieced log cabin quilt in silks, satins and velvets. There is a silk backing machined on, possiby a later addition. The quilt has over 5000 pieced.
1820 x 1680mm
Western Australian Quilters' Association
Quilt made from furnishing materials, mostly velour type or uncut moquette. The colours are dusty pinks and beige/camel/blue. It has been put together by making wide strips of various sized rectangles sewn together and any missing piece in a rectangle added by using another piece of material to complete the shape. There is no padding and the backing is winter cotton.
2000 x 1650mm
Jeanette Marchant
Quilt of hand stitched cotton hexagon patches, the hexagons are in groups of 7 to form flowers, with white or cream 'paths'. The quilt centre has 19 flowers grouped within a single hexagon border of brown and red patches. In each corner of the quilt there are 6 flowers grouped around a larger flower within a single border of darker print hexagon patches. Backing is cream cotton, machine stitched to the top. There is no padding or quilting. Some fabric patches have deteriorated.

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