The Quilt Show - Part 2

Back again to finish off my report of the quilt show. Well, I hope to get it done this evening because I will be off down the highway in the morning.

Once the quilts were up, the judges arrived from Adelaide to work their way through them all.......

Friday morning people started arriving, .............

Our local paper, the borderchronicle reporter came to the opening and took lots of photos which you can see if you click on the link. I have borrowed some, with his permission to include with those that I took.

Our Assistant Secretary introduced Rachelle Denneny, who opened the show, and gave us a very moving speech.

Here is our President, Juanita, left, with Rachelle.

Following the opening by Rachelle, the category winners were announced, and there were some very surprised people. Marie was so shocked, she made a speech!

The winners were then able to pin their ribbons to the quilts.

Unfortunately the Best of Show winner Margie Crombie, was unable to be present, so here is a photo of the judges pinning the ribbon on her quilt, which was hand pieced and hand quilted. (I can't imagine even doing one block by hand).

 Pat was awarded a Judges Commendation by Raelene for her Cleopatra's Fan entry.

Sue received a Judges Commendation from Jill for her quilt, and was very surprised.

 Here she is with her quilt, and winners are grinners!.................

.................but just compare this photo with the one I took the day before, that I had not posted, but now have decided to show you! In this pic she was telling me in no uncertain terms, not to take the photo!! (Can you see that tongue?)

There was a display of 5 of Rachelle's magnificent quilts, and here is Michelle in the photo with Rachelle....................

................and this is Michelle standing in front of the same quilt when it was entered into the Paducah show in the US, in April 2018.

As we are the Gum Tree Quilters, our theme for the show is usually Among the Gum Trees, and this is one of our decorations.....................

...................and other items scattered around the hall................

The local Painting group had a display with some for sale.................

The Angels had a display of some of the quilts they make for those who need to know someone cares.

The Local Men's Shed had some of their wares to tempt us..................

There were toys on sale........................

.................And a few other shops in our district had their goods for sale...............

Arts on Ormerod, from Naracoorte..................

Sandy Tonkin from Culburra..................

Fleur, from Little Desert Quilts, just over the border..............

.......Louise from Lucy Purls..............

Marie from Holly Hand Dyes....................

................yours truly had some packs and fabrics for sale............

and Raylene had some lovely baby blankets for sale.

This was our raffle quilt, and I heard today that the tally was over $1900 worth of tickets sold, which will be donated to the local hospital Ladies Auxiliary, so we are very pleased with this.

More pics from around the show................

 Sue and her sister with Kerryn, who is the convenor of Quilt Encounter, a Guild week long retreat, which is where Sue attended the class to start her quilt.

Another of Pat's skills is jewellery making, and she had some here to tempt us.

Fleur gave a cutting demonstration.

This lady came up to me and said that she didn't expect a blog post today due to me being busy at the show. I have now met another of my blog readers, and it was lovely to meet you Lola. I love it when my readers come "out of the woodwork".

After all the work of the set up and getting quilts ready in the lead up to the show, it really was a great social occasion meeting up with customers and other quilters.

Jan was also unable to be at the presentation on Friday, so was surprised to find a ribbon on her quilt.

I think I have to give the award for spending the longest time checking out the quilts to these 2 ladies, who spent a lot of time looking at and discussing each quilt.

This quilt had the most amazing hand embroidery and candlewicking done by Pat. She used Michele Hill's William Morris applique patterns. I will do a post another day with closeup photos of this quilt.
This quilt was equal first for the Viewers Choice award, with the Best of Show quilt by Margie Crombie.

Being in the basketball stadium, the stands between the courts gave us a lot of seating for just sitting to view, or a chat.

Sandy won her first ever ribbon, and was pretty pleased,......

 and here she is checking out Rachelle's quilt, so I asked her if something like this would be her next show entry!!

 Just outside the entrance to the show we had organised a coffee van which was well patronised.

 Helen made bunting to hang up at the entrance to the car park, and it was a good attention getter......

....and each day a car was covered with our "quilt" to advertise the event by the roadside........

This was a new venue for us this year, and was reluctantly made due to circumstances, but it has turned out to be a good move. The parking is great, the venue spacious, the lighting amazing, and I have to say the toilets would be very fitting at the Taj Mahal!! We will see what happens in 2 years time.

 

Overall we were very pleased with the show, and attendance figures were around 480, and as I said the local hospital has benefited greatly with the amount raised with the raffle quilt.

Time to finish off this post, as I need some "beauty" sleep to be ready for a 6am departure in the morning. Today has been "recovery" day and putting things away and answering mail and sending quilts off, and watering the garden. It has been an exhausting few days, although great fun, and last night's sleep was interrupted with a 2am phone call from my neighbour who was very unwell.  I needed to call the ambulance and Raylene and I returned to bed at 3.30am to get some more sleep. My fairy returned home this morning, and I need to give her a BIG THANKYOU for all she did to help this week. My house sitter is here for the rest of the week, and I will be back on the weekend. Going to be grandma for a few days, and have lots of cuddles with Miss Billie and her new brother, little Jett. (My phone is still dead, and I have a borrowed one with no contacts!!)

Blessings, From Jude