Quilt No.478RR - Rita Ruchel

Rita Ruchel
Owner: 
Rita Ruchel
Location: 
SA
Maker
Maker: 
Toni Nickolai
Made in
AUSTRALIA SA
Patterms
Patchwork, Mosaic, Tumbling Block
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Quilt of cotton diamond shaped pieces feather stitched together with the pieces slightly overlapping. There is no padding and the backing is a light white cotton
1900 x 1060mm
History: 

Made by Toni Nickolai in the Loxton district of S.A. during WW2 and now owned by her daughter Rita Ruchel. It was used on Rita's bed when she was a teenager and then on her own daughter's bed. It is now on loan to the Willewa Community Pioneer Forest Historical Group in Meringur Vic. [1998]

Story: 

"During World War 2 it was often a struggle to make ends meet with restrictions through rationing of almost everything. There were many do-it-yourself projects. As our mother made a lot of our clothing (8 children) and her own furnishings there were many left over scraps of material. She had trained as a dressmaker before marriage. Droughts and low farming returns made it very necessary to 'make-do'. One of many Aussie battlers so all the otherwise useless pieces of material were made into something useful.
I too am a qualified dressmaker and follow the tradition of making quilts, toys etc from scraps." [Rita Ruchel 30.10.1998]

The quilt maker, Mrs. Tonie Nickolai
The quilt maker, Mrs. Tonie Nickolai

Related Quilts:

Fiona Gavens
Quilt No.1009FG - Fiona Gavens
Hexagon quilt constructed over papers; all seams oversewn with featherstitch embroidery. Materials are vyella and clydella scraps from childhood dresses of the maker's first four children, augmented with scraps from a dressmaker and a book of samples. There is no padding; backing is plain, pale blue, brushed cotton.
2200 x 1720 mm.
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon
Powerhouse Museum
Quilt No.758PHM - Powerhouse Museum
"A tied patchwork wagga quilt made from swatches of men's wool suiting fabrics in blue/grey and pink/brown tonings. Rectangular swatches have been cut in half diagonally, and the resulting right-angled triangles paired to form larger equilateral triangles which alternate dark with light across the field. The quilt has been machine and hand pieced, then machined in vertical stripes.
The centre field is bounded by two strip-pieced borders at top and bottom, and three down each side. These are sewn from rectangles, using light pink/brown tones for the inner border and darker colours for the outer borders. The quilt is padded and backed and the side seams are secured with black herringbone stitch. The three layers are tied together invisibly with lazy daisy stitches in black cotton from the back." [PHM] The padding is a wool blanket and the backing is two pieces of cream twill cotton.
2030 x 1440mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Typically Australian, Tailors' samples
National Gallery of Australia
Quilt No.979NGA - 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
Patchwork, Mosaic, Rectangle, Typically Australian, Tailors' samples
Gillian Sullivan
Quilt No.86GS - Gillian Sullivan
Quilt made of 9120 very small Suffolk Puffs, each one about the size of a 20 cent piece. "Each piece backed and the front of it drawn up like a reticule. It was not backed and was rather fragile, so I backed it on to a sheet, as it was heavy and in danger of tearing when lifted." [Gillian Sullivan]
2360 x 2230 mm
Patchwork, Suffolk Puff
N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Quilt No.555NPW - N.S.W. Parks and Wildlife Service
Large centre rectangle of hexagons in various colours of patterned and plain cottons. It is surrounded by a wide border in a checkerboard of red and white cottons. There is a wholecloth cotton backing. The front and the back have been turned under at the edge and machined. There is no padding.
1829 x 1372mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Hexagon
Phyllis Dowling
Quilt No.550PD - Phyllis Dowling
Hand pieced cot quilt made from small rectangular shapes of a great variety of materials including cottons, silks, wools and velvets. The backing is cotton sateen in 3 colours and is brought to the front to form a border of pink, cream and yellow.
1170 x 920mm
Patchwork, Mosaic, Rectangle