Mosaic Quilts

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Patchwork quilt made from silk and challis and velvet hexagons set to form diamond shapes. The centre shape has 8 hexagons surrounded by a row of 16 hexagons. The outer border of the quilt is 2 rows of 'Tumbling Blocks' set amongst a variety of black silk and satin patches. There is a wide fringe in red, green, blue and yellow. There is no padding and the backing is a recent addition in red cotton, synthetis mix.
1770 x 1740mm
Julie Bos
Allover pattern in woollen dress materials in blue, grey, navy, black and pink. Hand stitched. The owner suggests it was made in the 1950s or earlier. It is not used.
910 x 1250mm
Daphne Akehurst
Quilt in a wide variety of patterned and plain hexagons in cotton with a wide green border. There is no padding and the backing is cotton.
2500 x 2200mm
Yvonne Hore
Reversible quilt. Both sides are small squares of cotton scraps mainly left over from children's clothes. Plain and patterned pieces in a wide variety of colours. Hand stitched. Padding is pieced men's clothing, jumpers, cardigans, trousers. The present owner zig zagged over the seams, bound the edges and 'clouted' (her term) it in circles and squares.
2080 x 1570mm
Alicia Murdoch
Cotton quilt entirely of hesagons. Some are formed into rostttes or flowers and have a print border of 12 hexagons, an inner circle of 6 hexagons in a plain colour and a yellow hexagon centre. The padding is cotton wool and the backing plain off white cotton.
2210 x 1430mm
Pauline Hunter
Patchwork quilt made from hexagon patches in satin and nylon, the nylon overlaid on satin. Fabrics are plain, in a mixture of dark and light colours. No padding. Backing is of pink satin with pink satin ribbon covering the joining seams. Hand sewn with some machine stitching. Feather stitching along the edge. There is no padding.
2211 x 1752mm
Tongarra Bicentennial Museum
Patchwork cot quilt top made from cotton hexagon patches, featuring a centre rosette with 7 rows of patches around it forming an elongated shape, with rosettes and patches randomly placed on the sides. Quilt has a border of triangles pieced to form squares. Cotton prints with over 50 different patterns. Colours are faded, with red and brown (may be faded green) and mostly pastels. Hand sewn using whip stitch. No padding or backing.
990 x 825mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine pieced top of squares of part jumpers, most hand knitted. The padding is a blanket. The backing is an old curtain.
1735 x 1350mm
Elsie Shephard
Double sided patchwork quilt/rug constructed from squares machined together in strips and then the strips joined. It is made in one piece and then doubled over. The materials are mainly wool, worsted, part cream machine made jumper, pink and blue mohair, blue and white spotted flannelette and cream blanket and all are scraps or from worn clothing.
1690 x 1370mm
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
National Trust of Australia (NSW)
Pieced patchwork quilt of hexagons in cottons, chintzes and linen. The centre is pieced in 6 point hexagon stars, then radiating out are large hexagons alternating with tumbling blocks, then 6 piece hexagon stars and 4 piece hexagon diamonds. Some pieces have Egyptian patterns dating from 1800 - 1805. The backing is cream linen.
2450 x 2200mm
Marie Pye
Quilt of scrap hexagons. Hand pieced over papers with some papers still in place. Materials used include seersucker, plisse, chambray and various other textured cottons used in dressmaking. The owner has restored the quilt. The backing is a soft cotton in indigo blue and the padding is flannelettte. "I machine tied the quilt in its restoration using cream cotton at the intersections so that it doesn't impinge on the interesting fabrics and the overall scrap effects." [Marie Pye]
2590 x 2170mm
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
Elsie Shephard
Double sided patchwork quilt/rug constructed from squares machined together in strips and then the strips joined. The squares average about 27cms. The materials are mainly woollens, fleck tweed, school jumpers, gren check, and chenille and all are from used clothing.
1800 x 1170mm
Ida Blenkiron
Patchwork knee rug made from maroon wool cut up from a garment into different sized rectangles. Pieced by hand, then all edges crocheted with coloured wool thread. The top was then machined and quilted to a pale blue wool backing. No padding.
1080 x 780mm
Annette Gero
Hand pieced hexagon quilt or table cover with centre motif of hexagons within hexagons. The remainder of the quilt is mainly hexagon rosettes. The materials are silks and brocades and it is pieced over papers in the English tradition.
1710 x 1600mm
The Temora Rural Museum
All cotton hexagon quilt using a wide variety of colours and patterns. The hexagons were hand stitched by Sylvia Schleibs in the same style she and her daughter, Norma Gilchrist, had previously made 3 hexagon quilts. There is a calico border and backing.
2000 x 1450mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Patchwork top made of cottons, constructed with 5 by 5 rows of squared 8 point pieced stars alternating with white cross-shaped blocks (made from 4 pieces). On all sides are borders of half stars. The outer border is of rectangles of cotton prints appliquéd on to cotton to form a plaited pattern. The border only is backed with a band of cream cotton. All patches are whip stitched together.
2645 x 2615mm
National Trust of Australia (VIC)
Double sided patchwork quilt. One side has small 'Tumbling Block' pattern. The other side has larger pattern of pieced stars. It is made of silks, some printed, some solid colours mainly blues, greens cream and black. There is no padding.
2100 x 1800mm
Fran Williams
150 x 210mm pieces of bound suiting samples overlapped and machined together then herringboned with gold/yellow thread. Each piece has an embroidered motif, using single thread, mainly non Australian birds and animals. '1903' is embroidered on a centre piece. It is hand quilted. The backing is a black floral print. There is no padding.
1800 x 1940mm

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