09 DECEMBER 2020 | ISSUE 464 | FREE
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FORTY-TWO SQUARES, 500 HOURS OF SEWING LATER THE NAGAMBIE COMMUNITY QUILT IS COMPLETE Forty-two squares and close to 500 hours of sewing later, the Nagambie Community Quilt has finally been completed! On display at the Community House in their new facility on 363 High Street, this piece of art now proudly illustrates how one small town banded together during a global pandemic and brought out the best in one another. It was at the start of statewide lockdown and new regulations that the idea of a Community Quilt was born. The NLCH wanted to help create both a tribute to how people in Nagambie supported
one another, but also a memento of a time when so much of our lives drastically changed. A hundred years from now when the Covid-19 pandemic might very well just be a paragraph in a history book, this quilt will bear testimony of how it affected our town and the people in it. In April of 2020, a broad invitation was sent out to all Nagambie groups and individuals to create and contribute with a square. The proposed theme of the quilt was ‘something you love about our town’, and the response was overwhelming. The CFA, both schools, Kinder, the Football and Netball Club, the library, GoNagambie and the Rowing Club were just some of the people who contributed with a square. The backing of the quilt was later on generously donated by Val Monigatti, at a point when she knew she wouldn’t be
able to see the finished result. For all of Val’s friends and the Community House where she was a member, this adds great sentimental value to the quilt. After all pieces had been collected, Anne Turville and Wendy Cook spent over 200 hours each putting all the squares together and were “each other’s bubble” at a time when you were only allowed to have one visitor in your home. During a short window when restrictions eased, they also had help from Val Felstead and when their work was completed the whole quilt was transported up to Shepparton to be professionally quilted. “Although the proposed theme was something you love about our town, so many people came up with wonderful ideas and interpretations themselves”, coordinator Anna Close said. “Lois
made a square with a cat, to represent all the furry friends who have provided us with companionship during a time when family and friends couldn’t visit. Moya did the rainbow as a reminder of how we painted rainbows and displayed them at the front of our houses or in our windows. Then there’s the square with Australian natives, the “going loopy” one and not to forget the wonderful stick figures from Kinder. The thought of young men and women, in the near future, being able to walk into the Community House and point out which one they drew just feels so heartwarming,” Anna concluded. If you are interested in coming and having a look for yourself, you are welcome to the Community House, now located at 363 High Street in Nagambie, between 10.00am and 3.00pm.