Quilts

National Trust of Australia (WA)
Patchwork top made of cottons, constructed with 5 by 5 rows of squared 8 point pieced stars alternating with white cross-shaped blocks (made from 4 pieces). On all sides are borders of half stars. The outer border is of rectangles of cotton prints appliquéd on to cotton to form a plaited pattern. The border only is backed with a band of cream cotton. All patches are whip stitched together.
2645 x 2615mm
Yass & District Historical Society
Patchwork quilt made of approx. 730 Suffolk Puffs, using mainly cotton materials in florals and plains. Each puff is 45mm diameter. The quilt centre has a square of 16 pink puffs outlined with a single row of blue puffs. Each corner of the quilt has a square of 9 puffs in a single colour. No padding. Quilt is edged and backed with a red and white tartan cotton.
Griffith Pioneer Park Museum
Patchwork quilt made from hexagon patches of cotton, silk, brocade, sateen and wool. Some silk patches are individually lined. Colours are mainly red, blues, purple, black, yellow and brown, with some pastels. Many silk patches have disintegrated, showing the paper templates. Quilt has a brown cotton inner lining, then a blue cotton backing, and is edged on the reverse with checked silk. Hand sewn by more than one person: one experienced sewer, one not so experienced.
1370 x 1170mm
Christine Barnes
Cotton quilt with rosettes of hexagons. There is a centre hexagon with a surround of 6 hexagons in a contrasting pattern and then an outer row of 12 hexagons in a different pattern. Between each rosette is a single row of hexagons in a print common to the whole quilt. The materials are typical of the 60s period. There is a deep aqua border. It is machine quilted. The backing is cotton.
2515 x 1829mm
Shelley Cameron
Cotton scrap quilt with shapes of squares and diamonds and strips. There is no padding and the backing is calico.
2125 x 1440mm
Julie Atkinson
Reversible wholcloth quilt with elaborate hand quilting. One side is rose pink and the other black with quilting done in black thread. It is padded but the type of padding is unknown,
2250 x 2100mm
Irene Copping
Durham quilt. Hand quilted with Durham Feather Pink on one side and cream on the other. Cotton material with a slightly sheen cotton used for the quilting. Cotton wool padding.
2440 x 2150mm
Yvonne Hore
Reversible quilt. Both sides are small squares of cotton scraps mainly left over from children's clothes. Plain and patterned pieces in a wide variety of colours. Hand stitched. Padding is pieced men's clothing, jumpers, cardigans, trousers. The present owner zig zagged over the seams, bound the edges and 'clouted' (her term) it in circles and squares.
2080 x 1570mm
Wendy McPhail
Repeat block in Ohio star pattern. Wide border of triangles, pieced blocks and stripes. Stars are in greens, pinks, mauves (all now very faded) and white. Wreath quilting in squares with smaller wreath quilting in triangles. There is padding and the backing is a poly/cotton sheet. 2500 x 2450mm
Mr. K.Green
Crazy patchwork quilt made from silk, cotton and velvet in pastels and rich dark colours with a wide border of dark burgundy silk velvet. Decorative embroidery stitches including straight, herringbone and feather edge each piece. Most pieces have embroidered motifs including crown, flowers, horseshoe and Australian motifs of wattle and emu. Date '1891' worked in cross stitch on one piece. The padding is wool and the backing dark red satin and these are joined by diagonal machine stitching in yellow thread.
