Tuesday, June 20

Third Tuesday of the month is Probus.  We're only a smallish group and about a quarter of our members sent apologies this morning, most of them because they are elsewhere in the world, trying to avoid the Tasmanian winter.  One couple are on a world cruise, in the fourth week of 102 nights, in Santorini in the Mediterranean.  Another couple are also on a cruise, sailing from Barcelona.

Meanwhile, the rest of us put on a jumper and thicker socks and get about our daily routines.

The guest speaker this morning was Cindy Watkins, a local artist and gallery owner.  She chose to talk about her work with quilts.  She specialises in 'art quilts' and had a number to show us.  A typical quilt takes around 300 hours to produce and sells for about $2000.  Yes, she works for less than $7 per hour.  Every quilt has a personal story; for example, the Seven Deadly Sins quilt shown below has a baby blanket and pieces of Cindy's  wedding dress incorporated in it.

And, she sells quite a lot, both through her local gallery and on-line.  She also enters many international competitions and has a strong presence in these markets.  Her most successful enterprise, though, is producing screen prints of her designs for others to complete.