Author: Denise Shearer

Quilt Show: The Report

The Show:

Congratulations to everyone who entered quilts into the Show and each of us was delighted to receive a quilt label to attach to our entry. There were 72 Quilts displayed along with Essendon Constellations. It was lovely to see Essendon Quilters’ The Little Red School House again that was kindly lent by its owner, Margaret Rolfe. Quilts for Others made quilts available for purchase and these were displayed in the Café and adjacent to the Block Challenge display.

The demonstration sessions and ‘Glitter’ - the whole group work in progress have resulted in some interest from novice quilters. Thanks to Lorraine Carr as she demonstrated how you stitch ‘seven sisters’ most of Sunday and she assured everyone it was her last one.

Setting up and packing up the show is both time-consuming and labour intensive and the effort is greatly appreciated. Thank you firstly to Tina Furci and her family who ensured that stands were erected (and pulled down) to enable the display and then to Robyn Roberts for managing all elements of the display, along with her put up and pack down crew.

Volunteers:

The Show was essentially managed by 35% of our members who filled the roster for the set-up, pack down and the Show itself. Thank you for your support as the Show only happened because of this willingness to volunteer. The new Essendon Quilters aprons were easy to spot and the pockets were just great for notebook, pencils and all manner of things.

Thank you to Barb Pummeroy for managing the roster of volunteers. Thanks are also due to the team that were there pretty well all day every day – Robyn, Barb, Tina, Santina, Janis and Heather doing whatever needed to be done at the time, along with Jan in the kitchen and for all her cooking.

Then there were the surprise contributors and there will be people that we have not mentioned. Please accept our gratitude because you helped make our Show.

The Prize Winners:

Our visitors loved many of the quilts displayed and the voting was extremely tight votes and there was a three-way tie for third place. Thanks to …. Details …  for providing the Viewer’s Choice Award. Thanks also to Ms Jan Stewart for the Challenge Block Winner’s prize.

Congratulations to the Viewer’s Choice Award Winner:

  • ‘The First Train’ by Barbara Pummeroy. Thank you to Kerry Lay from Harcourt who generously provided a retreat package as first prize!

Runner-up was awarded $100:

  • ‘Baskets of Hope and Love’ by Alsion Davidson

Third place each received $50.

  • ‘On the Farm’ by Barbara Duffy
  • ‘June’s Village’ by June Linsell
  • ‘Zodiac Stars’ by Robyn Roberts

Challenge Block Winner awarded $50:

  • Robyn Roberts

The Boutique:

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the Boutique that was so wonderfully managed by Maureen Devlin. The items people made were all so lovely. Thanks are also due to Pat Bell for her contributions and her two days of service at the Show. One lady spent $100 and another went home with a lovely donated quilt by Margot Lattimore. Quilts for others will be supported over the coming year with the $1,454.10 that was raised. In addition, a donation, as a ‘Special Effort’, will be made to Essendon Historical Society from the proceeds of a QFO being purchased.

The Café:

White tablecloths, delicate tea set and our letter banners spelt out welcome and helped confirmed that the Show was about Friendship. Many of the visitors lingered and spent time catching up with friends sharing tea and all delicious cakes and slices were prepared by our President Jan Stewart.  Thanks to everyone who made sandwiches and managed the café.

The Raffle:

The winner of the raffle was Mr Mark Knickerbocker of Essendon. 3AW’s rumour file wondered if he was a real person and several people confirmed that they knew Mark as either a teacher or colleague. It was great we got a mention on 3AW on the Saturday morning of the Show – thanks to the person who made that happen.

Mark loves the quilt and wants to convey to all members his thanks for such a beautiful quilt.

The makers of Essendon Constellations have been acknowledged in earlier posts and our appreciation is conveyed once again. The Raffle (the tickets and coordination) would not have happened without the assistance of Pinky English and then Tina Furci.

We are delighted that the donation for Ovarian Cancer Research will be $2,176.00

It’s not about the Money:

The Committee, the Quilt Show Committee and some dedicated members just wanted to have the opportunity to show others the works of Essendon Quilters. As a participant, it felt like we celebrated friendship and demonstrated that we are great quilters. Yes, we did learn a few things along the way.

Finally, the Quilt Show was also a financial success for Essendon Quilters with a net surplus of $2,185.41. Thank you to Moonee Valley City Council for their financial support and most of all thanks to the members who entered a quilt or a block and made our Sho