Quilt No.112MH - Muriel Hartmann

Muriel Hartmann
Owner: 
Muriel Hartmann
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Elsie Hartmann
Made in
AUSTRALIA QLD
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Reused parts of hand knitted woollen jumpers patched together. Wide crocheted edge from wool unravelled from jumpers retrieved from the tip.
1905 x 1525mm
History: 

Made by Elsie Hartmann , 1910-1996, at Blackall Queensland. It is typical of many she made for warmth and of necessity. Now owned by her daughter-in-law Muriel Hartmann.

Story: 

"With the wool pack Wagga I may not have used two side pieces. One piece formed the top and side and the other piece side and bottom. The two pieces stitched together and the ends bound with coloured material to stop the ends unraveling. I think that's how it went. We could not afford to buy blankets. At the time my husband worked for a sheep farmer in northern N.S.W and we had 3 small children and it got very cold in the winter then. The frost hung in icicles off the fences and off the cows noses, the wind was very cold blowing through the house. I used wheat bags opened up under the mattress with newspaper to keep the cold air from coming up and the Waggas on top. Some of the old army blankets I used for Waggas belonged to my great uncle Ben Stephens who had come out to Australia as a teenager from England. He worked on properties , living in old huts, fencing and so forth.
My mother in law could not afford new blankets and was a very thrifty person and made do with what she could and made the rugs out of old jumpers cut up and crocheted around with wool unpicked from other old jumpers. Some she had picked up from the town dump. Some were jumpers she had knitted for her grand children and had shrunk as well as growing out of them. I had given them back to her for the rugs. I think the last one she made and the one I have were made about 1975. She had made Waggas with bags and blankets too.
My Mother did too as during the war and with coupon rationing she had to make do with what she could. She made all our underclothes from white flour bags boiled up to get the name off the bags. Mum made all her own bread so she had plenty of bags.
My great aunty Adelaide did too and made us children strip corn husks to make mattresses. They made plenty of noise when one turned over on them. The old saying hard work never killed anyone as my aunt lived well into her nineties, nearly made 100 and so did her sister. They lived on the land working dairy farms through two world wars and the depression.
P.S. I did not use the Wagga to cover up plants from the frost this winter, have packed it away."
[Muriel Hartmann 1997]

Related Quilts:

Ann Hockey
Patchwork quilt made from rectangles of samples of men's woollen suitings, in greys and blues and some browns. The rectangles were machine sewn together and then sewn in rows or strips. Originally the quilt had a rabbit skin backing, removed due to deterioration. No padding. Machine sewn.
1550 x 1420mm
National Trust of Australia (QLD)
Quilt made of tailors' swatches, machine constructed around a central frame that is mainly mid brown pieces. This is surrounded by rectangles of mainly charcoal greys and the outer border is navy blues. The backing is a heavy cotton with random green and cream and grey stripes.
1651 x 1220mm
National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame
Patchwork top made in the Log Cabin pattern in cotton fabrics, 10 x 10 squares. Hand sewn. Most fabrics are patterned, colours in darks and lights include blues, red and pink, greys, browns. The wide border is made from 3 rows of blunt ended triangles (tumbler), the edge is bound with a narrow strip of patterned grey and white fabric. Each corner of the border has 3 chequered squares set on the diagonal. Hand sewn, the binding is machine sewn. No padding or backing.
2360 x 2340mm
The Queensland Women's Historical Assoc.
Frame quilt in cotton with cotton backing. Centre square of floral chintz surrounded by 8 smaller squares with floral and probably Egyptian motifs. 4 surrounding frames of plain and patterned cotton in squares, diamonds and strips. Hand stitched and hand quilted. Has been used as a curtain and has metal rings attached to one edge.
3759 x 2286mm
Barbara McCabe
Patchwork quilt made from rectangles of mostly woollen fabrics sewn in strips and then stitched together. Fabrics left over from dressmaking projects. Machine stitched. Colours mainly green, purple, blue, pink, pastels, in plain, checks and spots. No padding or quilting. Lining is an old bedspread.
2200 x 1440mm
Margery Smith
Patchwork quilt made from hexagons 63mm across in a variety of cotton prints and plains. The bright coloured patches came from children's clothes and dressmaking scraps. The 'set included a large cot cover, a pillow cover and a circular stool cover. No padding. Backing of unbleached calico. Hand sewn.
2300 x 1840mm