Sunday, May 24, 2009

Snuggle Quilts First Quilt Hanging


What a big day it was yesterday - Snugglequilters met to celebrate the completion of our first 'batch' of quilts. I knew we had finished around 70, that they were as diverse and individual as the people who had made them, and that they made tall piles on the table in my family room - but, until I started to hang them, I had no idea how truly fabulous they were.

Wayne (my poor, long-suffering husband) headed out to the College with me in the morning. I was sure that 3 hours would be plenty of time to get everything ready before the other Snugglequilters arrived - but it was a race to the end! I was SO thankful to have him there to help - as I hung quilts he moved tables and chairs and strung up metres and metres (or should I say yards and yards seeing we're quilters) of clothesline as I ran out of hanging room.


When Snugglequilters began to arrive I realised it was going to be an 'interesting' afternoon. As they walked through the door, almost without exception, their eyes widened and as they opened their mouths to speak they only managed a gasp or a 'my goodness'. It was just lovely. I think the 'most used' word for the afternoon was 'overwhelming'. I wouldn't say they were struck 'speechless', but they certainly slowed-down for a while :-)


As we continued to set out the afternoon tea, Snugglequilters arrived with even MORE quilts they had managed to get finished 'in time'. They
wandered around, touched, admired, photographed and shared the stories of the quilts as they got to know each other.


It wasn't long before even the backs of the chairs were covered with quilts. As we ran out of room inside the outside clotheslines filled up.


As the afternoon wore on we were able to work our way around to have a 'closer' look at our collective handiwork.

(I have NO idea what we're looking at ... but it MUST have been fascinating!)

These two Snugglequilters arrived with the quilts their students had made in class
(I'll tell you more about their story next week).


The conversation eventually turned to the future - plans as to how Snugglequilters can continue, fundraising ideas etc etc (more about that in a future blog posting too).



It was just wonderful to be able to share the afternoon with the Snugglequilters who were able to make it. To all those who were with us 'in spirit' I can only say - 'wish you'd been here'. You were in our thoughts and hearts ...

... I want to thank you, as I thanked the Snugglequilters in the photo below, SO much for your creativity, generosity, caring and love. Without YOUR collective effort, none of this would have been possible. I started out hoping I could gather 17 quilts for the children at the College ... look at how many 'snuggles' can be had now! What a blessing you all are.

A xo

PS A big thanks to Wayne for taking the photos (my camera didn't make it out of my handbag).
+ I would LOVE to have any photos other Snugglequilters took - the more to share!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Afternoon Tea Invitation

How exciting! The time has finally come for us to get our 'first batch' of quilts out to families. So ...

All Snugglequilters are invited to the College for

Afternoon Tea

to view our completed Snuggle Quilts & have a chat with other ‘Snugglequilters’

Saturday May 23rd @ 2.30pm

THIS is why I haven't been keeping up with blog posts lately - the emphasis has been on getting this batch finished. So ... keep tuned ... I PROMISE to have more pics and information up over the next week. There are some FABULOUS things to share.
As I've been sorting through them all, I've suddenly realised that a group of photos seem to have gone missing. There are quite a number of quilts that haven't made it onto the blog. So I'll retake them and make sure they're up. Sorry to those people - I have no idea what happened!

Stay tuned for the next batch of pics of the blocks that came in that have been made up into quilts - they're fabulous.

I've also just found out that some Snugglequilters haven't received their invitation. I emailed them out 2 weeks ago, and have heard that not everyone got theirs. It's those wretched techno gremlins again - they seem to 'have it in' for me at the moment. If you didn't get your invite I am SO sorry - YOU ARE INVITED!!!!
A xo

Monday, May 18, 2009

The prodigal photos come home

I just found these photos. I took them ages ago, and managed to 'lose' them in the depths of my photo folder! Thank goodness they have found their way 'home'.

These are the ones from Rhode Island - they were smaller that the others, so we sewed them together into larger quilts - I hope that's ok ladies!






























Barb and Julie.













Erica















Anita

A xo

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Snugglequilters have been busy

Goodness, I've been SO busy quilting that I haven't had a chance to post anything. Sorry about that.

Snugglequilters have been VERY busy trying to get as many quilts finished as possible. Next Saturday we are meeting at the College for afternoon tea. The plan is to meet fellow Snugglequilters, have a chat, check out the quilts completed so far and get an idea of how to organise the ongoing 'life' of Snuggle Quilts.

If we manage to finish 'all' the quilts currently being worked on, next weekend I'll be able to display 72 quilts ... that's right ... 72!!! That is just amazing. I set out on this journey to make 17 quilts ... and now we have 72 ... in 14 weeks ... just incredible!

I also have MORE blocks and fabric to be made into quilts ... perhaps another 30.

I'm not waiting for them 'all' to be finished, because I want to get as many out into the community as I can, as soon as possible. Winter hit us suddenly down here ... our Autumn was brief. As cold as it is down here in the city (where I live), it's MUCH colder up the mountain. Even at Easter the cold was 'falling' in Kinglake by 4 in the afternoon - now it's freezing at night. Without the 'warm' buffer of the tree canopy, I'm betting on more snow this year ... and there are people living in caravans on their property. I can only imagine how cold that must be. SO ... the more quilts we can get to people to snuggle under asap, the better.

I'm really hoping Snuggle Quilts will continue on, beyond our current quest. There will always be someone, somewhere in need of a 'snuggle'.

Quilts packed and ready to go ... waiting to be quiltedA xo