The Quazy Quilter

Braidwood Quilters Inc. Newsletter      

March 2010

BQI Visits Violet Town

How busy Braidwood Quilters have been since our last news letter.  Not only have we signed off on another extremely successful Quilt Event and Airing of the Quilts last November, but we have had a very successful visit to Violet Town in Victoria where we supported its first quilt airing.  We left Braidwood on Thursday March 11 and travelled for 6&1/2 hours, arriving in time for afternoon tea and then a wonderful dinner at Tanleigh Park where we were made so welcome by Barbie and Graham Everett.  

We delivered 61 quilts to the Violet Town Community Hall before 10 am on Friday morning and then our chauffeur ferried us to Shepparton where we were able to view the Goulburn Valley Quilters exhibition in the RSL Club.  We met some very talented quilters there and promised to keep in touch.  We photographed the most amazing art exhibition in the park – Moooving Art – a great collection of painted life-sized cows.  Then on to Euroa for lunch and finally back to our very pleasant home away from home for another fantastic dinner and more arrivals – thirteen in all around the dinner table that night and very stimulating conversation.

Up bright and early on Saturday morning to drive the fifteen kms into town to see a fabulous display of 367 quilts in the Community complex, and up and down Cowslip Street, the main street of Violet Town. The village has only one two storey building, an old hotel which is now unlicensed, so the picture was a little different from the Braidwood outdoor exhibition.  It was interesting to see most of the quilts at one level and we could inspect all the outdoor ones a little more closely than we can in Braidwood.  It was good fun to see our quilts in different surroundings and we thought our effort in taking them down was well worthwhile.  We must remember that June Gilchrist who organised the Violet Town exhibition had generously supported our exhibition in November with 60 of her quilts.  So we were glad we had struck such a great bargain!!   

We also visited the Violet Town markets, well known far and wide, and bought some colour-yourself-kites for our grandchildren but resisted the urge to buy any other tempting goodies.  Prior to that June and I had bought these little people some cute books being sold by local author Rhonda R.Tallnash,  in the trade entrance to the Community building. We were pleased to meet up with Jan and Noel Francis who came down from Albury for the day and, together with my husband’s sister and brother-in-law who had travelled over from Mathoura, we  had a very nice lunch at the pub. And after a little more quilt viewing, especially in the fire shed, we headed back to Tanleigh Park, another great evening meal and good fun around the table.

We set off for Braidwood on Sunday morning.  We had experienced a very pleasant four days, most of which was due to such a friendly welcome and unlimited generosity from the Everetts and Pam Ellis who arranged our stay at Tanleigh Park and had catered so efficiently in advance. Thankyou you too to Murray Ellis, the fox whistle man,    and all the new  dinner table acquaintances that  made our Violet Town stay so pleasant.       

Braidwood Quilters Inc

Country Luncheon

Our Country Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, May 12, commencing 10am. The venue is Braidwood’s historic National Theatre.  Our very special guest speaker will be Fiona Hammond, published quilter, artist, jewellery designer and more.  There will be a delicious morning tea and lunch and a delightful group of songsters,  Madrigala, will provide  musical entertainment.  The old favourites - continuous raffles and  show and tell – will pop up here and there through the day.  For more information about tickets please contact Jill on ph: 4842 2626 or Cecily on ph: 4842 1232.

Help for Bathurst

Some weeks ago we were rung by Evelyn Gray, a member of the Belltower Committee from Bathurst, asking if they could borrow our quilt frames for an exhibition in the cathedral.  We readily agreed and on March 10 our frames were picked up by two lovely Bathurst gentlemen and trailered up through the mountains to Bathurst via Oberon. Thankyou to Jenny Wallace who helped me with the heavy work of packing up the frames and to Robert Aernout (who designed and donated these important  pieces of equipment to us) who came at pick-up time to demonstrate the method to assemble and adjust the frames.

The frames were promptly returned following a most successful first-time exhibition and our committee members are very happy to have been of assistance.