Quilt No.868AG - Annette Gero

Annette Gero
Owner: 
Annette Gero
Location: 
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker: 
Catherine McDonald
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1881 - 1900
Description: 
9 separate blocks of Crazy patchwork with velvet borders and sashings. Materials are mainly silks and satins and there is some embroidery.
1940 x 1600mm
History: 

The quilt was made by Catherine Mary McDonald (Katie) at Mussellbrook NSW probably in the 1890s. She gave it, and her bible, to Laura Thompson (a friend) when she had to go to hospital and knew she wouldn't recover. In the early 60s Laura Thompson gave the quilt and bible to her daughter, Laurel Riddler. The quilt is now in the collection of Annette Gero.

Story: 

"Catherine Mary McDonald (Katie) was born in 1864 and died unmarried in 1943 at Muswellbrook. Her parents were Farquhar McDonald and Mary McRae. They arrived from Invernesshire on the 10th December 1854 on the 'St. Helena'. Katie was one of 8 children. Her own mother died in 1874 and in 1879 her father remarried, Sarah Judd�.." [Annette Gero]

Katie McDonald
Katie McDonald

Related Quilts:

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
June Dean
Pieced hexagons, English paper method. Large hexagons form the centre with a border of smaller hexagons. The fabrics are all cotton in a wide range of colours and patterns. There is no padding. The backing is cotton, large white floral design on dark blue. The hexagons are hand pieced and the edges machined.
2480 x 1420 mm
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
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
Kristine Gray
Double sided frame quilt. All reused materials including corduroys, wools and light weight suitings. Machine made and not quilted There is no padding as already heavy and warm.
1780 x 1530mm
National Gallery of Australia
" A wide range of cotton fabrics have been used to make this quilt in the traditional log cabin style. The strips of the log cabin are joined by rows being hand sewn onto a small square backing fabric, each square of strips has then been hand sewn together to form the quilt. The work is backed with a sateen printed fabric decorated with paisley design. A strip of the lining trims the edge of the front face of the quilt. The lining is attached with machine stitching. There are numerous tacking stitches that remain in the front face of the quilt. There are approx 9000 pieces in the quilt, most being only 5mm in width.
The quilt is of three layers because the strips of the log cabin are attached to a backing piece, and then the quilt is lined; however it is not padded." [NGA]