Quiltathon Photographs

I've had time to upload the photos I took at the Quiltathon. As you can see we had a great time. There were a lot of smiling faces. The first few show the morning shift. How can people be this chirpy that early in the day? I don't know but I am very grateful they can, it added a great buzz to the morning session. As you might expect there was a lot of cutting out to be done first thing. Most early birds prefer to piece tops rather than do quilt as you go. Interesting huh. We did have one late shift worker who felt the same but on the whole it worked out earlier people were more into tops.

It was really good to see so many faces from my workshops at the Quiltathon. As ever names evaded me. Although I did manage Dot's name, and was able to introduce her to Tet. The two of them got the small quilting frame going and much to Tet's relief Dot took over running it most of the day. I think she quilted about eight tops in her first ever stand up quilting session. I hope she isn't paying for it too badly now.

During the day we were very lucky with the weather. Although Dot and I out in the marquee perhaps didn't always appreciate it. It got very hot at the quilting frames. It did mean that we could expand into the garden when we had too many for the workshop. By early afternoon we had teams cutting, sewing, pressing and making binding. It's surprising just how much binding you get through. Much of our fabric was sales men's samples. This lets you cut at least 10" square, some 6" squares and the rest often is around 2 1/2" ideal for binding. All of the quilts we have finished have very wild bindings.

As the evening wore on more younger quilters turned up. I guess teenagers are all busy on Saturday afternoons. Still having an influx of young fresh people (and indeed fresh not so young people) was great. By then I think some of us were flagging a bit. I was really impressed with how keen everyone was to step up to whatever challenge we gave them. Jobs were often allocated by what needed doing when they asked, not by skill level or experience. Without exception, people met the challenge and did the jobs that needed to be done. No cutting isn't as easy as it looks, and yes even a quilt as you go single can be a handful under a small machine.

As you might expect after a late fish and chip supper (thanks to chip lady's husband) people started to drift home. Some of the younger helpers had to be dragged out, which is great, I hope they are as keen to come back and sew again. The tone of the conversation changed and the wine appeared. Here you see the graveyard shift. These sterling ladies kept up the work until relief came in the morning. I crashed out at about 6 and woke up feeling very ill about an hour and a half later. Maybe sleep doesn't agree with me. When I came back the work was still going on and our first Sunday morning worker had appeared. I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures Sunday. First thing I felt too ill, then we were just trying to get as much done as we could before running out of time. As I said there will be a photoshoot later in the year with as many of the finished quilts as we can manage.

If you were there, or know someone who was could you let either me or Jenny know. I would like to compile a list of everyone who gave support in any way. Time, money, fabric, or food. If you helped I want to get you onto the list.