Quilts

National Trust of Australia (QLD)
Quilt made of tailors' swatches, machine constructed around a central frame that is mainly mid brown pieces. This is surrounded by rectangles of mainly charcoal greys and the outer border is navy blues. The backing is a heavy cotton with random green and cream and grey stripes.
1651 x 1220mm
Giuliana Bond
Log cabin quilt, machine pieced and assembled. Some fabrics are pieces from family dresses, with mauve crepe used throughout. The pale side of each block is silk taffeta and other silk pieces. Padding is flannelette, and backing is cream muslin from a petticoat of the present owner, worn when she was bridesmaid to an aunt and uncle. 1000 x 630 mm.
Elsie Roberts
Quilt made of white cotton with a diamond set applique pattern of brown tipped pink dogwood blossoms with green leaves in the centre. Hand appliquéd. The centre is hand quilted with cross hatching and the borders are quilted with feathered cables and circular patterns. Padding is Mountain Mist polyester, the backing is of white cotton. The quilt edges are bound with pink bias binding.
2180 x 1860mm
Margery Creek
Medallion style all cotton quilt made in the USA. Hand pieced with centre panel of 'cheater' material pre printed in a patchwork design. Bordered with 'Nine Patch' and sashing. The backing is printed cotton and the padding is cotton. The quilt has yellow tufting or ties in wool.
1855 x 1525mm
Margaret Hedges
Crazy patchwork quilt with small patches in velvet, silk, brocade and cottons most with hand embroidery over the seams. There are many motifs such as flowers, butterflies, birds also dates, initials and names of local properties. It is padded with a thin soft material and the replacement backing (old) is satin. There is a wide rose coloured frill on all sides.
1680 x 1380mm
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
Sharlene Rogers (for Nadia Brookes)
Pieced squares, each square with a cross and 4 small squares in red. Crosses are in rows alternating 2 shades of blue and 2 of brown. Cream background. Now unlined but remnant blanket like material in corners. Originally had a cotton frill. Quilt was made from scraps of material used for making children's clothes.
Betty Gray
Hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted, 1940s. Cotton quilt with yellow, pink and purple tulips and green leaves, has scalloped edging with green piping. Hand quilted.
2240 x 885mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Patchwork quilt, machine construction in pink and white twill cotton, log cabin pattern. Each log cabin block was constructed with the backing in place, in groups of 4 blocks placed together. Each block 200mm in size.
2300 x 2050mm
Barbara McCabe
Patchwork quilt made from squares of cotton fabrics, from curtains, left over from dress making projects, and new fabrics. Colours are bright primaries and some pastels, prints are checks, florals, stripes and plain. Pieces were stitched together without any particular order. No padding or quilting. Backing is a cotton bedspread in turquoise and blue stripes.
2520 x 1600mm
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
Lyn Uppill
Patchwork quilt of hexagons, handsewn, in print and plain cottons and rayon. Central star group has diamond shaped groups of patches, with smaller flower shapes, an inner border of a star shape in yellow hexagons, and an outer border of hexagons in vertical bands. Colours are mainly blues, reds, greens and yellow, the 'paths' and border are a pink print. The backing is herringbone stitched to the border or sashing, which has mitred corners.
2400 x 2340mm
Ella Jarvis
Quilt made with a rectangular centre panel of cotton fabric printed with red poppies and black flowers in a japanese style. The panel is surrounded by a wide black satin border. The backing is of black cotton, covering a previous backing of green floral cotton fabric. The padding is feathers.
1700 x 1370mm
Pauline Munro
Quilt of woollen rectangles, probably tailors' samples. Machine pieced. The backing is floral cotton similar to curtain material.The backing has a french seam down the centre back and is folded over to the front to form a binding. There is no padding.
1440 x 1260
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Hand sewn quilt (possibly child's or table top) of crazy patchwork in silk, silk ribbon and cotton velvet. The top has surface decoration of embroidery on all seams, feather stitch and blanket stitch variations. Many of the crazy patches are also embroidered. The centre patch has a rooster embroidered in lame thread. Embroidered motifs are hearts, butterflies, guitar, cow, Little Red Riding Hood, horseshoes, crown, clover leaf. Stitches are feather, stem, satin and blanket. Embroidered initials are 'B', 'R', and 'S'. The backing is dark grey silk.
840 x 840mm
The Queensland Women's Historical Assoc.
Quilt top of plain, floral and printed cotton hexagons in a diamond pattern, separated by plain white hexagons. Hand written letters have been used as templates and some are still in position but the ink is faded and the writing now illegible. Tacking stitches are still in place.
3048 x 2210mm
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Double sided quilt. One side is different shapes including rectangles in various sizes in wools and men's suiting material. It is hand pieced. The pther side is mainly cottons in florals of different patterns joined in strips of varying width and machine and hand pieced. There is a 25mm binding. The padding is an old blanket.
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
National Gallery of Australia
" A wide range of cotton fabrics have been used to make this quilt in the traditional log cabin style. The strips of the log cabin are joined by rows being hand sewn onto a small square backing fabric, each square of strips has then been hand sewn together to form the quilt. The work is backed with a sateen printed fabric decorated with paisley design. A strip of the lining trims the edge of the front face of the quilt. The lining is attached with machine stitching. There are numerous tacking stitches that remain in the front face of the quilt. There are approx 9000 pieces in the quilt, most being only 5mm in width.
The quilt is of three layers because the strips of the log cabin are attached to a backing piece, and then the quilt is lined; however it is not padded." [NGA]
Kaniva District Historical Society
Crazy patchwork quilt, mostly velvet, with two rectangular frames or borders of green fabric. All patchwork pieces have embroidery over the seams, mostly herringbone. Quilt is edged with a cream cotton ruffle. Cotton backing.
1625 x 1625mm

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