Our butterfly quilt has flown away!

Today was the 42nd annual Mennonite Relief Sale and Quilt Auction. It is a long day since of course you have to get there early to have pancakes and sausages for breakfast. The quilt auction started at 8: 15 am and we sat on those hard arena bleachers until 3:30 pm! The only reasons to leave your seats are a) bathroom breaks and b) buying strawberry pie!Here we are - me on the left, my long time quilting friend Linda from London (this is Linda's blog here), and 2 of my co-conspirators on the butterfly quilt, Marg and Joanne of the "Sew 'n Sews".

Throughout the day they auctioned over 230 quilts, including all sizes of bed quilts, wallhangings, and baby quilts. Here is a photo of about 1/3 of the quilts hanging before the auction. This year we noticed that the crowd was smaller and the prices were generally lower than in previous years. The most exciting moment was the auction of the quilt that was featured on the program cover, which sold for $25,000 (you can see that quilt, which is a cross stitched quilt here)!! The second most exciting moment was when our butterfly quilt was auctioned...and raised $475 toward the relief efforts. This is a photo of the auction at the moment when the butterfly quilt was being sold. It was a very exciting day and we had a great time!

We are already planning our next group quilt, and as Joanne says: "We are solving the problems of the world, one block at a time".

Now I am hungry and the kids are asking what is for supper...guess what? Strawberry pie! This looks like a good piece for me - I probably don't need that much whipped cream on the top, but too late now...yum yum!

Added Information: In the newspaper today it said that the $25, 000 quilt was made by Mrs. Schlegel, an 87 year old woman, which she made while she was recovering from kidney surgery. It was purchased by her daughter who came from her home in Texas to attend the auction. The quilts from Mrs. Schlegel have raised more than $60,000 over the years! Now that's a goal to aim for ...let's beat Mrs. Schlegel's total! The total amount raised at this year's sale was $335,000 towards their goal of "alleviating global poverty and hunger"!