Quilts

Gladys V. Williams
Grandmother's Flower Garden, also known as French Bouquet. The quilt comprises 181 flowers. No padding is used. Each flower has seven hexagonal patches, cut from a metal template pattern. Floral and plain silk materials are used and mounted on pale blue moire taffeta.
3050 x 2031mm
National Gallery of Australia
" This coverlet is composed of two pieces of dark blue cheese cloth joined with a row of running stitches down the centre of the coverlet (the seam faces the front face of the coverlet but is hidden beneath a row of appliqué).
The coverlet is decorated with rows of pieced work surrounding appliquéd and embroidered scenes. A panel down the LHS of the quilt and a smaller panel lower RHS depict animals and floral images. In the centre RHS an elderly couple sit beneath a tree. In the upper left a bride and groom accompanied by three flower girls are showered with petals from a wicker basket carried by a very large angel. Glass beads, sequins and a button have been used to highlight the appliqué and embroidery.
As with all of Mary Jane Hannaford's quilts, the work is stitched by hand and quite crudely, but the naivety of the images is overwhelming with their charm." [NGA] The quilt is not padded or lined. 1950 x 1690mm
Billie Briggs
Hand pieced hexagon quilt in pattern known as 'Grandmother's Flower Garden". 12 hexagons, in patterned cottons, form the outer border of each flower with an inner border of 6 matching plain coloured hexagons and all flowers have a yellow hexagon centre. There is no padding, a cotton backing and it is hand quilted.
2400 x 1780mm.
Jean Cameron
White cotton quilt with blue embroidery. There is a lattice grid embroidered with 30 squares one way and 24 the other and in each square there is an embroidered signature or initial. In one is "The Home Missions Fete 1923" and in the centre "D.A.Cameron, Moderator" the date 1921-22 and 24 signatures within a more heavily embroidered rectangle. There is no padding and the backing is white cotton.
2120 x 1680mm
Margery Creek
Cotton quilt in 'Pyramid Charm' pattern. Made in the USA and thought to have come from Louisiana. Hand pieced and hand quilted with the quilting following the triangular shapes. The quilting is quite coarse. The backing is black printed material and there is cotton padding.
1931 x 1855mm
Margery Creek
Cotton quilt made in the USA. The pattern is 'Turkey Tracks'. It is machine pieced and very finely hand quilted. The backing is calico and the padding is cotton.
1880 x 1753mm
Elizabeth Williams
Cotton quilt of plain and patterned hexagons, 6 joined to make a flower. The flowers are arranged in rows with single motifs filling the spaces. Hand sewn. The backing is heavy red cotton material. There is no padding.
2490 x 1803mm
June Brown
This quilt has been strip pieced with no regular pattern. It seems a large quilt has been made then folded in half. The materials used are woollen skirting pieces in a variety of colours. It could be used either way. There is no padding and it is very heavy.
2100 x 1950mm
Yiota Grigorakis
Wholecloth quilt. Top is gold sateen and the backing is gold cotton. Hand quilted in an overall large shell pattern within a border of three parallel lines spaced at 1000, 800, 700mms respectively. The padding is cotton wadding. 2000 x 1800mm
Julie Bos
Crazy patchwork quilt with pieces made from cottons, rayons, silks and taffetas. Each piece is stuffed with kapok and machine sewn to a backing then a wholecloth floral cotton backing has been added.
920 x 164o mms
Fran Williams
150 x 210mm pieces of bound suiting samples overlapped and machined together then herringboned with gold/yellow thread. Each piece has an embroidered motif, using single thread, mainly non Australian birds and animals. '1903' is embroidered on a centre piece. It is hand quilted. The backing is a black floral print. There is no padding.
1800 x 1940mm
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
Effie Kalenderidis
Wholecloth quilt made from pink satin, with similar pink cotton backing. The padding is cotton wadding. It is hand quilted and the pattern is a large central circular motif of a leaf pattern. There is a fan design in each corner and the in-fill pattern is of curved and straight parallel lines. The external border is four parallel lines.
2030 x 2000mm
Margery Creek
This utility quilt is mainly constructed from long strips of cotton seed sack material. It is machine pieced and quilted by hand in a diagonal pattern. There is a red border. The backing is cotton flannelette and the padding is cotton.
1601 x 1525mm
Mare Carter
Child's Patchwork quilt of pieced repeat blocks in red print and white cotton, in 'Bow Tie' pattern. Qult has cotton backing, and wool filling. Some patches are fraying. The quilt has 'Mary Lactitia Thompson' embroidered on it.
1905 x 1296mm
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
Margaret Wilson
Hand stitched appliqued quilt or banner. Different hand stitching indicates applique was probably done by several people. There is no padding. The backing is calico.
2230 x 2140mm
Margaret Lyons
Padding for a utilitarian quilt that originally had a wholecloth cover. The padding is up to 3 layers of woollen scraps and pieces of used clothing, including hand knitting. White cotton tacking and overcast stitches hold all layers in place. The backing is a cream wool blanket with woven stripes.
1580 x 1200mm
Teona Smith
Suffolk Puff or puff-ball quilt is made from scraps of dresses and pyjamas, mainly cottons, but also taffeta lining fabric, net, lurex, flocked organdie. The quilt is in bright clear colours, the fabric mostly in small prints, ginghams, different size spots, a few large prints, Chinese brocade, nylon. Puffs are 5cm across, and set 31 puffs across by 45 down. Puffs are squared off when whipstitched together, so corner holes are smaller than usual.
2180 x 1500mm
Doris Gould
Fox skin rug made from 28 winter fox skins, with turquoise green felt backing and with green felt scalloped edging. Part of some tails as edging remain. Skins hand pieced together, top sewn to backing by machine. 1550 x 1550mm

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