June 2024
Annie: Welcome to Carole Wright our special guest speaker.
Carole spoke about the history of Tartan in Australia. Traditionally tartan is seen as an enduring symbol of kinship among clans in Scotland, giving every member a sense of belonging. Betty and Bradley Johnston made it their personal quest to design and register many tartans for different parts of Australia. They now own The House of Tartan in Hall, ACT and sell many of those tartan fabrics and products made from tartan. They have over 16000 Celtic names and may be able to assist you seeking out your family tartan. Carole had many samples for us to see and touch, from the predominantly blue, green and yellow Australian National tartan to the curious Koala tartan of grey, pink and green. The Victorian tartan was woven into a blanket and given to the Queen who used it in her car kept at Balmoral Castle. As Carole pointed
out when producing tartan, you are not just crossing threads, but weaving a story! Carole was presented with a small posy of flowers as a thank you for her coming to talk to us.
Presentation by Kim and Dawn on their road trip to Sale for Annemieke Mein retrospective. They started with an hilarious (now) blow by blow description of their first night accommodation, including darkness, fog, “no room at the Inn” and a RAT!! The audience had mixed emotions of laughter and terror, mostly terror! The rat a distant memory, and moving to the excellent exhibition, they were astounded by the exquisite perfection of 200 lifelong work by this world- renowned textile artist. All her textiles whether freestanding, wall panels or wearables portray the endless diversity of Australian fauna, flora and landscape. An iPad full of photos and a book was passed around to see photos of the exhibits. We wish we knew earlier so we all could have visited. Gippsland Art Gallery has a small selection on permanent show if ever you go that way.
Show and Tell:
Kim showed a pretty nine patch she had whipped up for her boss’s grandchild.
Julie-Ann had a Wendy Williams design felt embroidery work in progress. It will be used to decorate her large Yazzi bag. What a great idea.
Judith told us about her “kitchen incident” in which her quick thinking averted a much bigger disaster. With the help of friends, she uninstalled and will re-install the replacement oven. Lovely to be able to call on friends for help.
Jill had two small quilts, one an owl quilt for a friend’s grandchild and the other a quilt she began at Collaroy last year playing around with stripe fabric. It turned out great.
Sue Pilgrim is nearing the end of piecing “Letter to my Daughter”. The last tiny hexagon is yet to be added to the last flower that needs to be appliqued onto the quilt. She is “sew” close!
Janice had a third great grandchild, named Xavier, brother to Obediah. The quilt she has made for him has playful otters scattered in the panel. She added a few borders, and it looks lovely. Another quilt she showed was awash with beautiful hexagons. Both are off to the quilter. Janice had a nasty fall last weekend and it is a timely reminder for all of us to slow down, look where we are going and lift our feet!
Janice has been working on for years
Annie rounded out the evening with a special show and tell about her mother’s OAM. Mabel was awarded the OAM in 1982 for 25 years continuous voluntary fundraising for the Spastic Centre. This was achieved by a small group of ladies who were called “Busy Bees”. For her last 15 or more years she oversaw the group and raised money by sewing and selling items at stalls held at Wynyard and Central railway stations, Spastic Centre at Allambie Heights and Mosman. She often made small posies and sold them at 50c each. Such a fantastic effort. The golden medals were very detailed and look beautiful. Such a special memory for Annie. The photo quilt made by Annie for her mother-in-law Gladys’ 80th birthday had photos of many family members but sadly the quilt photos had faded. Some had completely washed away. I am sure her mother-in-law got a lot of pleasure from that quilt before she passed.