Today

I have been up to Mill Rose at Ballan with Shirley from the Seachange Quilters. We both volunteer for Aussie Heros and another volunteer Sue, who lives in Ballan, and who, I found out comes from nearly the same place as me in NZ, organised the day.
We had a talk about fabric from Sue Bartleman, who owns Mill Rose, where and how she buys etc which was interesting, then we chatted about what we do. Two if the ladies there had just been to the extravaganza weekend in Canberra for Aussie Heros and it was interesting and moving to hear their stories. We had lunch in the Cafe, which sadly was not very nice, then back to the shop where we had a talk by an Army major who was a recipient of a quilt when he was in Afghanistan. Then we had a talk from the mother of a quilt recipient, that was an eye opener too, her daughter is a photographer in the Army.
Mill Rose is a beautiful shop and there are always beautiful quilts on the walls and shelves

a collection of volunteers

Sue thanking Sue

the Liberty room

this quilt drew my eye

the roses are just starting to come out in the garden

we found these shoes in the garden...no owners.....off with the fairies maybe?

this young man is the son of the Army Major, who wanted a photo with the half feather he found.

another lovely quilt

here is Andrew with his quilt, the request was with his son in mind (front)

and the back..it was great to hear him tell us how he felt when it arrived.

Happy quilting ladies showing challenge blocks we had made. A group of ladies walked behind Liz who was taking photos for us , one pulled a face!! Hence the laughter. The challenge blocks were to represent the town/place we came from, which will eventually be made into a quilt.

this quilt had just been finished by the two ladies holding it, it will go in the mail very soon, front,

and back.

and a wander thru the fabric rooms

and that was not all the fabric!! It is a treasure trove.

I managed to come out nearly unscathed!! I admired the black and white quilt and the pattern is in this book, so I weakened and brought it home with me. The penguins I couldn't leave behind and the other little bits will be good for leaves and stars!

I had better go and get some dinner, and an Ouzo I think tonight!

Happy sewing.