Quilt No.648NG - Norma Gilchrist

Norma Gilchrist
Owner: 
Norma Gilchrist
Location: 
NSW Riverina
Maker
Maker: 
Sylvia Schliebs
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Quilt entirely made of hexagons joined to make 'flowers', 6 hexagons form the petals and one in the centre. The quilt is all cotton in a wide variety of colours in plains, checks and florals. The hexagons are all hand stitched using stranded cotton. There is a plain blue border of headcloth machined around the edge to the backing material. It is not quilted The materials were almost all from the scrap bag. Brown paper templates were used. This arrangement of hexagons is one variation of a pattern commonly called 'Grandmother's Flower Garden'.
2040 x 1720mm
History: 

The quilt was made by Sylvia Schliebs and her daughter Norma in the Temora district NSW c.1845. It is now owned by Norma (Gilchrist). It is still used.

Story: 

Sylvia Schliebs (1898-1995) and her daughter Norma sewed this quilt in the wintertime after tea at night. They lived on a mixed farm, 'Spring Valley', and Sylvia's life was like that of many farmers' wives with farm jobs to do including milking cows and looking after many chooks. She sold butter and eggs and bunches of violets and made most of her own and Norma's clothes. She was thrifty, practical and a good cook.

Sylvia Violet Schliebs c.1946
Sylvia Violet Schliebs c.1946

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National Gallery of Australia
"This is not a true quilt, but a pieced coverlet with a lining. The entire front face of the quilt is of pieced hexagonal and part hexagonal printed cotton patches. Pieces are joined with hand sewn over casting stitches of many different coloured cotton threads. The joining of the patches forms a 'daisy' pattern in some areas and in others it is random. The edge of the front face of the quilt carries a 40mm strip of cotton Chinoiserie which is then folded to the reverse of the quilt and becomes part of the lining. The template for the hexagon patches remains in many of the patches: writing paper and news print." [NGA]
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