Quilt No.401AH - Anne Howard

Anne Howard
Owner: 
Anne Howard
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Agnes Maxwell
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Cotton patchwork quilt 'Trip Around the World'. Various patterns and colours and a wide variety of cottons eg homespun and waffle weave. Hand pieced and hand quilted. The backing is yellow cotton and the padding is thought to be a beige coloured curtain.
1830 x 1260mm
History: 

This quilt was made by Agnes Maxwell for her grand-daughter Anne Howard in the late 40s or early 50s in Sydney. It is still owned by Anne.
It is now stored in a camphorwood box.

Story: 

"Agnes McEwan Brown Maxwell - 1876-1970
Born in the port town of Helensborough Scotland which is not far from Glasgow and Loch Lomond. Died in Sydney At the age of 94.
Came to Australia from Vancouver, Canada in 1935. Lived in Leeton for many years but after the death of her husband in 1949 she moved to Pennant Hills, a new suburb of Sydney in the north.
When she lived in Pennant Hills she was always working with her hands. Exquisite fine lace tablecloths crocheted with the tiniest crochet hook, beautifully knitted baby clothes and there always seemed to be a quilt in the making. Quilt making had always been in the family. Grandma Maxwell and her sisters (Sally, Polly and Jean) had all made quilts for their daughters and the tradition continued with the arrival of grandchildren. The quilt made for her first born Kathryn, which was made out of dressmaking scraps from Kathryn's own clothes was unfortunately lost in the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983, having been brought out from Canada in 1934. However those made for the granddaughters have met a kinder fate.
Grandma Maxwell continued to sew and make quilts until well into her nineties. She was well loved by many and had a lovely group of friends who brought her their fabric offcuts to help with the quilt making. One of her favourite charities was the Spastic Children's Association for whom she made several quilts which were then raffled and always resulted in a most successful fund raising activity for the Association. In the 1960s when she was already in her eighties several ladies from the Pennant Hills area used to come and help to do the final quilting on these quilts when she couldn't manage the whole thing on her own."
[Irene Garran and Anne Howard 29.8.2000]
There are 4 grand-daughters and each has a quilt.

Related Quilts:

National Gallery of Australia
" This well worn quilt is of pieced diamonds set into squares (221 make up the quilt). Thick woollen fabric has been used for the pieces. These are with plain dyed fabrics or tartans and checks. All work on the quilt is hand sewn. The quilt was lined with a fine blue cotton." [NGA] The quilt is not padded. 1835 x 1400mm
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
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
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
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Double sided utility quilt made from machine pieced squares of tailors' samples and men's and boy's suitings. The padding is 5 or 6 layers of pieced used clothing including darned, threadbare socks, part jumpers, blanket pieces etc.
2090 x 1340mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Patchwork quilt in Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern, consisting of 7 patch rosettes with white 'paths'. Cotton dress and shirting materials have been used in blues, pinks, brown, turkey red and Prussian blue. The quilt is hand sewn and each hexagon is 25mm wide. The backing is cream twill cotton in three panels. There is a hand sewn binding in red/pink cotton. There is overall quilting in chevron or zigzag pattern.
2415 x 2110mm