Farewell Shirley

A couple of weeks ago, six of us had the sad task of attending the funeral of our lovely friend Shirley.

 

Shirley was one of the original Stitching Hearts members, with her close friend Rema, Darleen & Jill.  They met at a class in the local patchwork shop, Purple Patch, which is sadly no longer, and decided to continue with the friendship by setting up our group.

 

Shirley was very involved in all the group activities, whether it was in working bees at Darleen's

 

Shirley, Cheryl & Dasha

or quietly hand stitching in the hall at our meetings

Shirley & Rema

 or sorting quilts for distribution

Shirley & Cheryl

 or at handovers

Darleen, Shirley, Dale (President, Rotary Club of Drummoyne), Dasha.
 Jill & Pat

 or just another sewing day with her pals

 

Sally, Jill, Colleen, Dasha, Darleen, Cheryl, Shirley & Lyn

 

or at functions such as the Rotary Club of Drummoyne's 2008 Art Show

 



Jill, Shirley Dasha & Darleen

Shirley was a prolific quilter and made many, many quilts for Stitching Hearts.  Sadly, we can't remember all of them, but those with long memories tell me this is one which Shirley made for Grosvenor House in 2007

 

 

She also had fun making kids throws for the children at Lucas Gardens Special School in 2010

 

and then attended the handover of the quilts at a special morning tea

Shirley, Colleen & Rema

This is one I personally remember.  It came in partially completed, all scrunched up and terribly dirty with stains across the applique, which was also very dodgy and coming away in several places.  Shirley, with her incredible patience, fixed all the applique, cleaned it (she said she washed it numerous times to remove the stain) and then completed the quilt. 

 

 

Outside of Stitching Hearts, Shirley was a member of the Quilter's Guild of NSW for many years, and was Membership Secretary for much of the time.  She worked tirelessly for that organisation and helped in the background at the annual Quilt Show the Guild holds each year in Darling Harbour.

 

Shirley loved to hand piece and was a major contributor to the collaborative, hand pieced hexagon quilt that Stitching Hearts made in 2006 for the Catholic Women's League for their annual conference in South Australia.  The quilt was raffled at the Conference Dinner and raised over $8,000.

 

 

Shirley's technical skills were recognised in 2010 when her quilt, "A Tribute to Violet" gained her first prize in the Amateur Traditional category at the NSW Quilter's Guild Show.  A well deserved accolade.

 

Shirley suffered with ill health for the last few years, and was finally put to rest on 20 July 2014.

 

Vale Shirley.  We will miss your beautiful nature and your lovely smile.