A quiet crowd at first, which grew and grew - no-one remember to take count of the visitors, but there must have been at least 200 people over the 5.5 hours.
We raised a lot of money through donation and raffle entries (oh, I wished hard to win one of them, but alas, it went to a Bendigo lady). There were great door prizes drawn every 30 mins - I tried so hard to win one of those too - but, again, no. I will survive.
The following shots are just snippets of the day early before the rampaging crowds descended:
This was one of two choices for the winning Raffle prize:
This was the other choice: there were definitely two camps of favourite (this was mine)
Some textile art by Kaye Shanks:
The tea-room with quilts and flowers and lemonade scones with jam and cream (and a choccie!)
Jodie's dress - ooh la la! and Kellie's quilts - ooh la la again!
When I saw the gorgeously pink tulle petticoat - I had to get a photo. Hubbie tried to be discreet, but it looked really suss when he shoved a camera under her skirt!
A highlight for me was the knowledge that two children whose parents both died in the fires were able to come and chose their favourite quilt to take home. An emotional part of the day - which makes the aching feet and tired eyes all worthwhile.
Lots of people were part of this event, from those who first donated fabric and blocks months ago, to the machine- and hand-sewers, to those who brought jam and popped out several times to get more cream, to the money handlers and the laminators and display arrangers and bench wipers.......thanks go to everyone....
but none more deserving of a huge bloggy 3 cheers than Jan of Sewjourn - the tiny dynamo behind this event - the hours and effort she has put in was phenomenal and she deserves a rest with a large glass of plonk! The mixed look of joyful surprise and horror when someone mentioned the Quilt Hanging could be annual said it all!
'Great giveaway... thanks!!
PS.. Pippi is beautiful!'