Quilt No.618POW - The Pioneer Women's Hut

Owner: 
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Location: 
NSW Riverina
Maker
Maker: 
Lorna Foster
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Hand and machine pieced top and back using irregular pieces of men's hand and machine knitted jumpers and navy serge. The backing is mainly serge, part of an uncle's bus conductor's uniform. The pockets from the uniform have been left as is. There is no padding.
1850 x 970mm
History: 

This quilt was made by Lorna Foster who lived on a farm at Taradale near Tumbarumba NSW c.1960 It was made for her son John who used it for many years and donated it to The Pioneer Women's Hut. It is displayed occasionally at the msueum.
1850 x 970mm

Story: 

Lorna Foster made other quilts like this one made for John when he was truck driving. He worked at the Manus Prison farm and was a truck driver for Tumba Transport at the weekends. The quilt was made in 1964 for John to take truck driving. He handled large sums of money on these trips and used to hide it in the pockets on the quilt. The family lived on a farm at Taradale near Tumbarumba NSW and John's garndfather was John Ebenezer. John said of his mother "she was sewing and knitting all the time. She even made our long grey trousers."

Related Quilts:

Margaret McMillan
Cotton log cabin double bed quilt. Each square has 52 pieces (i.e. 13 pieces x 4 to make a square). There are 192 squares so a total of 10.092 pieces. There is probably no padding. The backing is calico with a floral pattern done in running stitch.
2200 x 2200mm
Robert O'Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Miniature crazy quilt either for a baby or a doll. Plain and patterned materials including velvet, satin, sateen and brocade. 4 patches are embroidered and the central patch has a hand painted flower. Each patch is embroidered around the edge with a variation of feather stitch. It has a brown binding and lace edge. The backing is twill cotton.
490 x 390mm
June Johnson
Hand sewn cotton cot quilt with pattern of red and white lozenge shaped hexagons measuring approximately 65mm from top to bottom. A centre flower is constructed from 2 circles of 19 hexagons in red and white. This is surrounded by 8 smaller hexagon flowers. Additional single red hexagons are scattered at random on the white background around the rows of flowers. The quilt is not quilted or tied but is attached at all 4 edges. Writing on the back of the quilt (probably added later) reads "Made by Sarah Hodge, Newport, Wales UK for her first child John." There is no padding and the backing is white cotton. 1000 x 1250 mm.
Eileen Dinning
Double sided silk quilt. One side is paisley designs and the reverse plain silk . Machine pieced. There is a thin padding possibly sheeting.
2694 x 2287mm
Port Curtis Historical Soc.Inc.
Cotton Hexagon quilt with a wide variety of patterned and plain materials. Blue binding and a cotton backing. The padding is thought to be cotton wool.
1525 x 1220mm
National Gallery of Australia
" Reversible patchwork quilt of woollen suiting/upholstery fabrics in khaki, greys, blues and browns. Both sides have different designs. The front of the quilt has 13 rows of 12 vertical rectangles flanked on either side by a column of 22 horizontal rectangles. The reverse has a more interesting and complex design of small and very large rectangles, squares and triangles; with khaki contrasting with the duller greys and blues. The patchwork layers are joined at the edges with machine stitching and the quilt is machine quilted along 3 horizontal lines following joins in the patchwork; therefore not being totally straight. These lines are more noticeable on the reverse. The reverse face has been on display at the NGA." [NGA] There is a cotton blanket used as padding. 2054 x 1451mm