Our annual Quilt Show would have been on today

Today was the day on the calendar for our annual Quilt Show. It would have been our 10th Show and we were very excited about it. We never would have thought when we put on the first show that we would we putting on shows as big as they are now, with 200 quilts on display each year. What a blessing the last 10 years have been.

Our first quilt show: June 2003

The first show was a combined event with a bush dance. We used the quilts to decorate around the barn. We didn't have anywhere near as many as we do now. In my naivety, I thought I could get the whole thing up and running with all of the lovely helpers and still do a few bush dances. I was still working full time and would have been 38 weeks pregnant on the night. For those of you who have had children, you will laugh at how little a clue I had. I was joking that if I was over the pregnancy by then I would do a few Strip The Willows and Drongos to encourage the process along. Of course, the best laid plans sometimes don't turn out the way you want. My daughter was born in emergency conditions at 36 weeks and we got out of the hospital the day before the quilt show/bush dance. Just in time to attend.

And now, 10 years on, our best plans have changed again. This time it is due to the terrible losses our community has faced in the recent bushfires.

If there were no bushfires, you would have found me chatting to visitors at the quilt show instead of typing this in between quilting a Bushfire Appeal Quilt and getting ready to head up the the Relief Centre. Edna and Jan would be on the front table taking the money and handing out the free morning tea cards and the viewers choice forms and the info on the show and the group, Monika would be serving at the morning tea table with freshly brewed and locally roasted coffee and lots of homemade goodies to suit lots of dietary requirements, Margaret Mac would be at the cake stall taking early orders and putting things aside for people to collect later, Chris would be at the craft stall selling an amazing amount of craft items to people who probably already have an amazing amount of craft items at home, Margaret H would be talking to people about the crochet apron display and with Pat would be answering questions on the yarn craft display, our Salvation Army Emergency Services team would be cooking sausage sandwiches in the Emergency Services truck, the boys from Hadleigh Lodge would be sorting out the car parking, the quilt hangers would be sitting down with coffee and cake after an early start this morning, and the lovely ladies in our patchwork group would be serving, answering questions, giving directions, helping people with their food, helping the kids at the kids craft table, talking to people about what we do and encouraging patchworkers of any skill level to come and have a coffee with us one day. We would all have had our Wedgewood blue aprons on, sleeves rolled up and getting stuck into providing a fun day out for our visitors while raising money for The Salvation Army's work in the area.

As it is now, we have our sleeves rolled up and we are making Bushfire Appeal Quilts. All the energy that went into putting on the show is going into this project and it makes me so proud of my ladies that I get teary thinking about it. Well done ladies.

It is going to be a cracker of a quilt show next year, that's for sure!

Tracey.