Quilt No.631PWH - The Pioneer Women's Hut

The Pioneer Women's Hut
Owner: 
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Location: 
NSW Riverina
Maker
Maker: 
Elsie Shepherd
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Patterms
Patchwork, Mosaic, Square
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
Double sided patchwork quilt. Machined squares and rectangles joined in strips and then the strips joined. Wide variety of materials, mainly woollen from hand or machine knitted jumpers, many patched. All materials came from worn garments from family and friends of the maker. No padding.
1860 x 1410mm
History: 

This is typical of the many quilts made by Elsie Shephard of Rosewood NSW over a 20 year period from 1957 for use in her home. Elsie donated it to The Pioneer Women's Hut. It is displayed occasionally in the museum.

Story: 

"Patch Work Rugs
When my husband was seriously hurt in a road accident in 1956 he was in hospital for a year then another two years recovering until he was fit enough to get a permanent job. There were no Government handouts to needy families then so you had to do your best to balance the budget and make ends meet.
Having a young family people were very kind to me, giving me clothes for my children their children had grown out of that were in good order, some were slightly worn and needed patching.
When my husband had a permanent job people still gave me clothing because I had six children, even though I could afford to buy clothes for them. Because of their kindness I could never say 'no'. I would thank them saying 'nothing will be wasted, I'll make use of what you have given me'.
Being so cold at Rosewood I decided to make patch work rugs for all my children's beds out of garments I knew would never be worn, keeping my word 'I'll make use of what you have given me'.
There was no design or pattern in anything I made, I just kept cutting things up into squares, then stitching the squares together into rows, then sewing the rows together. Whatever colour was in the bobbin I sewed with. I never lined the rugs as I had always sewn enough squares together to just fold the sewn rows over and have the rug doubled. I made some rugs for my husband to take camping.
My eldest daughter slept in the coldest room ub the house. One night I finished her rug, put a lining in it and put it on her bed when she was asleep. It was that heavy that during the night she woke up thinking an animal was on top of her bed! I took the lining out."
[Elsie Shephard, Rosewood NSW 1.4.2000]

Related Quilts:

National Gallery of Australia
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" Reversible patchwork quilt of woollen suiting in grey, blue, navy, maroon and brown. The fabrics appear to be new tailor's sample pieces (the sizing is still present on the fabric, signifying it has never been washed). The patches are rectangular and vary in size. Both sides have different designs. The front of the quilt has 4 rows of 12 vertical rectangles then below this are 4 rows of 7 horizontal rectangles followed below by 4 rows of 11 vertical rectangles. The reverse of the quilt has a section at the top and bottom composed of 5 rows of 9 horizontal rectangles. The central area is made up of a centre section of 6 rows of 5 vertical rectangles; flanked on either side by a column of 10 horizontal rectangles and two columns of 8 smaller vertical rectangles.
The patchwork layers are joined at the edges with machine stitching. The patchwork layers and padding are machine quilted on the front down 2 vertical lines following joins in the patchwork; therefore not being totally straight. The lines are more noticeable on the reverse as the 2 sides do not match. The front face is displayed at the NGA.
Between the patchwork layers is a striped cotton blanket in black, sky blue, white and cream." [NGA]
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Dianne Gorringe
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The Pioneer Women's Hut
Quilt No.606PWH - The Pioneer Women's Hut
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