March happenings so far.........Part 1

 It seems like another month has past the half way mark, so perhaps I better post an update of newsfromjude for March.....

March 1st saw us pack up the van and head off again and this was the first trip with the new vehicle towing the van and we headed north to the Riverland of SA.  

                                 

Waikerie was the host club for the Riverland Quilting Gathering for 2024. (It was 12 months ago that Pat and I were headed to this same Gathering at Barmera and were stopped by a meeting on the road with a kangaroo.) Barry thought it was a good opportunity to make a long weekend for the occasion and stay at the caravan park for a few nights.

We headed north along the Ngarkat Highway and our first stop was at Pinnaroo. I headed to the chemist shop for some cream to put on my knee which was rather unhappy after I fell out of my chair the evening before. ..... don't ask me how I managed to do this!!

Our next stop was at Paruna, for a quick look at this little town..... I loved this cute little post office!!...

................. and the campground was very quiet..........

.......not much traffic in the main street either!!

.............and this is the campground...........

Next stop was at Loxton by the river and we made salad lunch in the van.

The weather was very hot and humid, and we were thankful that Waikerie had a max temp of 43 a few days before we arrived!! We got to the caravan park about 2pm and set up the van on our site............

                             

We knew of other quilters who were heading to the Gathering, among them Pat and Alan, Jo and Tony, Faye and Kim and Heather and Brenton. We all enjoyed dinner at the Waikerie Hotel that evening........it was a lovely catchup with friends we hadn't seen for awhile.

The next day was the gathering at the Waikerie High School and was attended by about 130 quilters from many areas of the state and some from Victorian groups too. Lots of chatter as we met up with friends, and shopped at a variety of patchwork shops who tempted with their goodies......

There were guest speakers who spoke on a variety of topics.........

.......including Heather Ford, who is SA Quilters State President and also Convenor of the Appraisal Panel. The red and white projects that the Panel made were on display. The members made a 40cm square quilt in differing methods and they were each valued. It was a good way to see how the different techniques contributed to the differing values.

This is the SA Quilters table where members were selling tickets for this quilt.

While the women were at the quilting day, the men folk did different things. Barry and Alan did a tourist drive across the river and surrounding area, and Tony drove to the Barossa.

That evening, Barry and I enjoyed a meal with Jo and Tony and friends at their van..........

...and helped Jo celebrate her birthday which was  few days later.

Then time to enjoy another night's sleep with much cooler weather. My knee was slowly improving..... (The next couple of days will come in separate posts.)

Blessings, From Jude.