People say thanks!!

Here is a lovely photo of one of the given quilts on the bed of the recipient.

This is a note that accompanied it.
Dear Wilma,

I asked Lyn Symons for your contact details some time ago as I wanted to write to you.

Unfortunately I put the note with your email address in a "safe" place and until this week, when I have been on holidays and have had a little bit of spare time, had been unable to locate it.

I wanted to thank you so very much for the lovely quilt that we received after the floods. I had not expected to receive a quilt as there were so many others much worse off than we were.

Narelle Harrison actually gave me the quilt at work one morning and receipt of such a beautiful gift reduced me to tears. For me it was the positive turnaround point after a run of bad luck that we had been having.

The quilt has pride of place on our bed and is frequently admired.

Once again thank you for your involvement in this wonderful project. I am sure everyone is as appreciative as we were.
I will post more as I get time .We have had many cards and notes of thank-you and I understand some people have even written to the address on  a quilt block on their quilt.( USA address).

Video clip on you tube

Hello everyone. I have been so busy lately catching up on my own work that I haven't had time to write on this blog. I have just learnt how to upload a video of the "Showing of the Quilts "  for Carisbrook. Here is a link to it   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jmqBLCbHTg
I have tried to ad the video above but don't think it worked.

giving out the quilts

On Thursday of last week the Carisbrook Lions Club gave a free communityin the warm room of the Maryborough THarness Racing Complex where we had our quilt showing.After a beautiful 3 course meal of pumpkin soup, A mixed meats roast of beef,lamb and ham on the bone with all the trimmings,and Apple struedel and cream and icecream. The flood committee ladies gave out the quilts to whmever was there to receive them.Following are som pictures.

Ladies unpacking the bags .The quilts are already sorted into streets and each street number has been alocated a quilt.From left to right ladiefirst 2 ladies names unknown ,then there is Trish Coutts,Narelle Harrison and Lyn Symons from the Flood Committee.

Recipients begin to mill around in anticipation.

Still getting organised.

One very happy lady with her quilt and one for her neighbour who is still not living in their home and was unable to attend.

More happy memories.



Someone is not so happy with the lovely quilt with dogs and cats on it.Maybe we can find something more colourful for her.

More smiles

How happy is he?

A very happy couple.

This happy recipient got her first choice. YAY!!

Truely happy family with a beautiful quilt.

I will leave more photos for next time.

Sunday

Sunday being market day we decided for security reasons we should arrive at 8.00am So at about  7.45 am Trish and Jenny  rock up and get the tables set up and the doors open.I arrive a 8.05am and we get a coffee  8.10am the first visitor arrived and by 9.00 am we are busy.

Lyn Symons from the Flood Committee is chatting with a local and taking her number preferences  for the ballot later in the day,The quilts look stunning behind her.

My niece Lynette came to visit us with her three beautiful daughters from left to right Felicity(flick),Breanna and Llewellyn.They loved the quilts and wanted to take them all home.

Row

Upon row of quilts .

Even one for the horse (not real). By 10.00 am they were lining up to come in and we think we would have had around 2,000 visitors for the day.

Finally the show is here.

We all got up bright and early today Saturday and got to the venue,set ourselves up and people started to arrive. It is like the movie line ( Build it and they will come.) Well come they did. We had about 1000 visitors on our first day.

Lyn and Peter Stott from Mildura (about 6 hrs drive away),standing in front of one of the 50 YES 50 quilts she has quilted for us. Even doing custom work.Thankyou my friend.

Two of our wonderful statler sisters.Lyn King and Lyn Stott. Without the help of girls like these this project would not have been so very successfull.

L

through to the second room of quilts.

Still more quilts things look great. More tomorrow.



L

Setting up the showing.

I crossed my fingers tightly that we would get some help to set up,hoping as one does that people will really turn up., and voila!! we had 8 men and 16 women there to help .

Mary kaye 9 no not the cosmetics heiress LOL.) packing bags into her ute.

Three utes full of quilts from left to right: andy,Mary,Trish, Mary, and Bert.

Working out which way the stands go and pinning quilts together. As we do not have sleeves on them all we pinned them together at the top and draped them over the stands. Worked very well.

As you can see we had both young and older people all willing to help us.

More pinning in the front and stands going up in the back. Trish (in the front) was reduced to tears several times. She is having a battle with insurance and sustained a lot of damage.She is very uplifted by all the help received, and can't wait to receive a beautiful quilt.

Hanging the quilts. Will show the set up later on.

Where to see our Quilt Show

Hi I have omitted to relate where our quilt show will be held and when .
So here is the information.
Maryborough Trotting Complex
Chaplans Road,
Carisbrook
Victoria,3464
 contact Wilma on 0410044664
Saturday  4th and Sunday 5th June between 10.00 am - 4.00 pm.
Will show the setting up later.

My Bags are Packed and I'm ready to go

How exciting. most of the quilts are labelled,numbered and packed in bags ready to go .

 About 25 bags altogether with aboute 270 quilts inside. 15 unbound quilts arrived back from a statler sister yesterday afternoon and we are now madly sewing on bindings. Even if they are not bound we will still show them. It will be about 2 weeks after that that we actually distribute the quilts. A team of us going door to door,street to street, to ensure that they are given to the correct recipients.
Some more finished quilts to entice you.

Do you by any chance recognise the red panel in the centre of this beautiful quilt with oriental influence s in the fabrics?

Or the appliqued rooster in the centre of this quilt. Other blocks from our "stash" were sourced with chickens and sunflowers . the green sashing and the outer border were purchased by the maker. This is a lovely big quilt,which someone will love.

Perhaps you recognise the centre of this quilt or the 4 corner blocks or the striped fabric border? A truely lovely quilt.I hope you like what we are doing with your kind and generous donations.cheers!!

