Patchwork Quilts

Flora Noyce
Log cabin quilt consisting of 36 blocks each 200mm square. Light and dark arrangement with a variety of small patterned cotton materials (floral, spotted, striped) and plains. The blocks are hand stitched on to fine cotton and then joined by machine. There is a 120mm double gathered frill of floral cotton with a beige background. The backing is 2 pieces of cream cotton with repeat floral and musical motifs interspersed with forget me nots.
1500 x 1500mm
Annette Gero,
Wholecloth quilt originally covered with cretonne and recovered with orange satin. Machine quilted. Padding of wool.
1270 x 1160mm
Helen Sparkman
Hexagon quilt made from dressmaking scraps from one neice. The quilt top only is complete and a few papers are still attached.
2250 x 2000mm
Gabrielle Carter
Crazy quilt of velvet upholstery fabrics, and cigar ribbons with surface embroidery. Patches are outlined in embroidery stitches, and one patch has 'Dec 12 1886' on it. There is no padding, and the backing is cotton. 1720 x 1580 mm.
Shirley Maywald
Patchwork crazy quilt in velvets and silks, no pieces over 4" long. Colours are black, maroon, pinks, blues and pastels, and all seams embroidered with coloured silks in herringbone stitch. Backing is green, there is no padding. Quilt is bound with black velvet 1/2" wide. A patch near the centre is embroidered: '1909' and '1948'.
940 x 915mm
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Small rectangular bed cover, probably child's or even doll's, made from rectangles of cream linen stitched together with hand sewn french seams. The top surface is decorated with small squares and rectangles of coloured silk, velvet, wool and cotton attached approximately 25mm apart, with 3 stitches in centre of patch to attach to background. Bright pink wool patches stand out.
935 x 635mm
Fay Burgess
Hexagonal piece of patchwork made up of 9 rows of rosettes of hexagons in a wide variety of colours and patterns mainly in silks and velvets. It is incomplete. Backing papers are still in the outside rows and also basting threads. Hexagons are joined by fine whip stitching. It is unlined.
1370 x 1220mm
Brenda Bird
Suffolk Puff quilt made from a variety of scraps of dress materials including cottons and terylene. It is backed with white cotton sheeting and edged with a frill of white terylene. There is a matching pillow sham.
1740 x 1300 mm.
Nancy Dunlap
Repeat block in wedding ring pattern. All cottons with cream background and mainly pale mauve and green dressmaking prints in wedding rings. Green border and cream calico backing. The padding is cotton. 1800 x 210mm.
Daphne Akehurst
Cotton quilt of hexagons in 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern. Hand stitched. Machined to a cotton backing. There is no padding.
2480 x 1950mm
Billie Briggs
Hand pieced crazy quilt in a variety of plain coloured velvets. All seams are over embroidered in a variety of stitches. There is no padding and the backing is heavy black cotton. 1900 x 1630mm.
National Trust of Australia (NSW)
Handsewn quilt of hexagon patches in cotton prints in 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern. Each flower consists of double rows of print hexagons around a yellow centre and these are joined by 'paths' in plain green and white cotton. Backing is green cotton and there is a wool padding. There is outline quilting around all green and white hexagons and centre and first row of hexagons in flowers.
1885 x 1750mm
Helen Cornish
Patchwork quilt in the Log Cabin pattern, each square 14cm x 14cm, made of used cotton fabrics with a fine wool fabric as the centre square of each. Colours are mainly reds, blues, greens and maroon, and pastels, in prints and plains. Quilt has a wide border of dark blue cotton with mitred corners. The padding is black and white mattress ticking, and the backing is the same dark blue cotton as the border. Machine stitched.
1770 x 1170mm
Val Ireland
Utilitarian quilt. The top and backing are machine pieced scraps of curtain material and clothing pieces. The centre is an old blanket and possibly clothing pieces.
2033 x 1525mm
Muriel Thompson
Hexagon quilt in pattern known as 'Grandmother's flower garden'. Hexagons of prints and plains with yellow centre to each flower, and plain pink outlines. It is hand pieced and hand quilted. Padding is cotton, backing is cream cotton. 2200 x 2000 mm.
National Gallery of Australia
"The quilt consists of 12 blocks of crazy patchwork with an embroidered border. The quilt is made of 167 different fabrics; most of these are silk. These velvets, printed silks and satins are beautifully embroidered with flowers, household items and Kate Greenway images of children at play. Many of the motifs have a strong influence from the Aesthetic Movement. The edge of the quilt carries a border in maroon silk decorated with tendrils and daisies in very fine embroidery.
The patches are joined with hand sewing and embroidery, however the 12 panels are joined with machine stitching (chainstitch machine stitching). The blue silk lining was hand sewn into position with silk thread." [NGA]
"The quilt does consist of three layers but the central layer is not padding. The crazy patch pieces were sewn together and this was lined with white cotton fabric prior to the embroidery at the edges of the 12 panels being placed. This in turn was lined with a fine blue silk." [NGA] 1810 x 1460 mm
Darla Taylor
Double sided patchwork quilt. Both sides have central frame surrounded by borders. Side 1 has diamond of squares set in a square frame 490mm. Borders are squares and triangles. Side 2 is central frame of squares on point surrounded by plain grey velvet border then marroon border. Materials are cottons, silks, velvet, crepe, rayons in a wide variety of colours and apperned and plain. Machine construction. No quilting. Padding is a cream wool blanket.
1440 x 1420mm
Alicia Murdoch
Cotton quilt with central frame and radiating borders mainly in squares in pinks and blues, printed materials and plain. The padding is cotton wool and the backing is off white cotton.
2040 x 1800mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Double sided utility quilt made from machine pieced squares of tailors' samples and men's and boy's suitings. The padding is 5 or 6 layers of pieced used clothing including darned, threadbare socks, part jumpers, blanket pieces etc.
2090 x 1340mm
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Quilt top of hexagonal patches in silk and velvet in colours of brown, black, soft green, maroon, light yellow and blue. Some materials self patterned. Blue backing papers can be seen at edges behind some patches.

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