Quilts

Marian Russell
Patchwork quilt made from squares of wool, cotton, tweed, corduroy, tartan and stretch knit fabrics. Colours are mainly reds, greens, blues, pink and orange, mostly solid colours with some checks, stripes and florals. Padding is an open weave hessian material. Backing is a loosely woven cotton, pieced, buff coloured with a woven red and orange thread. Machine pieced, machine quilted in a large rectangle.
1601 x 915mm
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
Euroa Historical Society
Crazy patchwork quilt with patches of velvet, satin and silk joined in 12 blocks. Each seam is embroidered and many patches have embroidered flowers. There is a 140mm maroon velvet border. The backing is maroon silk. There is a sachet that belongs with the quilt.
1800 x 1400mm
Ida Blenkiron
Rectangular quilt with front and back made of rectangles of cotton samples of shirt materials, in checks, stripes and plains. Colours are soft muted reds, greens, blues, yellows and browns, and pastels. Construction is 3 to 4 rows of rectangles joined across the quilt. Padding is probably an old blanket. There is a row of hand quilting approximately the width of one patch in from the edge, holding the layers together.
1870 x 950mm
Ruth Collins
Patchwork quilt of rectangular wool and cotton tailors' samples, in browns, greys, navy, black and beige, in plains and patterned weaves. Padding is a woollen blanket, and the backing is a patterned cotton.
1956 x 1702mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Platypus skin rug, 63 pelts in 7 rows by 9. Skins are small, rectangular and worn down. The colour is greyish brown with a darker centre. The skins are machine stitched then the rug is hand sewn to dark brown felt which extends to form a wide border and this has 3 rows of machine stitching. 1780 x 1425mm
Kaniva District Historical Society
Patchwork quilt of hexagons in 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern, consisting of a dark centre hexagon, a row of light patches, then a second row of dark patches in the same colour as the centre. Each group of patches or 'flower' is joined by white paths. Colours are predominantly red, blue, brown and pale or faded colours. Some fading; some dark colour fabrics have deteriorated. Backing. Hand sewn. Border of quilt and backing sewn edge to edge.
2236 x 1829mm
Christina Kazaglis
Wholecloth quilt with one side blue satin with a red satin border and the reverse side wholecloth floral cotton. The quilting is parallel lines and squares. It is all hand stitched. The padding is raw cotton.
1740 x 1240mm
National Trust of Australia (TAS)
Child's quilt, reversible, top and ruffle of cotton patterned with pink and off white roses on a green background. The reverse has had a large piece of red and green paisley printed cotton hand sewn over the rose print. Machine stitched in rectangles in 5 rows with pink cotton. The padding is cotton or kapok.
1150 x 840mm
Jean Winchester
Patchwork quilt of hexagon patches with a large central group of 14 rows, then groups or 'flowers' of 6 patches placed over the rest of the quilt. The colours are red, black, white and blue, in a mixture of stripes, florals and plains. No padding. Backing is a double bed sheet. Hand sewn.
2591 x 2566mm
National Trust of Australia (SA)
Double bed patchwork coverlet of pieced blocks in a pinwheel or dresden plate pattern of prints on a cream ground, each block with a 1 3/4" border or sash. Each pinwheel has 10 pieces, and the quilt is constructed 8 blocks by 6. Cotton fabrics are in florals, checks and stripes, in blues, greens browns, pinks, purple. The quilt was in poor repair and has been reduced in size. Conservation work has been done by the State Conservation Centre.
Backing or filling unknown.
Yass & District Historical Society
Patchwork quilt made from diamond patches in the 'Cotton Box' pattern, in a wide variety of cotton fabrics, including plains, checks, stripes and florals. The patches have blotting paper templates. The quilt is edged with diamond shapes in a red floral cotton. The backing is of the same red floral pattern, featuring yellow, turquoise and white flowers and leaves. Hand sewn.
2135 x 2033mm
National Gallery of Australia
"This is not a true quilt, but a pieced coverlet with a lining. The entire front face of the quilt is of pieced hexagonal and part hexagonal printed cotton patches. Pieces are joined with hand sewn over casting stitches of many different coloured cotton threads. The joining of the patches forms a 'daisy' pattern in some areas and in others it is random. The edge of the front face of the quilt carries a 40mm strip of cotton Chinoiserie which is then folded to the reverse of the quilt and becomes part of the lining. The template for the hexagon patches remains in many of the patches: writing paper and news print." [NGA]
The work is not padded "The lining at the edge of the quilt (for approx.175mm) is a plain weave fabric of a Chinoiserie design. The centre field of the lining is a rectangular panel of a twill weave brushed cotton fabric with a striped floral design." [NGA] 2215 x 2070mm
Roslyn Beattie
Patchwork quilt made from different sized rectangles, in new materials, including cotton, lightweight velvet, lining silk, crepe, seersucker, and satin. All fabrics are of even weight. Colours are mainly light, with pinks, greens and blues predominating. No padding or backing. Quilt was not finished.
2050 x 1250mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Cotton quilt in pattern commonly known as "Double Wedding Ring'. Probably an American McCall's pattern. Hand stitched, florals, checks and plain pieces. The backing is pink cotton. Scalloped edge.
2300 x 1880mm
Mary and Max Robertson
Traditional Wagga rug made from 3 wheat bags joined along the long side by sewing with bag needle and twine. Machined twill cover was put on later in the 1960s. Originally no padding but now the bags are the padding. One of a pair(identical).
1790 x 1160mm
National Trust of Australia (WA)
Quilt of pale yellow cotton sateen with a centre star motif with 8 points in pink cotton sateen. A border of pink cotton sateen has pink triangles on each side. The quilt is machine sewn and elaborately hand quilted with designs including fleur-de-lys shape, feathers, vine pattern, clam shells, 8 petalled flower and cable pattern with the main ground cross hatched. The backing is pale yellow cotton sateen.
2235 x 2065mm
Ida Blenkiron
Patchwork knee rug made from maroon wool cut up from a garment into different sized rectangles. Pieced by hand, then all edges crocheted with coloured wool thread. The top was then machined and quilted to a pale blue wool backing. No padding.
1080 x 780mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
Continuous 'sleeve' of hand sewn small hexagons, many woollen, some joined, some darned, plain and patterned. Several bands of plain coloured hexagons. The padding is ticking, an old cream blanket and part of a bedspread.
1960 x 800mm
Narelle Grieve
Silk quilt in diamonds with hexagon border. "Toward the edge of the quilt, the design of diamonds made into blocks offers an optical illusion, where the diamonds can be seen to form stars. The border is made up of these stars and half-diamonds, and the entire quilt is trimmed with lace and triangular flaps made of tiny hexagons." [extract unidentified magazine article supplied by quilt owner.]
The backing is maroon cotton. 1600 x 1600 mm.

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