Nearing the Climax of our Journey.

I am nearly at the climax of our journey. 2 sleeps until we set up the quilt show and then 2 days of the quilt show and after that we need to pass the quilts out. That will be a hard job to do.Making sure the quilts get into the right hands ,and all homes get one.We received 15 quilts back from a quilter at 3.30pm today which need binding by Friday 2 days away!!! I hope we are up to the task. We have obtained the use of a huge room at the trotting complex for free.A local carrier is picking up 150 quilt stands from Victorian Quilters Inc. and will take them back again for us. There is a big working bee on Friday to set up the stands and hang the quilts. As we do not have sleeves on them we will be pinning 2 quilts together back to back and draping them over the top.We have 298 quilts of varying size here ready. Poor Ineke from Tasmania has had a fall and hurt her wrist and shoulder and is unable to get here with the quilts made from the other 2 check points.We will get them late but never mind better late than never. We also have a raffle quilt and the tickets are selling themselves.  The proceeds will go to the local Lions club who will give us back all we need to cover our costs.I went on the local radio station today and spoke about the quilts for Carisbrook. It was a bit nerve racking but HEY someone had to do it

The Quilters Guild of Brooklyn.

I received a package this week of some beautiful blocks.

They were sent to me by Judy speezak,of The Quilters Guild of Brooklyn,NY. with a note:
Dear Wilma-
I am sending the enclosed blocks made by me and a number of other members of the quilters guild of Brooklyn (New York. We hope that they help you with your project.
With our blessings,

thank-you very much Judy we will certainly be able to make some lovely quilts with them.

Good News

I have spoken to Denise at Victorian Quilters Inc. today and there are 150 stands available. A wonderful local carrier  Hutchins and Rowles have agreed to bring the pallet of stands from Melbourne on Thursday week and return them to the factory on the following Monday. I spoke to the local radio station today  Goldfields FM. I will be doing a slot on community radio next Wednesday afternoon.They will also plug the show during the week. The Mercury have put in a bit today advertising the show.The Maryborough Advertiser are doing an editorial on the quilts and the upcoming show. Bendigo advertiser is hopefully putting in an editorial also.So far so good.

Here are a few more finished ,labelled,and numbered quilts

That is Denise busy organising a number for the front.

A beautiful big quilt with unicorns on it.

Lovely.

Rail fence quilt.
I will keep adding a few each day for a while,but when we have finished I will post a photo of every quilt.



update

My dear friend ( We have become so over the internet),sent me a lovely email today jently reminding me that you all are sharing my journey.I have been lax in not keeping up the blog by writing at least something.  Every day is so full at the moment.

So little time .so much to do. I have to get someone to make up a display of our journey yet. Maybe using a box of blocks some unfinished pieces ,some finished tops,photos and writing. I will try to organise that tomorrow. It looks like we will be draping the quilts over clothes horses.as no stands available.sigh!! they have been booked for months. Well they will still look great. May have just a few from Bendigo.I have had 5 girls here today and 7 yesterday making bindings and sewing them on and adding labels.We have 12 to take to Busy Bees tomorrow. Last count today on hand we have 212 completed quilts, 14 to bind,some coming back tomorrow completed,10 coming by star track express completed on Friday. Still have  to get 17 from Kay , 18 from Libby ,15 from Kaye , 5 from Donna,5 from Glenda( who will probably bring them with her). So target nearly reached. Ineke will bring hers with her and we have 40 from Jenny Bacon. Mission nearly acomplished.

We are also running a raffle of a beautiful quilt to help raise money for the backing and batting,etc.. The kit was donated by Rhonda Wilkins of Riddells Creek,Victoria,and pieced by Sandra Rayner of Maryborough. It has been quilted by Deep Creek Quilting (me). and bound by Sandra.Here is a photo of it before quilting.

Some completed quilts do you recognise any of the blocks ?



Have to go and put on the roast spuds.

Kay Czochara ( nee Whitmore)

I received a lovely card from Kaye in the mail on Friday. Kay is the sister of Mary Kaye (See post May 9th ) , who donated the lovely quilts
she says:
 " I have a very strong family connection to Carisbrook and feel for those residents devastated by the floods"
. It is wonderful to have so much support from those who used to live in or near Carisbrook and or who have family ties to our area. Thank-you again Kaye for the quilts you have given us and the lovely note of support.

Judy Hansford.

I Had a lovely letter from Judy Hansford of Kangaroo Flat. Victoria asking if we would like a completed quilt . Would we what!!! Then I received this georgous quilt made using Moda fabrics range Urban Couture and professionally quilted .

Thank-you very much Judy. This lovely quilt will be much appreciated.

Local Donation

Mary Kaye who lives in one of the few homes on the high and dry side of Carisbrook gave me a call then stopped by with these 4 lovely lao quilts made and quilted  and donated by her sister.

Lots of work have gone into these lovely quilts.Look how small the pieces are. Thank-you very much.

Then Mary produces this quilt

Which was made and hand quilted by Mary herself.This is a bed sized quilt someone is going to love it Mary.Thank-you.

Maldon Girls

I went to the Maldon quilt show at Easter and there was a display of some tops made for the Quilts for Carisbrook project out of blocks donated by the USA

Pictured with some of the quilt tops are from left to rightChris Gibb, Debbie Mc Donald,and Janet Williamson. There are 2 patchwork groups that worked on tops for us in Maldon and at last count 32 tops have been made up. Beautiful Job ladies.Thank-you. I was also given a donation of $5.00 left at the show by Norma Jacka as a contribution to our costs. Thank-you to Norma.

The Maldon quilt show had some beautiful quilts on display and was a pleasure to visit. If you are in the area next Easter be sure to pay the quilt show a visit.