Saturday night was a fun night for all the girls. There were eight quilters and two recipients at our table, which was next to the Live Auction Quilts and near the Raffle and Silent Auction items. Three of our quilters, Anna, Lyn and Philomena, had made the most amazing quilts for the auctions and raffles, and the auctions were rather exciting, even nail biting.

Anna’s quilt was called “Remember Where We Have Been” and depicted items relating to service over the decades, including flags, detailed maps, service hats, photos and hand embroidery. I was privileged to have a sneak peek the day before and was blown away by the detail and rushed off to research “G for George”, the RAAF Lancaster bomber. Next to Anna’s quilt in the photo, you can just see Lyn’s quilt which told the story in applique of the making of an Aussie Hero Quilt, from the first listing in Requests through fabric shopping, design, piecing, quilting, to finally posting off. Knowing Lyn, a few cups of coffee may have been consumed in the making.

As always, the display of quilts and LBs around the room was fantastic, and I particularly enjoyed the display of some Op Southern Discovery quilts and laundry bags heading to Antarctica soon. There was also a continuous slide show of the 2024 dispatches, and every now and then someone would exclaim – ‘that’s one of mine’ or ‘I made that one’.

The other guests at our table, recipients SQNLDR Samantha, and her husband, ex military, both brought their quilts along and hung them over the back of their chairs. What an excellent idea and way of showing off their treasures.

Sam had been one of our guest speakers at the Quilters’ Gathering in 2023 and I remembered her well, as she had spoken about her recent deployment on Op PALADIN. She said that absolutely no mail was received at her location in Lebanon during that period, but at least she could email and facetime with her family. I had sent a quilt to a recipient in that location in 2022, and it went around the world, missed her on deployment and was brought back to Australia by a friend in the next group when they returned to Australia, so she finally received it, about 10 months later.

Sam was very pleased to win the RAAF embroidered cushion, made by Inge, in the Silent Auction.

Thankyou to the organisers, a great night.

Thanks Anne

Till next time… keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree xx