Rhonda Bracey: At Random

We took a drive through the backroads today to go to Boddington. Why Boddington? Well, the local Arts Council in this very small community had their sixth annual “Field of Quilts” exhibition.

They hold the exhibition in a field near the town hall and string up the quilts as though they’re on a washing line. There were heaps of quilts flapping away in the sunshine (and the rain showers), and even more in the hall. Some quilt vendors had stalls selling fat quarters, notions, and other goodies, but I didn’t buy any. Even my husband appreciated some of them—he’s been taping Simply Quilts for me whenever I’m away, and he takes out the ads, which means he has to watch the show! He’s obviously learned something because when I talked about the ‘stained glass’ effect created by black bias fabric used on some of the quilts, he knew what I was talking about. And he pointed out the stippling on some quilts, ‘cos he’s seen me do it!

The exhibition is just that—an exhibition, not a judged competition. Anyone can enter their work. If the visitors want to, they can vote for the quilt they think is the best and the winner gets a $250 prize.

Unfortunately, my camera’s memory card is playing up at the moment, so I got maybe one photo (which I’ll share if I can get it to download…).

It took longer to get to Boddington than I thought. I expected it to take about two hours, but it was closer to two and a half. We did a big loop going up the inland backroads, then back on Albany highway and cutting in towards to coast. (Reason: It’s a long weekend and none of the little towns—including Boddington—had a fuel outlet open. Go figure! So we had to get on to Albany Highway to get fuel at Williams.) So it was about a five hour drive, plus an hour or so at the quilt exhibition. A gorgeous spring day, marred by a few rain showers. The pastures and crops are looking magnificent! And there were lots of wildflowers on the sides on many of the roads, with the best display on the Collie to Williams road.

Where we went:

The only bummer of the day was coming across a motorcycle accident on the Boyup Brook to Mumballup road, near Noggerup. Police and ambulance were in attendance, but unfortunately there was a silver foil blanket over the body on the side of the road. I’ve never seen that before, except on TV. It’s very different when it’s real. A very sobering wake up call. May he rest in peace.