Quilts in the barn and meeting old and new friends.

Thursday saw my DH ( dear hubby) and I fly to Melbourne, this was to realise one of my desires which was to visit " Quilts in the barn." We decided to be adventurous and fly Tiger air as we were only going overnight. I must say it is budget flying but no complaints, they left early from Kingsford Smith and we arrived early at Tullamarine Melbourne. We had a laugh because when you board in Sydney it is at the virgin terminals and gates at T2, but when you land in Melbourne it is out in the middle of the Tarmac and no where near the other terminals. I felt the airline did well, especially with the winds in Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday.

We hired a car from Budget and got a little Toyota Yaris and it was Manual and as DH and I drive an automatic, although can drive both, the gears and clutch were grated a bit. After one wrong turn, because DH did not listen to me but to "Seri" the  GPS, we had to turn around and go back.  We arrived in Eltham about 5.30 pm, checked into our hotel then went out to explore, we ended up at the Eltham sports hotel and thought we would eat there! but it was packed and you needed to book, we had a few drinks and set out to find another place, where we stumbled upon " Maroush" a great Lebanese restaurant, very impressed with the food and service. Back to our room. One question,

Why is the lighting so poor in motel rooms?, I feel I need to carry a travel light with me in future, as I was trying  to finish a Lucy Boston block and the lighting was so poor, I gave up. Friday was upon us and after a bad nights sleep due to a tough mattress and poor pillows, we set of to Wonga Park relying on google maps, after another wrong turn we finally arrived at Linda's place for "Quilts in the barn"

OMG ! what a wonderful day I felt that I was a bit star struck, catching up with Linda Collins and Di Ford whom I first met in Houston 2010, they were both staying in the same hotel, The Alden when I first went to Houston for their annual quilt show. I recognised that they were Australian and as you do start up a conversation and I asked is it their first visit to Houston and they informed me that they come every year, it was not until a few months later that I actually discovered after reading an article that I was talking to such well known talented quilters. I then ran into Linda again at one of the Sydney quilt shows. It was a pleasure to actually visit one of Linda's gatherings in the barn. I also met Mary Koval who was an absolute delight and very generous in her knowledge of antique fabrics and Chintz prints. I have just used a range of Mary's fabric collection a 2008 Coverlet Collection 1840-1860 for a backing of a reproduction 1840's quilt,so was delighted as well to meet her. On display from Mary's shop was a wonderful array of antique toiles, chintz, completed blocks, antique quilts and her own range of fabrics for sale. Mary's designs are printed by Windham Fabrics and I had fun purchasing several different designs, love the " REBECCA" range, wonderful centre's for hexagons. I feel that I picked one of the best years to go as the theme was "All about Chintz". The quilts on display were amazing works of art and the detail is a credit to the makers. Also on display were some antique quilts, out of respect from the owners photos of these quilts were not allowed but plenty of other quilts were allowed to be photographed so will post a few pic's of these quilts, not all were named so not sure who they were made by, but please enjoy the photo's. I was gobsmacked by the detail of some of these quilts. I also met up with Sue -Ann www.sue-anne-buddyandme.blogspot.com and Shelley, great to catch up and have a chat.

First glimpse of the barn

Could not resist taking a photo of the sign.

Thank you Linda for being so generous with your time to take a piccy with me, a little star struck!!!

Not to miss a photo opportunity with Mary Koval, what a delightful person, even when busy! took the time out for a photo.

Could not resist, as I am doing an appliqué class with Di in Febuary at Threadbeare Cottage, had to make myself known and again thank you for your time Di.

This was a small quilt and I bought the panel, it is called tree of Life"

Sorry sun was shining, a lovely quilt and quite large.

Amazing work and I loved the tiny fussy cut hexagons in the centre.

This was also a large quilt, great work, great fussy cutting.

Just loved the fussy cutting. Di Ford's "Morrell" quilt.

A close up shot of the amazing appliqué and choice of fabrics.

WOW!!!

Goodbye to "Quilts in the Barn" thank you Linda for organinsing a great display of quilts as well as a great venue, My DH and I had a memorable day, the ladies who served the refreshments also deserve an applause, thanks for a great day.

On the way back to the airport we visited Needles and pins in Warrandyte and purchased more fabrics, thank you to Sue-Anne for the suggestion. 

Goodbye to Melbourne and hello Sydney, by the way our Tiger flight got cancelled, so a 45 minute delay and we flew home Virgin.