After retirement in 2008 Pauline finally found time to learn the art of quilting.

Dear Prudence took three and a half years of hard work to complete.

Ms Yianakis said there were approximately 27,000 hexagons in the finished quilt.

"[It took] many hours of sewing on my two-hour train journeys to Sydney to babysit my delightful grandchildren," she said.

Cinzia White from Nowra Quilters offered Pauline the task of replicating a quarter inch (less than one cm) hexagon quilt made in 1857.

The original Dear Prudence quilt was made by Prudence Jeffries while on board a sailing ship from Liverpool to Melbourne.

Ms Yianakis said Prudence was an amazing woman.

"In only four months she had created this wonderful quilt without a pattern or modern tools," she said.

With the help of Cinzia, Ms Yianakis learnt how to make the tiny hexagons and sew them together.

The creation of 27,000 hexagons was only the start.

"Once the top layer was completed it then needed wadding and backing. The layers were tacked together to hold it while tiny stitches every third or fourth hexagon secured it, they were then tied and threaded through to the centre," Ms Yianakis said.

Pauline said she felt a loss when the project was completed.

"Dear Prudence had become part of my daily routine, my thoughts, [I missed] the excitement of completing each section, then each round to the final round. It had given me so much pleasure," she said.

Dear Prudence was awarded first place in the amateur category at the Sydney Quilt Show 2019.