The Mystery revealed

Since I've been accompanying Franklin to Port Lincoln while he provides some respite for the Surgeon there, I have been adopted as a "local" by Lizzie Williams and the quilting group based at The Patchwork Pear. http://www.patchworkpear.com.au/

On the first Tuesday of November, Lizzie hosts a Mystery Quilt day, where participants pay a fee, turn up in blind faith on the day, and do what they are told to do. i.e. "...now sew this to this" from 9am until 4.30pm. I participated for the first time last year, and had so much fun that I flew over by myself this time, just for the day. It's a 1/2 hour flight in a 20 seater SAAB - easier than the 650km trip by road! There were 10 passengers going over, and 7 on the return flight last night.

There were 10 of us who settled ourselves in the workroom or snuggled into any nook or cranny in the little shop. We were delighted that there had been a 20 degree drop in temperature overnight! Adelaide had experienced a max of 37 degrees on Monday. !#$%^&!

By 9.30am each participant had been allocated fabric chosen by Lizzie. This year we had a choice of colours: Cherry Ripe or Iced Coffee. I chose the latter. We cut and sewed all day, not having any idea what we were going to finish up with. During the day there was much speculation about what the pattern was, and we kept our eyes open for any sign of the finished article which Lizzie had hidden from us. We were thrown the occasional curved ball when told to cut in half something we'd just sewn together! That's patchwork! Although it's not a race, we do have to keep moving because from time to time fresh instructions are issued by the good-humoured, mischievous Lizzie.

The staff transformed the counter in the shop into a buffet for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea - but we got back to our machines as quickly as possible. There was much chit-chat as we skipped from table to ironing boards, and because it is a farming community I found the discussion about GPS on tractors, harvest and hand rearing calves versus lambs absolutely fascinating.

The aim was for us all is to get as far advanced into the piecing of a quilt top as possible before 4.30pm. The day just raced by.

Around 4pm, when we could hardly stand the suspense any longer, Lizzie produced her completed Cherry Ripe quilt-top out of her bag.

Then it was across the road for the Class Photo!

We came home with an amount of "homework", and I hope to have that completed by the time I return to Port Lincoln with Franklin in April.