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Owner:
Women's Museum of Australia -
Location:
Alice Springs -
Maker:
Nicholes Wallace -
Pattern:
Log Cabin -
Dimensions:
Height: 2250 mm
Width: 2250 mm
History
This quilt was made by Nicholes Wallace in around 1895 while she was living on a farm in Carlston, north east Victoria.
Nicholes' first marriage was to a Mr Brown, and together they had four sons.
Isaac Wallace was her second husband and together they had a daughter named Elizabeth.
Nicholes made one quilt for Elizabeth and one for each of her four daughter-in -laws.
In 1902 Nicholes' son John married Alma, and Nicholes gifted this quilt, which was completed some years beforehand, to the new bride.
It was donated to the then National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame by Alma's daughter Pat Fleming, an Alice Springs local who made significant contributions to the fledgling museum.
The quilt was affectionately known as Mrs Fleming's Quilt and the name has stuck.
Description
The traditional Log Cabin design in this piece is known as Light and Dark with each block having 24 tiny strips of fabric sewn together by hand. It has an unusual variation - the square around which the strips are pieced has been placed in the corner rather than the centre.
The border framing the quilt is made from three rows of hand pieced triangles alternating light and dark fabrics to create elongated diamonds, broken in each corner with three squares.
A narrow cream machine stitched binding around edge.
The cotton fabrics used include paisley, floral, checks, spots and stripes.
