Thank you so much to everyone who was involved in any way with the Quilt Hanging or with making the quilts for those affected by the recent bushfires.  What an amazing effort!

Thanks go to……..

Girls from all over Australia who have sent us fabric, blocks or quilt tops

All the lovely ladies who have pieced, quilted and bound the gorgeous quilts

The people from church who worked in the kitchen and doing other things to support us on Saturday

To Jodie, Kellie and Kaye for lending us some of their special works – just helping to add another dimension to the display

AND to all the wonderful people who came along on the day to help make it the success that it was!  We were truly overwhelmed.   And thankyou for helping us raise the money we needed to make sure all the quilts were finished off ready for distribution.

The winner of the raffle was Marg Flood from Bendigo and she chose the candlewicking quilt….enjoy!

But the absolute highlight of the day was when two young girls who have suffered deep losses due to the bushfires came and chose their quilts – even though we were fighting back tears it was an incredible experience and makes all the hard work worthwhile.  This week we will start distributing the rest of the quilts and there will be a flickr group where you can view them all and will track where they are going  (I will post the link when I get it all organised).

OK, so not everything went to plan with getting ready for the Quilt Hanging.  One of the ways we were going to hang some of the quilts didn’t work quite like I expected but my DH has improvised (cutting up a wooden venetian in the process) and I think we are back on track.

However that was a small part of the day and the rest of it was filled with positives:

• I have the Selvedge Dress in my hot little hands and can’t wait to set her up on the model today
• I got to have lunch with the amazingly gorgeous Kellie yesterday and she’s lent us 4 quilts and 3 cushions for display. (And believe me the real things are all just as beautiful as on her blog!) 
• And we now have a small display of works from textile artist, Kaye Shanks

Amazing photo uploaded from Jodie’s blog. 

So, roll on tomorrow (but let me have time to do all the things I need to do today first…….like go to assembly because all 3 girls are singing in the school choir, a quick time-out coffee with the school mums following that – because you guys keep me sane (sort-of), Patchwork House for their sale, down to the hall for setting up, off to inter-school sports to umpire the netball (because I found out YESTERDAY that I am rostered on today and grade 5 girl had a melt-down when I said I wouldn’t be able to make it), netball training after school, work tonight……..oh, and finish hand sewing the binding on one of the raffle quilts).  If you come along tomorrow please come up and say ‘Hi’ – I might be the one asleep in the corner!

is that the Selvedge Dress will be on display at the Quilt Hanging!  That’s right you can see it close up (but not close enough to touch…….no fingers on this masterpiece, we promise Jodie).  And what’s more there will be a door prize drawn every half an hour!  Thanks to the generosity of Jodie from Ric-Rac we have selvedge keyrings and patterns to give away……every 30 minutes!  And of course our raffle – the lucky winner will get to choose between two quilts – one in the traditional style with gorgeous candlewicking blocks and the other a modern fresh design in lime green and aqua. 

Apologies, not great photos at all but my ‘to-do’ list is FAR too long tonight to spend ages getting better ones!

And for those with sharp eyes, no the binding is not on in this photo but yes, it will be finished by Saturday!

Tickets will be on sale on the day – 1 for $2, 3 for $5 or 7 for $10.  Raffle will be drawn at 4pm.

…..the days until the Quilt Hanging.  Trying to get everything organised in between working, children and life in general.  But it’s all going well.  Hopefully one more surprise to come……..but we are still working on that.  Meanwhile mark the date in your diaries and come along if you can.  Don’t forget to say ‘Hi’ if you do…

And for some lovely photos have a look at Suse‘s photostream on flickr.  She has some great ones from Sewjourn and she has agreed to let us use a couple on our new brochure………thanks Suse.

1.  It’s a great way to support us in helping get as many quilts as possible out to the Bushfire Survivors as quickly as possible.

2.  It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon.

3.  There’s scones and jam and cream available to have with your tea or coffee.

4.  You can buy a raffle ticket for your chance to win a quilt (AND the winner gets to choose between two different quilts)

5.  There will be over 40 quilts on display – many of which are a collaboration of more than one person’s work, many of which are pieced together from our ‘stashes’.

6.  You have a chance to win one of the door prizes.

7.  There will be a display of the amazing Kellie’s work!!!!  YES, you read correctly!  You will get to see 3 of Kellie’s incredible quilts in person and some of her cushions as well.

Today I received 7 (yes SEVEN) quilts back via my Mum from Bendigo……Gayle from Balmoral Quilting has been an absolute star getting them done for us…….now onto the binding!  Of course they all need to be finished before our Quilt Hanging.  (Speaking of which there are a couple of suprise appearances being organised for the day but more of that in the next post………..)

And speaking of productive, this lovely lady has been at Sewjourn again this weekend and when we called in to mow the lawns and do a few odd jobs this afternoon she was just finishing off the last of her projects for the weekend……..the twenty-fifth item no less!!!  Is this a record?  Has anyone completed more than this in one stay at Sewjourn?  I know Lara was very productive a couple of weeks ago as was Annie (and the rest of the cast) but 25!!!?  Soon I promise to update the Sew ‘n’ Tell part of our website with some of the projects people have worked on at Sewjourn but for now you can always check flickr.

BUSHFIRES QUILT HANGING

Come along and see over 40 quilts that have been made for survivors of the recent Victorian bushfires.

Lots of these quilts have been pieced together from blocks donated by people from all over Australia. 

Many have been sewn pooling fabric from different people’s stashes.

All have been made with love.

SATURDAY 20TH JUNE

11am – 4.30pm

LightHouse, Ashburton Uniting Church

3-7 Ashburn Grove, Ashburton, Vic, 3147

Gold coin donation entry.  Quilt for raffle.

Devonshire tea available.

All proceeds go towards professional quilting of  Bushfires Quilts.

Please come along if you can……and pass on to all your friends!!!