Lots of pride and excitement at today's meeting. Pat (who worked hard at organising and keeping track of all the tickets and $$$'s for the quilt raffle) along with Sheila were rather tickled to present a cheque for $2,250.00 to Cittamani Hospice.
The lovely Jill from Cittamani was on hand to accept the cheque and to share with us the 'Cittamani Story' along with the aims and services that are available to our Sunshine Coast locals.
Of course, like so many vital charities and services, the government funding is rather sparse on the ground, as Jill mentioned, it barely covers half the expenses so public support is essential for them to continue their work. So everyone who bought a ticket, or two, or ten, take a bow, job well done.
The
Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Sunshine Coast or ADFAS had invited Australian Quilt Historian Dr. Annette Gero to present a lecture in the Memorial Hall, just across the lawn from our Cottage, well of course we had to go!
ADFAS Chairwoman Helen Milne with Dr. Annette Gero, posing for the official photographer.
Dr. Gero had bought along some of her collection of antique quilts, some so fragile that you were careful about breathing too closely. Sadly we were asked not to take pics of the quilts, so of course I didn't, however, the quilts on display are in Dr Gero's book 'The Fabric of Society' and as you probably remember, we have a copy in our library, donated by Gwen if memory serves me well.
Various methods of construction were used in the quilts, one being the use of printed medallion centers, (such as in the quilt behind Helen and Dr. Gero above) as well as Broderie Perse using beautiful chintz fabrics.
Hexies seem to figure rather predominately in a lot of our heritage quilts, as is the case today. There was one modern hexie quilt in particular that had a rather interesting story, the creator attended Dr. Gero's lecture a couple of years back and was so taken with one quilt in particular, she came home and created her own version, yep, you guessed it, Jenny shared her quilt with the other visitors to the lecture.
This pic, is the reverse side of a very old Wagga, bought along by one of the guests, who told the story of a young girl's knitted yellow dolls scarf being collected up and sewn into the Wagga, the front of the Wagga is in great condition, made from woolen Men's suiting samples.
This is from another guest's quilt, the owner shared her memories of this quilt living on her Aunties bed for many years, she also reminded us, that in days gone by, there was none of this business of gentle machine wash, nope, popped into the copper or into the bath tub and stomped around!
As was the custom of English and early Australian quilts, they were not bound, that was an American version of finishing your quilt, the English way was to fold the quilt front and backing into a seam and slip stitch along. The pink stripe is where the front of the quilt folds over to meet the backing.
Finally, just couldn't resist showing you this, it's a reminder of the Trunk Show on Thursday night, how prettily presented. Hope you can make it!
