Patchwork Quilts

The Embroiderers' Guild of S.A.Inc Museum
An Adelaide Chronicle bird quilt. Alternate squares of green and fawn headcloth embroidered with native birds in fawn squares, butterflies in outline, beige threads, in green squares. Bordered and backed with the same green fabric. It is padded.
2390 x 1530mm
Beverley Edmonds
Patchwork quilt made from Suffolk Puffs in bright and pastel colours in cotton, cotton polyester blend and satin. Patches are a mixture of dark and light prints, set in groups of 4 patches. No lining or backing. Hand sewn. Written in ink on the back of the quilt: "Made by Agnes Emma Vonhoff for G.daughter Beverly Edmond".
2050mm x 1480mm
David Beasley
Pictorial quilt, pieced randomly from wool. Hand appliqued and embroidered. It has a central Miss Muffet theme with the spider and cattle under a tree. There is a 'Centenary Border 1836 - 1936' and an inscription 'Good Times, Let's Look Back'. The backing is 2 pieces of plaid suiting in grey/blues.
2000 x 1490mm
Bud and Patricia Ford
Single bed quilt made from a variety of stud cattle show ribbons won over 20 years. The ribbons are hand stitched together and the quilt is backed with blue taffeta. It has a gold fringe.
1829 x 1220mm
Benall & District Historical Society
Crazy patchwork quilt in mostly dark colours made from velvet and silk. Centre panel has a circular piece made from 9 triangles. This panel is in a grey [velvet] frame or border. Seams are stitched over with herringbone stitch in different coloured threads, and some other decorative stitches are used. Quilt is dotted with 'stars'. Backing is a cotton fabric printed with bunches of pink roses on a blue and white ground. Padded, and qulted with widely spaced rows of machine stitching. Quilt is edged with bias.
1520 x 1460mm
Fran Williams
Hexagon quilt top of predominantly roller print cottons. Pieced over newspapers (English) with some still inside dated to early 1880s. The owner commented on the way the maker has used the prints to form secondary designs. Possible later additions around the edges.
1760 x 2150mm
Valerie Rivers
Hand sewn frame quilt with design in 3cm hexagons. Some paper templates still in place but the backing has been removed. There are 16 different fabrics used in reds, dark greens, browns, pinks etc.
1890 x 1660mm
Dorothy Cawood
Utility quilt. Random piecing with borders. Reused materials from furnishings and clothing uncluding wool, tweed, cotton, suiting. The backing is mattress ticking and the padding is an old sheet.
1850 x 1500mm
Jeanette and Ian Hahn
Crazy quilt or wall hanging in mainly silks and velvets with elaborate decorative stitching over seams and embellishment with beads, braids, lace and crochet There are paisley and flower patterns and a central area with diagonally opposite patterns. At one border is an embroidered and patchwork grape leaf design with five leaves and a bunch of grapes of velvet covered material. Braided piping is around the entire edge. It is not padded. There is a cotton backing.
1480 x 810mms
Jean Fidler
Part quilt or wall hanging constructed from hexagons in a type of silk. The hexagons are hand sewn and placed in diagonal lines.
1500 x 480mm
Di Tement
Quilt consisting of log cabin blocks with a centre piece, 520 x 460mm, of crazy patchwork. Each log cabin block is individually done and each 'log' is stuffed with a mixture of fur (angora?) and wool. The crazy patchwork centre is heavily embroidered and embellished with shells, beads and sequins. 'Devonport' and '1895' are embroidered on separate patches. There is no backing.
960 x 1270mm
Di Tement
Leather buggy rug constructed from hundreds of squares each 60mm. There is a pink band of the same size squares 3 rows in from each border. There is no padding. The backing is a towelling type material. 1140 x 1700mm
Regina Murphy
Denim squares approx 9cm (square) machined together and handstitched to backing sheet. Each square is appliqued individually using natural and synthetic (few) materials. Applique both machined and hand stitched. Backing is unbleached calico.
2280 x 1310mm
Virginia DeFriest
Called an 'Easter Egg' pattern by the owner. Whole quilt is pieced from the same small shapes in printed and plain cottons. It is all hand stitched. The padding is cotton wadding and the backing plain white muslin. 2220 x 1840 mm
Diane Kern Hamilton
Crazy quilt made in 3 sections. Fabrics are wools, cottons, velvets and silks and there are some silk chintzes. All the seams have been stitched with either wool, silk or cotton using either herringbone stitch or other decorative stitches such as sun bursts and daisies. A few black pieces have been embroidered eg. an umbrella, pansies, a red butterfly. There is no padding and the backing is cotton in a small houndstooth pattern. 2040 x 1700mm.
Norma Irvin
Cotton quilt made of octagons with sides measuring 30mm. Material is in various colours and textures in plain, print, stripe and spots. The solid colour blocks are placed in diagonal lines and the patterned ones at random. Hand stitched at 20 stitches to the inch. There is no padding. The backing is cotton headcloth folded to the front, corners mitred then stitched to quilt following outline of octagons.
1150 x 720mm
Red Cliffs Historical Society
30 squares of machined strips around a small centre square. Each square is light and dark and together they form diagonal light and dark strips across the quilt. Colours are teal, dusty pink, red, dark green, apricot. Materials are cottons, velvets, satins, corduroys and lame. There is a border of regency stripes and the backing is the same material. The padding is probably dacron.
1750 x 1700mm
Jewel Y. Hide
Hexagon shaped cover in cottons, rayons, linens and seersuckers. Central hexagon motif surrounded by 6 groups of hexagons. In fill is also hexagons. Red patterned hexagon border. The backing is calico. There is no padding. Embroidered on the back is ' D.Channells, Coffs HBR, 1961'.
1860 x 1650mm
Powerhouse Museum
" A small rectangular quilt made from 54 embroidered badges for school blazers. Most are from NSW schools and some of these are repeated; one is for a school in Suva, Fiji. The ground fabric of the badges is wool, in shades of dark blue, light blue, black and grey. The monograms are machine and hand embroidered with school crests and mottos in Latin and English; as the embroidery is not of a finished quality, it may be that the badges were either store samples or trial pieces. The quilt is machine pieced and is backed with dark cherry red wool that turns over to the right side to form a narrow border binding." [PHM] It is not padded.
1770 x 940mm
Sheila Bruhn
Quilt constructed of blocks of hexagons with 72 'flower' rosettes made from plain and printed cotton scraps. The centre of each rosette has the name of one of the Girl Guides embroidered on it. The one in the centre of the quilt has the Trefoil insignia outlined in satin stitch. The background is white hexagons. There is no padding and it is backed with white cotton. 1880 x 960mm

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