1750 x 1100mm
National Museum of Australia
A 'Farm Life Quilt' made from alternate squares of beige linen and brightly coloured cotton headcloth. The coloured squares are farm animals and birds in a variety of embroidery stitches. The beige squares have a cornucopia design embroidered in dark brown stem stitch. There is a wide border front and back of beige linen. The backing is brown and white check cotton. There is no padding.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Skin rug made from feral cat skins and probably some wallaby pelts. There are 28 individual skins and colours are dark brown, creamy yellow and striped and spotted light and dark brown and cream. One cat pelt measures 495mm. The striped and spotted skins indicate tabby cats. The backing is maroon felt extended to form a pinked and scalloped edge. The top is attached to the backing with hand stitching incorporating faded red ric-rac braid along the seamline on the back. 1680 x 1300mm
Narryna Heritage Museum
Cotton applique quilt in 'Kentucky Rose' wreath pattern. Cream background with applique flowers in deep pink with green stems and leaves. The wreaths, each with 4 flowers, are repeated across the quilt. It is extensively hand quilted. The backing is cream finished cotton and the padding is cotton.
2300 x 2250
Wanda McPherson
Patchwork quilt made from pure wool suiting samples in shades of navy blue and brown. Quilt is constructed in 11 rows containing 11 pieces. Each piece is 14cm x 9cm. No padding. Backing is of mauve cotton with a floral pattern of closely spaces white/pale mauve flowers.
1480 x 900mm
Valinda Gale
Patchwork quilt made from squares of cotton prints in florals, stripes, spots and checks, joined together in rows. Colours are predominantly blues, reds, yellow and pastels. Binding is of turquoise blue fabric. Materials appear to be from the 40s or 50s. Patches caught in the middle with a woollen knot - red, yellow, blue wool. No quilting. Backed in blue fleecy flannel.
Single bed length and width.
Pioneer Settlement Authority
Centre medallion of hexagons surrounded by blocks of tumbling blocks. Rows of triangles around the edge. Each corner has a star within a hexagon. Hand stitched with the traditional 20 stitches to the inch. There is a silk tassle in each corner. Materials include: silk, silk ribbon, taffeta, brocade, velvet, striped silk, faille. The backing is cream holland.
1580 x 1510mm
Barbara McCabe
"A single bed cover made up of squares and recrangles of woollen fabric pieced together by a Vicker Sewing Machine from Myer Melbourne. The fabrics are either new (left over scraps) or used (unpicked woollen garments). The backing is an old (used) candlewick bedspread. There is no padding. It is faded and worn due to being used for other purposes later. There is a 66 cm high clown that ahs been appliqued on mainly by hand using blanket stitch. It is also made from scraps of fabric. The hands were cut from an old felt hat."
2400mm x 1660mm
National Gallery of Australia
"A medallion or framed quilt in design. There is a central field of small patchwork diamonds, and from this radiates plain stripes of fabric bordering areas of patchwork panels. The edge of the quilt carries bands of red cotton, which are slightly larger at the top and bottom edges, and here the band is additionally decorated with appliqué diamonds. The fabric of the patchwork is cotton in fine plain weave of pale coloured florals and small geometric designs. The framing and border stripes are of bright red twill weave cotton. The small diamonds of the central field are hand sewn, with more use of machine stitching around the outer edge of the quilt.
The quilt is not padded. The patchwork is fully lined with a printed plain weave cotton fabric with a design commemorating Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The design is based on a repeated grid of circles. In the centre of each circle is a cameo of Queen Victoria, surrounded by images of the national flowers of England, Scotland and Ireland: the rose, the thistle and the shamrock. The edge of the front face of the quilt is trimmed with a red and white cotton braid." [NGA] 2380 x 2220mm
Red Cliffs Historical Society
Garland with berries appliqued on wholecloth quilt of off white cotton. The backing is whole cloth in soft green. The garland (ribbon appearance) is in floral patterned green. The red berries are padded. It is machine quilted. Dacron type padding.
1820 x 1500mm
Bruce Wright
Skin rug made from 50-60 rabbit skins in various colours, pieced in a diamond pattern. Dark diamond in centre, a diamond of dark honey colour, then a band of dark, another of dark honey, a band of grey, a band of honey, with corner triangles of grey. Rug is backed with blue felt, and has a scalloped edge of blue felt. Hand sewn. Skins tanned with wattle bark tanning solution. 1550 x 1300mm

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