ENTRIES CLOSED - THE NEXT STAGE BEGINS..........

Did you ever wonder why entries had to be submitted a month before the Quilt Show? Last day for submissions was 31st March - by the close of this day Suzanne's letter box was brimming over. Again the committee of the Springwood Community Quilt Show says a big thankyou to all the wonderful quilters who have submitted their entry forms and we look forward to seeing your quilts in April.

From now, Suzanne will work tirelessly transcribing all your data from your entry form onto a data base. Margaret then takes over by creating and printing the information of each individual quilt onto display cards, this also creates the entrant number. Margaret also does a splendid job overseeing the collection of the quilts on Sunday afternoon.

You may wonder why the dimensions of each quilt is required. This information, especially the width is critical in being exact for the layout of the hall. An extremely talented quilter and silent committee member, Marilynn, is given the dimensions and entry number of every quilt along with the dimensions of the hall. With this information only - she is able to do a layout plan of the show. Extra large width quilts are hung high on the perimeter walls. These quilts give the show the WOW factor when you enter through the doors. Marilynn never knows the colours or designs of the quilts, she works purely on a mathematical level. When she is happy all quilts have a place to be hung she hands the master plan over to Chris for the next stage.

Chris now orders all the stands and rods from the Quilters' Guild of NSW. Renting them is a large expense that we must recover from door takings. Thankfully, this always happens. As there are a lot of quilt shows all over NSW we always re book with the Guild for the same time the following year. Chris fine tunes our needs once Marilynn advises her on the quantity of stands and rods needed.

The Wednesday before the show our equipment from the storage facility of the Guild is picked up and delivered. All this arrives in bags - it is up to those wonderful volunteers to help with the erecting process. As we work off Marilynn's plan, armed with a small step ladder and shifting spanner we should see the job complete within a few hours. Like any construction zone - if there are any glitches, it just takes a few experienced heads along with Chris' years of experience to get it sorted.

Thursday is our exciting day. As you see on your entry form, we request your quilts to be delivered between 10.00am - 12 noon. Vicki is always there with helpers to welcome you and double check we have the right description card pinned to your quilt. This is the first time any of the quilts are seen, and it is exciting to have a quick peek if time permits. The entrant also receives their free entry ticket which can be used on any day, along with instructions of how to collect their quilts. As the quilts arrive and are identified, they are whisked away by 'runners', usually Suzie and Chris and remain folded - but placed on tables in the row where they will be hung.

The volunteers arrive after lunch - many are very welcomed return volunteers who enjoy this process and who can work quickly knowing what needs to happen. Under Chris' direction we start to see the wonderful quilts as they unfold and are hung. The largest are hung first on the perimeter walls. All the 'hangers' have no idea of design or colour of the quilts until their row is complete. It is always frustrating at this stage if your rod pocket is too narrow or worse still - doesn't have one! When all the quilts are hung we do a spot check just incase two of similar colour and or design are next to each other as this is the only opportunity to do any changes. By late afternoon the traders arrive and we need to be out of the way to give them their space to set up their stalls filled with all the goodies we like to purchase.

By the end of a very long day, Chris stands back and starts breathing again!

So if you ever wondered why your entry had to be submitted a month before the show, hopefully the above has given you an insight into the process.

To all the fabulous quilters who have re-entered our 6th Community Quilt Show - we look forward to seeing what you have been up to since last year - to our new entrants, welcome and we hope you enjoy seeing your quilts hung in a friendly environment.