Quilts

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
Margery Creek
Double Wedding Ring' cotton pieced quilt. Machine constructed and hand quilted. Padding is Mountain Mist cotton. The backing is unbleached calico.
2160 x 1855mm
West Tamar Historical Committee
Wholecloth quilt with both sides of floral cotton. The padding is thought to be hessian bags.
2060 x 1300mm
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
Maria Politis
Wholecloth quilt made of deep cherry red satin with backing of sky blue satin. The padding is cotton wadding. It is hand quilted and the pattern is an all over one of four leafed clovers with a border of crescent shapes within straight parallel lines.
2000 x 1700mm
Mare Carter
Patchwork quilt, all cotton including cotton filling. "Wedding Ring" pattern in variety of materials in plains and patterned, many pinks and blues.
Hand sewn and hand quilted.
2236 x 1804mm
Daphne Akehurst
Quilt in a wide variety of patterned and plain hexagons in cotton with a wide green border. There is no padding and the backing is cotton.
2500 x 2200mm
The Pioneer Women's Hut
American quilt in 'Dresden Plate' pattern. Hand stitched, Wide variety of cotton materials used in plain and patterned materials. The backing is cream cotton. It is hand quilted. This quilt was made from an American McCalls pattern consisting of transfers for the pieces and for the quilting design.
2400 x 1700mm
Pam Clifford
Large squares, alternate brown check and blue check, of men's dressing gown material. "Everyone's father had one in 40s and 50s". [Pam Clifford]. No padding. Backing is smaller random shapes of men's grey suiting material. Machine construction. There is no quilting.
2236 x 1550mm
Anastasia Penklis
Traditional hand stitched Greek quilt, the top piece (in Greek a 'Stoffa') is of blue brocade with a gold pattern of roses and leaves. The border and backing are made from gold brocade woven with a daisy pattern (the same material as is in sister Ann Kyranis' quilt). The padding is cotton wool.
2100 x 1740mm
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Quilt has a centre panel of white velvet roses and green leaves with embroidered spider webs, on red velvet. Two side panels are in crazy patchwork in plain and patterned silks and velvets. All patches are edged with feather, herringbone or blanket stitch. Many patches are embroidered, including 'Minnie', 'Good Luck', birds, flowers, anchor, boat, fish, shell, spider web, crown,, 2 crossed flags, tennis racquets, Australian motifs including wattle. The centre panel has a row of ruched olive green ribbon each side and the whole quilt has a border of dark blue velvet. The padding is cotton wadding and the backing is cream cotton printed with red and pink chrysanthemums and green leaves.
2113 x 1995mm
Bruce Wright
Skin rug made from approximately 50 fox skins. These are hand sewn together in strips approx. 100mm wide across the width of the rug. Backing is of dark brown felt. The edge is trimmed with blue felt with a scalloped edge. Skins were tanned with wattle bark tanning solution. 1550 x 1300mm
Evelyn McAlister
Quilt made from dressmaking materials in a design probably made up by the maker but resembling 'Courthouse Steps'. The outer border of each block is mitred. Originally it was reversible but during restoration the back was brought to the front, doubling the size of the quilt. The padding is old woollen materials. The backing is a new piece of floral material. It is now machine quilted.
1830 x 1220mm
Kay Jones
Quilt top with English piecing in a star in polygon pattern. English and French cotton fabrics in a wide variety of patterns and plains constructed over papers with the tacking still in tact. Papers are mainly part envelopes some with stamps and post dated 1898. 2200 x 1800mm
Gundagai Historical Museum
Patchwork cot or pram quilt made of diamond patches in the Tumbling Block pattern. Patches are made from cotton, corduroy and velvet, with red, black, teal blue, green, brown and cream predominating. No padding. Backing is of green wool and the quilt is bound with dark red crushed velvet.
780 x 560mm
Janine and Eva Chick
Hexagon quilt, hand sewn, using a wide variety of patterned and plain cotton scraps left over from dressmaking. 6 hexagons are placed around a centre one. There is no padding. The backing is brown flannel turned over to the front with hexagons hand stitched to it.
1220 x 763mm
Annette Gero
Hand pieced frame quilt with centre frame and borders of squares set on point. There is a blue patterned border. The backing is white and it is finely quilted. "The fabrics themselves are all absolutely typical of the period [1830 t0 1840] and many, if not most, of them can be found as illustrations in historical textile reference books - in this respect the quilt is virtually a book chapter in itself and has a particular value to a quilt historian. At about this period in England cottons and chintzes were being produced in great quantity and were relatively modestly priced." [Annette Gero]
2540 x 2540mm
Western Australian Museum
Possum skin rug made from rows of possum pelts sewn to a woollen blue checked blanket. 1720 x 1370mm
National Gallery of Australia
" The quilt is a patchwork of red cotton fabric. Each piece is decorated with embroidery in thick white cotton thread and with cotton appliqué. The edge of the quilt is decorated with a red cotton unlined border strip decorated with cutwork daisies, producing a scalloped edge. The images and inscriptions carried on each of the pieces of various sizes are a time capsule to notions and everyday life at the turn of the century.
In the centre is Queen Victoria surrounded by a garland of floral emblem of the Empire. (This square is dated 1901) Other squares carry scenes of daily life, farm animals and mottoes. "When a woman throws herself at a man head she seldom hit the mark." There are several spelling errors within the inscriptions. The latest dated piece is 'Dec 1903'. The embroidery is quite crude and large, and shows the work of two hands." [NGA]
The quilt is not padded. It is lined with pink cotton flannelette. 2230 x 1910mm

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