Greek Quilt

History

The quilt was made by Sotiri (surname unknown) a quiltmaker in Florina, northern Greece in 1962 for Agapi Naoumidis who still owns it. "Agapi's Paploma - Agapi Naoumidis' beautiful, deep burgundy quilt was made in Florina, set in the mountainous, northern Greek mainland, west of Thessaloniki. That is where, back in the 1930s Agapi, much against her father's wishes, married her young man Lazaros. She was originally from Veri, quite a distance from Florina, and her father was reluctant to have his daughter so far away, but Lazaros' big, extended family made Agapi very welcome, as the young couple began their married life. They had three children, George, Stephanos (Steve) and Athanasia (Toula). In the 1950s and 1960s when Greece was struggling to recover from the devastation of the war and the civil war, times were extremely difficult and many people left Greece. Agapi's family did the same and in 1962 she and Lazaro also migrated to Australia. Her years in Australia have been both kind and unkind. They have brought her the pain of losing her eldest son George in a car accident; and sadly too within a few years of that, she was widowed.
Agapi's 'paploma' is one of several she ordered from the quiltmaker in Florina. She stopped using it because, being filled with wool, it is very heavy. Wool is used extensively in northern Greece, where it can get extremely cold. Agapi, who has eight grandchildren and several great- grandchildren, lives with Steve and Guna who also owns one of the quilts (see separate story).
[Written by Lula Saunders; adapted from interview 10 January 2001 for the National Quilt Register]

Description

Wholecloth quilt made of deep cherry red satin with a cotton backing of a lighter red colour. The padding is wool. The quilting pattern comprises twelve squares, each approximately 350mm with a four leaf pattern in each. The border is straight and wavy parallel lines.
2000 x 1820mm