WOW!! Is all I can say. What a fantastic launch to The Applique Guild of Australia. We spent the last few days at Showcase talking about TAG and the response has been incredible. There has been so much support that we feel that all the hard work that we’ve put into bringing this about has been worthwhile. It was originally the brainchild of Margaret Mew and Jennifer Murray a couple of years ago. They went about “diligently” recruiting quilters that they felt would add something to the committee. The original committee consisted of them, myself, Alison Gardner and Joy Smith who was invaluable in helping us set out our mission statement. Joy had to leave because of family commitments and things were quiet for a while. Earlier this year we decided to approach Mary Hitchens, Janet O’Dell and Margaret Parkinson to help boost our committee – and what a welcome dynamic team they are. Things soon started to move along very quickly and we were able to launch at Showcase. We spoke to many quilters, from all over Australia – and even Singapore (!) - and the support has been overwhelming. Most expressed the opinion that – “its about time”! Many quilters had some great ideas that we will be considering for the future. Quilters from the country were also excited about the prospect of now keeping in touch with quilters from the “city” as well as learning techniques that they said they wouldn’t have had access to. We also had tremendous support and enthusiasm for our Inaugural Applique day on the 5th October 2013 at Holy Cross Retreat Centre, 207 Serpells Road, Templestowe (Melways ref. 34 A7). It seems to me that quilters love quilt-ins and are always looking for somewhere to go on the weekends to sit and sew with friends. We have a very special day planned with our lovely guest speaker, Julie Adamson. So, thank you quilters, thank you so much for your support. We know that we are all going to have fun in the future. Read More
