Quilt No.400IG - Irene Garran

"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.