What a surprise on entering the hall on Club Night to find the wooden forms had been replaced with softly upholstered chairs. Due to travels and other commitments I had missed several monthly meetings, but can confirm how comfy the new seats are.
Erilyn McMillan from Palmerston North was the guest speaker, and what a delightful lady she was. Well known for her War series of quilts, she described each one in detail, relating background stories from her extensive research.
The story behind the red and white quilt was particularly sobering. On a visit to Gallipoli she was told “the blood of 10 thousand men flowed here”. On her return home she felt she just had to to make a quilt to commemorate those Anzacs who had perished their. The brown and gold quilt honours the many animals who served and lost their lives in the Desert Campaign.
Last Post was the first war quilt Erilyn made, and started her on the journey of her War quilt series.
And for something completely different but still war related was the beautiful intricate quilting done using the train from Erilyn’s grandmother’s wedding dress. She was a war bride, and moved with her new husband to a far away country on the other side of the world, here to New Zealand.
It was a wonderful informative talk, and the club members were very keen to get up close to the quilts and check out the stunning details.
The meeting concluded with supper and drawing the raffles – and lucky me, at long last my number was called, so I got to take a lovely squishy parcel home.
Jenny Benton
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