Patchwork Quilts

Quilt made of 9120 very small Suffolk Puffs, each one about the size of a 20 cent piece. "Each piece backed and the front of it drawn up like a reticule. It was not backed and was rather fragile, so I backed it on to a sheet, as it was heavy and in danger of tearing when lifted." [Gillian Sullivan]
2360 x 2230 mm

" A wide range of cotton fabrics have been used to make this quilt in the traditional log cabin style. The strips of the log cabin are joined by rows being hand sewn onto a small square backing fabric, each square of strips has then been hand sewn together to form the quilt. The work is backed with a sateen printed fabric decorated with paisley design. A strip of the lining trims the edge of the front face of the quilt. The lining is attached with machine stitching. There are numerous tacking stitches that remain in the front face of the quilt. There are approx 9000 pieces in the quilt, most being only 5mm in width.
The quilt is of three layers because the strips of the log cabin are attached to a backing piece, and then the quilt is lined; however it is not padded." [NGA]

English pieced hexagonal star quilt in silks, velvets and satins. Commercially made fringe in cotton maroon twill. Some motifs have herringbone stitching around them. There is no padding and the backing is polished cotton twill. 1840 x 1660 mm

This unfinished cover has a centre frame of a simple block. There are alternating plain and patterned borders including sword tooth, flying geese and squares on point. It is hand pieced with plain and twill weave cottons, variety of stripes, checks, florals and plains. There is no backing.
1800 x 1800mm

Patchwork quilt for a child made from suiting pieces from the Castlemaine Woollen Mills in Victoria. One side has dark rectangles in greys and navy, the other side uses pieces in light browns, cream and rust, with dark grey. The edging is also made from suiting. No padding Machine sewn.
1347 x 1271mm

Patchwork quilt made from alternate squares of light green and medium green cotton headcloth. The light green squares are hand embroidered with Australian native birds, the medium green squares are decorated with pulled thread designs. No padding. Backing and binding of medium green headcloth. Made from patterns published in The Adelaide Chronicle.
2650 x 1573mm

Patchwork quilt, reversible, with log cabin blocks on one side, with central red square in each block. Colours predominantly light greys, browns and pastels, and dark grey and blue. Reverse side is made of squares constructed from 2 triangles, in black, patterned pastels, pale blue and dark red. There is a black border along 2 edges on this side. It is quilted.
2058 x 1829mm

Quilt top of cottons including shirting materials constructed in kaleidoscope pattern with star border. Hand pieced over papers, some papers remain at edges. There is no padding and no backing.
2440 x 1720mm

Double sided machine sewn patchwork quilt made from clothing scraps, wool blends, corduroy, velvets. Patterns include checks and tartans and there are many plain colours. Shapes are mainly rectangles and squares.
1524 x 1372mm