Patchwork Quilts

Travelling rug. Wool, cotton and velvet. Handsewn, partly filled with wool blanket and hessian. The top of this rug was originally a green crushed velvet overcoat. Various parts of the garment have been unstitched and spread out to form a flat surface.
2100 x 1050mm

Patchwork quilt of hexagons in silks and velvet, the velvet in plain colours, the silk in plains, stripes, checks and brocades. Centre is made from red brocade hexagons with black silk patches embroided with a variety of flowers and leaves. Stitched to a red velvet border, then top and bottom have Australian motif of crossed wattle branches embroidered in bobble stitch, and on the sides embroidered red flowers. The rest of the quilt is made of hexagons, the edge stitched to a brown silk border, then a border of triangles and a striped edging. Surface embroidery. Crepe backing. Some newspaper templates remain.
2260 x 1720mm

Canadian Log' design (log cabin?). It is a hand stitched quilt constructed from 6,240 pieces of silk, satin, velvet, cotton, brocade and corduroy. The type of padding is unknown and the backing is cotton with a floral design. 1920 x 1900 mm

"A wagga quilt machine-pieced from old woollen suiting fabrics; some hand stitching is visible along a few of the joins. The quilt has 3 layers: the top layer has a rectangular centre composed of randomly-pieced woollen patches in grey tonings with a border composed of irregular navy rectangles; the lining is made from corn bags, and the backing is a striped cotton fabric. The three layers are machined together at the edges, thus holding the filling in place. There is no quilting."
1660 x 1610mm

The Adelaide Chronicle 'International Quilt'. Squares of fawn cotton with alternate squares embroidered with scenes from different countries using coloured threads in a variety of stitches. The alternate squares have a pattern of feathered circle and this is back stitched in beige embroidery thread. The backing is turquoise cotton blend attached to the quilt with pale blue herringbone stitch. The quilt is padded.
2430 x 1440mm

Cotton quilt with overall pattern of hexagons joined to make 'flowers'. Brown paper templates were used. All hexagons are hand stitched including on to the blue border which was then machined on to the same blue headcloth backing. The materials used were mainly scraps, including some from an aunt of the present owner, and are in a wide variety of patterns and colours. There is no quilting.
2110 x 1700mm

Frame quilt in linen has a centre motif in broderie perse applique of a blue urn topped with a blue basket of flowers, and perched on the basket handle a parrot. This is in a blue oval, with butterflies, a ribbon at the top and several posies of roses. Either side is a panel of broderie perse flowers. There is a narrow frame of patterned fabric, then a border of triangles pieced to make squares, with octagonal printed patches at each corner. The outer border is of appliqued circles of printed fabric on a dark background. Hand sewn.
1770 x 1730mm
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Multi coloured square cotton pieces used to form a 'postage stamp' pattern. The squares are 25mm and the quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted. There is a thin edge of brown on all sides. There is no padding and the backing is joined pieces of floral cotton.
2330 x 2130mm

Pieced quilt, the top made of fine wool fabric sewn using a treadle sewing machine, to form a distinctive Amish geometric pattern, 'Diamond in a Square'. A large red diamond is in a large blue square, contained by a narrow red border with small blue corner blocks, finished with a binding of deep red. The open areas are intricately hand quilted with patterns of feathers, flowers and leaves. Filling of wool, backing of plain blue cotton.
1770 x 1770mm