My Thursday shock

As I mentioned in my last post our Guild exhibition opened this week. I had received a call on Wednesday to say I had won an award but as we drove to the show on Thursday morning I had no idea what it would be. About 15 minutes before we arrived I received a phone call from someone saying that she was standing beside my quilt and wanted to know more about it so she could tell people! Now I wasn't quite sure why she had phoned as the show didn't open for another 15 minutes, so I briefly mentioned how long it took and then hung up. I said to Larry that the phone call bothered me and upset me a little as I could not work out why she would be 'standing beside my quilt'! Well all was revealed when I entered the venue - yes I received my fourth Best of Show award! Now I am very excited about it all but it comes as a great shock and surprise when you least expect it! I had actually come to dislike this quilt as I had spent so many months working on it and in the end decided it was possibly one of my least favourite creations!! Now I don't have a good photo of it but you might recall early in the year my preparation and cutting out while we driving through this country…….

 I had everything traced and ready for cutting during the long hours on the road……...

 and this was one of the "bridges" I talked about to keep things together before pressing……..

The quilt also came with me to the UK and back so I could make the most of the very long hours on the plane. I managed to do about 30 more hours of embroidery while it travelled. We always have a show and tell evening on the tour so the quilt came out for that. These are the only photos I can show you that were taken by Diane on that night (thanks Diane)…….

Tomorrow I am volunteering once again so I hope I can get some better photos. This was the last one I took on the floor before I packed it for the show…….

So yesterday it was a blessing to unwind a little from the emotional excitement and I spent it with some very special friends who joined us on one of the William Morris tours in the UK last year. They came all the way from Canberra and Victoria and timed it so they could also visit our quilt show. So yesterday we saw a very small selection of some William Morris in Adelaide. We started our day at the Art Gallery of South Australia where we had a chance to see a special piece that the gallery kindly got of our storage for us. This is Acanthus Portiere and the embroidered panel was completed in the 1890's. It was so special to be so close and an absolute thrill that the European and Australian Decorative Arts Curator, Robert Reason joined us to talk about it…….

 After viewing some more of the Gallery collection we decided it was time for a coffee..and take a look at the paper table covers…...the girls each got to take one home …..

 and then we noticed the art on one of the coffees!!…...

 Next stop was Carrick Hill with Morris curtains and incredible embroideries. No photos of them but the house is always very photogenic…..

Sadly the heavens opened as we had lunch but we were still smiling…...

 Final stop was St Augustines Church to see the famous Morris windows……….

 And then to finish the day - another coffee break! There is so much more to see and hear about William Morris in Adelaide but this was just a very brief look. I am planning a big Morris event in Adelaide in 2016 so stay tuned for that! Thanks girls for such a memorable day xxx