The Quilts at the Show

 As the quilt show finished on Sunday afternoon and it is now Tuesday morning, perhaps I better do a post of the quilts before it gets to be old news. While I have seen a lot of the quilts before, I do love to see them with the bindings on and hanging in all their glory. 

The Kaniva group have only a few members, and I did ask how many and for some reason that info has escaped the memory, but I know it was not more than 15 members. For such a small group they had a great quilt show with approx 100 quilts and a lot of variety too. This is not a judged show, and they don't have viewers choice either, but I am sure we all pick out our own favourites. 

Visitors to the show were greeted by smiling faces. The Victorian population have endured more restrictions since Covid arrived than the rest of Australia and many quilt shows were cancelled during that time. So this year there are many smiles as quilters can freely get out and about and go to quilt shows again.

This photo was taken by Jenny from up on the stage.....(thanks Jenny)

I like this photo which shows just how different the same pattern looks when the colours of the fabrics change. I really had to look twice to see they were all made with the same design.

                                 This is Lyn with her 365 quilt made in browns and beige................

..........and again this red and black is the same 365 pattern, but how different it looks.

Jenny had a few quilts on display and I made her asked her to stand in front of the one of her

 favourites and this is her Hex'N'More quilt.

I made the same request to Erica and this was her favourite........

........and this is Sherrel with her quilt, Kaffe in Chains, that won a blue ribbon in Melbourne recently.

This is Marion's quilt...............

..... that she has now stitched an amazing collection of buttons onto............ there were a couple of ladies wanting to know where she bought the buttons from, but Marion said she had collected them many years ago.

This is another of Marion's applique quilts.

This is one of Maria's quilts and I love how she has quilted it, very simple.........

....but gives a great effect.

Here are some more I took photos of....................

The weekend was a lovely social occasion for me as well, catching up with many people from 'over the border' that I had not seen for a few years. That covid situation stopped a lot of us from crossing that border line and the retreats here were cancelled and many customers could not bring their quilts to me. 

It was great to catch up with a lot of the Victorian girls, and many from Stawell, including Kerry and Lola, pictured below. Lola has been a longtime blog reader, so I know she will see this!!

It was also lovely to meet and chat to Judith Oke, who is the Vice President of Victorian Quilters. It is always good to see the members of the city group come out to the country.

Judith took a photo of Raylene and myself to put on her Instagram page. I had not 'succumbed' to that 'rabbit hole' before, but have now joined the ranks so I could see the picture, and will learn a bit more about it all soon.

I had a competition running for the weekend, and you can read the sign below..................

....and the winner was Teresa, who is pictured below when she collected her kit yesterday.

We enjoyed our social time and were very pleased with sales for the weekend and after a lovely couple of days it was time to pack it all up and head for home. Pack up always seems to be a lot quicker than  getting it all ready.

My thanks go to the Kaniva girls for asking me to their show, and for the support they have given to my business over the years.

THE WEATHER!!............

I will just add in a bit about the weather. On Friday when we were packing up to come over the border, the weather was rather warm and we were in T Shirts. Driving out of Kaniva and heading for SA again, we noticed the sky.............

.............and before we got back to Bordertown the rain came down!! It was difficult to see ahead, and I did pull to the side of the road at one stage..........

By the time I arrived home, it had mostly gone...... only a few mls recorded here but lots on the other side of town.

By Saturday morning it all cleared away and we enjoyed a nice day.

By Sunday morning the rain had returned and came down steady all day. Thankfully it did not deter people from coming to the quilt show.

But we did have to load the car, very quickly, in the rain and drive home in rain again.

Monday the rain kept coming and this morning it is still drizzling. While many have recorded much, there is only about 25mls total in my gauge.    Edited..... just checked the gauge and there is 36mls in total for last few days, so more than I thought!!

There is mixed reaction from farmers, some happy for it to finish off crops that are still green and some not happy for their cut hay to get wet. It's just as well we can't control the weather, because everyone wants something different. And we are thankful that this area has not been flooded like so many others.

