Quilt No.922MP - Maria Patounas

Maria Patounas
Owner: 
Maria Patounas
Location: 
QLD Brisbane
Maker
Maker: 
Unknown
Made in
GREECE Rhodes
Date: 
1921 - 1940
Description: 
The cotton quilt top is blue featuring a floral design in the centre and a matching border. The main quilting pattern relates to this. There is a wide gold cotton border with a quilting pattern of parallel lines and diamonds. The backing is plain red cotton. The padding is cotton wadding.
2040 x 1750mm
History: 

The quilt was made c.1932 by a 'paplomatas' (quiltmaker) from Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes. It was owned by George Stergakis and now belongs to his daughter Maria Patounas. It was used when the children were young but is not used now.

Story: 

"Two Quilts from Lindos
Maria Patounas owns two 'paplomata' (quilts) - one was part of her mother's 'prika' (dowry), and the other, interestingly, was part of her father's prika! The wedding traditions of the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizon both include the groom sometimes bringing a prika to the marriage. It could include a 'kilimi' (woven rug), blankets and other items and a paploma. Often the groom would bring all this in his own 'baoulo' (chest or trunk). When the house was decorated in preparation for the wedding, there would be an area designated 'yia ton gambro' - for the groom!
The cotton used in these quilts was grown on Rhodes. Some of it came from the family's own fields in the village of Laerma near Lindos, well known for its ancient ruins. Growing up in Laerma, Maria remembers her extended family being almost entirely self sufficient - they owned sheep and bee-hives, grew wheat, olives, figs, pears, lentils and chick-peas. They made their own pasta, and baked their bread in the traditional 'fourno' (oven) situated outside the house. Maria recalls that 'sometimes we bought a bit of rice!
They were lovely days - that's why when we go to Greece, I love being in my village'.
Greece was ravaged by WWII and the civil war, and in the difficult years immediately following, huge numbers of Greeks migrated. With the two quilts in her luggage, seventeen year old Maria arrived in Brisbane to her fiance Panayioti, who had come two years earlier. Ten years later, her parents Despina and George Stergakis also took the difficult decision to migrate even though it was late in their life. They wanted to be near their children: Maria, Ioannis, Manolis and Stavroula, who eventually returned to live in Crete.
Maria and Panagioti married in 1962 in Brisbane's Greek Orthodox Church of St George, and settled into establishing themselves in their new country. They have three children - Paraskevi, George, and Anna."
[Written by Lula Saunders, adapted from interview 5/9/00 for the National Quilt Register]

Related Quilts:

Yvonne Hamdorf
Wholecloth pram quilt with a top of pink cotton sateen, and the reverse is a more finely woven, ivory, fabric. All over quilting design as main feature, with stylised hearts, leaves and cross hatching. The padding is cotton batting. 870 x 660 mm.
John Tomkin
Hand stitched, cotton, appliquéd, quilt in a flower pattern on a plain background. Colours are shades of green, apricot and browns. This quilt was known as a 'Bride's Quilt'. Padding is thought to be layers of white fabric raised almost like a wadding. The backing is cotton material. 2470 x 2020 mm.
Heather Leonard
This 'Quilt' is made from an army great coat from the second world war. The seams have been unpicked and pieced together by machine zig-zagging the flat edges (with Singer treadle sewing machine). The pocket slits are turned back and seamed rather than being pared off. The outside edges are turned over and blanket stitched in red. It does not have a backing.
1620 x 1180mm
Yvonne Renfree
One side of this wholcloth quilt is a single piece of cretonne or similar with a pattern of autumn leaves. The other side is patched pieces of curtaining. The padding is old clothing, mainly knits, tacked to random pieces of curtain material. The quilt is tacked together to hold all the padding in and machine stitched to the backing.
1850 x 1100mm
Joyce Wynn
Whole cloth traditional Durham quilt in sateen, pink one side and ivory the other. Elaborately hand quilted. It is padded but the type of padding is unknown. 2030 x 2030mm.
Irene Copping
Durham quilt. Hand quilted with Durham Feather Pink on one side and cream on the other. Cotton material with a slightly sheen cotton used for the quilting. Cotton wool padding.
2440 x 2150mm