Quilt No.462MW - Margaret Wood

Margaret Wood
Owner: 
Margaret Wood
Location: 
VIC Melbourne
Maker
Maker: 
Mrs Tadgell
Made in
AUSTRALIA VIC
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
Velvet log cabin quilt. The background is black and the colours are shades of pale blue to royal blue, apple green to forest green, purple and a deep salmon. Original backing of artificial silk now replaced (1940s) with striped folk weave bedspread hand stitched on.
1860 x 1290mm
History: 

Mrs. Doris Rodgerson, mother of the present owner, asked Mrs. Tadgell in 1936 to make the quilt for her daughter. Mrs. Rodgerson supplied the materials and Mrs Tadgell made it on her treadle sewing machine. It has never been used and always stored in the linen press firstly in Margaret's parents' homes and then in Margaret's homes all in the Box Hill and Blackburn areas. In 1998 the quilt was offered to the Museum of Lilydale.

Story: 

"Early this century, my grandparents William and Maria Young, bought some bushland running down to the Olinda creek, below Mt. Evelyn. On the hillside, they built "Kookaburra Cottage" which they referred to as their Mountain house. Beside them, a Mr. Clarrie Earl built a luxurious log cabin, with Charlie Mezgar (?) as resident caretaker. It is now known as Chateau Wyuna. Ours was a timber shack, where our family and friends spent so many happy week-ends. They travelled by buggy prior to their Fiat owning years, setting off from Box Hill on Friday evenings.
Down the hill and across the creek on the flats, I remember Mrs. Tadgell's farm, with cows. It was about 1935 that Mrs. Tadgell sewed on her treadle machine, a velvet patchwork quilt for my single bed������The final backing was an artificial silk, which later suffered moth damage. My Mother replaced this in the early post-war years, when material was scarce, by hand stitching on a striped folk weave cotton fabric. It is not in keeping with the quilt's elegance, but does hold it firmly on the bed. The velvet surface is without blemish or wear. It has remained in our linen press, being considered too delicate to stand up to children's wear and tear. The stitching is perfect and a lasting tribute to Mrs. Tadgell's ingenuity and skill in creating this lovely quilt."
[Margaret Wood July 1998]

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