Patchwork Quilts

Rita Fiddian
Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Hexagons are from cotton and polyester material mostly from 'Reverse Garbage' Melbourne. Hand pieced by Rita Fiddian, the owner. Hand quilted. The padding is wool and the backing cotton.
3049 x 2109mm
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
Harden Murrumburrah Historical Society
Patchwork quilt has pieced blocks in the 'Ohio star' pattern in red print and white cotton, alternating with plain white blocks. Quilt has a 9cm frill in red and grey geometric print cotton, machine stitched around the edge. Quilt appears to have some hand quilting. No padding. Backing is white cotton.
2210 x 2060mm
National Gallery of Australia
" 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]
2082 x 1386mm
National Trust of Australia (QLD)
Quilt made of tailors' swatches, machine constructed around a central frame that is mainly mid brown pieces. This is surrounded by rectangles of mainly charcoal greys and the outer border is navy blues. The backing is a heavy cotton with random green and cream and grey stripes.
1651 x 1220mm
Mare Carter
Child's Patchwork quilt of pieced repeat blocks in red print and white cotton, in 'Bow Tie' pattern. Qult has cotton backing, and wool filling. Some patches are fraying. The quilt has 'Mary Lactitia Thompson' embroidered on it.
1905 x 1296mm
Margery Creek
Cotton quilt made in the USA. The pattern is 'Turkey Tracks'. It is machine pieced and very finely hand quilted. The backing is calico and the padding is cotton.
1880 x 1753mm
National Trust of Australia (SA)
Patchwork frame quilt made from cotton prints. Quilt centre has four pieced squares set within a star shaped border of square patches, set within a square frame (74cm square) edged with half triangles, then set within a red frame (114cm x 114 cm), diamond shaped or 'on point'. In the 4 triangles are double diamond shapes, then a wide border of squares and 'square within a square' patches with red triangles. Red binding. Padding is probably wool. Backing is a cotton print in browns in a floral paisley. All over quilting. Handsewn.
1880 x 1850mm
Nancy Dunlap
Quilt top in block design based on hexagons in a variety of patterned cotton with a plain pink hexagon in the centre. The hexagons are linked by triangles of pink cotton. Cottons include florals, stripes, checks, tartans and novelty prints. 2080 x 2300mm
 Dianne Gorringe
Patchwork quilt/cloth with strong overall design of very small squares. The colours are navy, red, cream, green (khaki) and fawn. There is a wide fringe on all sides. There is no padding. The backing is cotton sateen.
1240 x 126mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Machine pieced crazy patchwork quilt in plain, floral and striped cotton materials. Some pieces are seamed and others are sewn direct on to calico backing. Each piece is outlined in red stranded cotton in herringbone stitch.
2150 x 1770mm
Margery Smith
Patchwork quilt made from hexagons 63mm across in a variety of cotton prints and plains. The bright coloured patches came from children's clothes and dressmaking scraps. The 'set included a large cot cover, a pillow cover and a circular stool cover. No padding. Backing of unbleached calico. Hand sewn.
2300 x 1840mm
Susan Shannon
This hand pieced and hand quilted hexagon quilt is in a pattern often called 'Grandmother's Flower Garden'. The background is white and there are concentric rows of double rosettes each with a yellow centre. The colours start in the centre of the quilt with pink and then follow the rainbow. Paper templates were used. The padding is cotton (American) and the backing is cotton floral poplin.
2360 x 1730mm
National Gallery of Australia
" This well worn quilt is of pieced diamonds set into squares (221 make up the quilt). Thick woollen fabric has been used for the pieces. These are with plain dyed fabrics or tartans and checks. All work on the quilt is hand sewn. The quilt was lined with a fine blue cotton." [NGA] The quilt is not padded. 1835 x 1400mm
Annette Gero
This quilt is of hand pieced hexagons randomly placed and stitched on to a linen backing. They are mainly dress fabrics and chintz with some hexagon flowers in the centre and corners in broderie perse. There is no padding.
2600 x 2600mm
Margaret McMillan
Cotton log cabin double bed quilt. Each square has 52 pieces (i.e. 13 pieces x 4 to make a square). There are 192 squares so a total of 10.092 pieces. There is probably no padding. The backing is calico with a floral pattern done in running stitch.
2200 x 2200mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Patchwork quilt in Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern, consisting of 7 patch rosettes with white 'paths'. Cotton dress and shirting materials have been used in blues, pinks, brown, turkey red and Prussian blue. The quilt is hand sewn and each hexagon is 25mm wide. The backing is cream twill cotton in three panels. There is a hand sewn binding in red/pink cotton. There is overall quilting in chevron or zigzag pattern.
2415 x 2110mm
Robert O'Hara Burke Memorial Museum
Miniature crazy quilt either for a baby or a doll. Plain and patterned materials including velvet, satin, sateen and brocade. 4 patches are embroidered and the central patch has a hand painted flower. Each patch is embroidered around the edge with a variation of feather stitch. It has a brown binding and lace edge. The backing is twill cotton.
490 x 390mm
Meg Orr
All over pattern of rows of hexagons with each unit made up of 4 hexagons each 45mm. Patterned and plain materials thought to date from the 1930s including cotton and linen dress materials, synthetics and synthetic crepe. It was an unfinished top and Meg Orr, the present owner, finished it by machine stitching some of the hexagon rosettes to the red twill background and stitching on a backing. There is no padding.
1740 x 1210mm.
Annette Gero
Cotton frame quilt with a diamond in the centre of the frame and a border of straight pieces. The outer border is diamonds. The quilt is hand sewn and hand quilted.
1910 x 1830mm

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