Quilt No.424AM - Alys Mercer

Alys Mercer
Owner: 
Alys Mercer
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Elizabeth Hart
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLD
Patterms
Embroidered and/or Appliqued, Motifs or Names, Signature, Wholecloth, Typically Australian
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
This Adelaide Chronicle quilt or bedcover is single thickness white linen with a double thickness wide green border hemstitched in place. The cover is divided into blocks and in each alternate block an Australian bird has been worked in fancywork using stranded cottons.
2019 x 1144mm
History: 

The maker was Elizabeth Hart (born Schunke) 1862-1947 while living on a farm at Yalangor north of Toowoomba. It was made in 1933 and passed by maternal descent to L. Bach and then to Alys Mercer (born Hart) Elizabeth's grand- daughter. It is not used now.

Story: 

"As mentioned, this quilt was entirely hand made. My grand parents had settled here on the Darling Downs in 1902, previously having lived in South Australia. They still had the Adelaide Chronicle sent weekly and this is where my grandmother obtained the wild flower designs, getting a different one each week as they were published. There was no electricity on the farm so this would have been worked with the aid of a kerosene lamp. Daylight hours were certainly not used for such frivolities as fancy work and not a stitch would be sewn on Sunday."
[Barbara Bullock 24.11.97]

The Hart sisters, Barbara, Alys, Lorna,Linley
The Hart sisters, Barbara, Alys, Lorna,Linley

Related Quilts:

Yvonne Hamdorf
Quilt No.1016YH - Yvonne Hamdorf
Wholecloth pram quilt with a top of pink cotton sateen, and the reverse is a more finely woven, ivory, fabric. All over quilting design as main feature, with stylised hearts, leaves and cross hatching. The padding is cotton batting. 870 x 660 mm.
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element
John Tomkin
Quilt No.1005JT - John Tomkin
Hand stitched, cotton, appliquéd, quilt in a flower pattern on a plain background. Colours are shades of green, apricot and browns. This quilt was known as a 'Bride's Quilt'. Padding is thought to be layers of white fabric raised almost like a wadding. The backing is cotton material. 2470 x 2020 mm.
Wholecloth, Embroidered and/or Appliqued
West Australian Quilters' Ass
Quilt No.1050WAQ - West Australian Quilters' Ass
Reversible Durham quilt made with nine pieced strips of deep green polished cotton joined together. Very finely hand quilted in an all-over traditional English quilting design. It is padded but the type of padding is unknown. 2220 x 2020mm.
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element, Durham
Powerhouse Museum
Quilt No.758PHM - Powerhouse Museum
"A tied patchwork wagga quilt made from swatches of men's wool suiting fabrics in blue/grey and pink/brown tonings. Rectangular swatches have been cut in half diagonally, and the resulting right-angled triangles paired to form larger equilateral triangles which alternate dark with light across the field. The quilt has been machine and hand pieced, then machined in vertical stripes.
The centre field is bounded by two strip-pieced borders at top and bottom, and three down each side. These are sewn from rectangles, using light pink/brown tones for the inner border and darker colours for the outer borders. The quilt is padded and backed and the side seams are secured with black herringbone stitch. The three layers are tied together invisibly with lazy daisy stitches in black cotton from the back." [PHM] The padding is a wool blanket and the backing is two pieces of cream twill cotton.
2030 x 1440mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Typically Australian, Tailors' samples
Joyce Wynn
Quilt No.1088JW - Joyce Wynn
Whole cloth traditional Durham quilt in sateen, pink one side and ivory the other. Elaborately hand quilted. It is padded but the type of padding is unknown. 2030 x 2030mm.
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element, Durham
Santa Maltese
Quilt No.399SM - Santa Maltese
Wholecloth quilt with top of red sateen. Hnad quilted with a large central rosette in a 'gothic' border then square on point border and outer border with rosettes in rectangular corner panel. The backing is cotton sateen with printed floral bouquets. The thick padding is cotton. This type of quilt is called 'cuttunina' in the Sicilian dialect which means 'has cotton inside'.
2360 x 2310mm
Wholecloth, Quilting as major design element