As it's after 9am and I am still in my dressing gown, it must be time for a shower and get dressed. Even the fairy has made herself a cuppa and gone back to bed!!

My day is scheduled to be with the bookwork getting ready for an appointment with the accountant on Thursday to do my 2021/2022 tax return. I did load a quilt onto Max yesterday ready for later in the week.

Blessings, From Jude

Windmill Stitches Quilt Show in Kaniva........

 After a good nights sleep, we hit the road and travelled across that border again. They had the sign out at the door and the doors were open.

The quilt show is being held in the Shire Hall, which has some recent additions to the Heritage listed building.

We made some rearrangements to the goods on our table and all was set to go. Notice the hearts pinned to the front of the tables. These were made by my fairy a few years ago for one of the Pink retreat weekends and have been stored in the shed in the "pink goodies" box. Yesterday the fairy had the bright idea of taking them to decorate the tables!! (She is noted over the years for 'scathingly brilliant ideas')

                                 

                               ....and there were just a few finishing touches to the sale goodies and we just had to wait for the quilters to come in the door.

                                        

       This is the vast array of "Snuggly quilts" that have been made by the group................

This corner displayed smaller items and their challenge blocks. I will take more photos tomorrow.

There were 3 shops to tempt you to part with your money, add to your stash..... this one being Little Desert Quilts.....

......and the ladies from Arts on Ormerod from Naracoorte as well as myself.

Sometime during the day I happened to look up and was rather amazed at the ornate ceiling and walls in this building........so took a few photos.... Raylene told me I should lie down on the floor and aim the camera up, and she could have been right, as I did feel rather unbalanced standing and aiming up at the angle!!.........

.... so this evening I went to Mr Google to find out a bit more and have copied the following notes.............

Kaniva Shire Hall
The heritage listed Kaniva Shire Hall was built in 1927 and opened in 1929. It is one of two public buildings in Victoria to feature a cameo ceiling. The upstairs features the old council chambers and the downstairs offices are now used by the genealogy group. In days gone by, the hall was also used as a cinema and roller skating rink. 

After yesterday's post I said I would investigate the connection of windmills to Kaniva and I did have it explained it to me today. But since then I have been to Mr Google again and copied the notes about Kaniva that also explains about the sheep.

The small town of Kaniva is located in the far west of Victoria, between Nhill and the border with South Australia, on the main highway between Melbourne and Adelaide.

Kaniva's major thoroughfare is the Western Highway which is known as Commercial Street through the town centre and is lined with colourful bushes. Kaniva's shops and hotels can be found along this street, many with authentic shopfronts and wide verandahs. On the corner of Commercial Street and Madden Street North is the local visitor information centre and a large windmill which symbolises the town's use of its abundant underground water supply.

On the west side of town along the Western Highway, opposite Douglas Street, is Kaniva Wetlands and Fauna Park. Visitors can observe animals including an emu, deer and peacock, while the aviary section contains cockatoos, parrots and rosellas. The park also includes wetlands with waterbirds and native grasses, a BBQ shelter, picnic tables, playground, flying fox and walking tracks.

The Sheep Art Trail is an 800 metre walk which links Band Park, in Progress Street, with Kaniva's main street and Kaniva Wetlands and Fauna Park. It consists of brightly painted sheep sculptures, each with its own name and story that links it to a place or community group. Just behind Band Park, along the railway line, are grain silos with painted artwork that pays tribute to the flora and fauna of the Little Desert National Park.

The Kaniva Historical Museum displays a large range of household items, farming relics and other items from the district's colonial and Aboriginal past.

Surrounding Kaniva are vast wheat fields and sheep stations - industries that have flourished here since the late 1800s. Large plantations of canola can also be found in the district, creating a colourful display during the early springtime.

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We have another day tomorrow at the quilt show and I will have more photos of the quilts in the next post. Come and see the lovely display and enjoy what the town has to offer.

I will finish off now with a photo of Raylene and I taken today.

                                                             Blessings, From Jude