Tuesday 12 June 2012

All Sorts

Well that video certainly boosted the number of people checking out our blog.  Normally we get around 250  page views - for the last two days we have had over 500.  I expect that will drop off again but the number of facebook followers has slowly grown to 215 over the last couple of weeks too as word spreads.    Hopefully that means word is spreading to quilters as well as those related to the recipients but I have no idea.  Did you know we have regular readers in not only Australia and the United States but also Russia, Israel, New Zealand, Iceland, Taiwan, Spain and Germany.   If you are following us or reading the blog from somewhere other than Oz I would love to hear from you.

Now a couple of people have asked if it is possible to do rag quilts for Aussie Heroes.  If you are not sure what rag quilts are they are quilts with the raw edges exposed on one side - blocks sewn together 
 with half inch seams and then the seams are snipped.  The whole quilt is washed and then placed in the dryer to fluff up the raggy bits and get rid of a lot of the resultant loose threads.
After discussing this with Mrs Posie and the handsome soldier and a couple of others I have decided to go with my gut and say no to rag quilts.  Firstly I don't think they are as serviceable as normal quilts.  Secondly I think they are a bit "fluffy and fussy" for our commando types and thirdly can you imagine what it would do to the unsuspecting soldier who put one of these in the wash with his uniform?  Seriously I can't bear to think about it.

I received some more May BOMs in the mail today - the rust, ochre and green of these blocks seem very Aussie to me somehow.   Ilse sent them to me and gave me the strips to do the slashing steps for her.   Hoping to get them done tomorrow.
Aussie Hero Sewing day here tomorrow.  There are about four of us who will definitely be here  so I am going to make the most of all those sewing machines and hope to get lots of blocks put together.  There are about four quilt tops worth of blocks waiting to be assembled.  

After tomorrow's sewing day the numbers are going to dwindle a bit as the lovely ladies from Turramurra Carol and Claire will probably not be able to come again.   Carol is heading off on a motor home holiday till  October and Claire is moving to northern NSW -a bit far to come back for a sewing day!  :-(  I will miss their cheery faces!
Hopefully there will still be a couple of us plodding along but newcomers are always welcome.

Talking about plodding along.....I have had one response to my request for someone to help with the quilting.  Thankyou Sue!  But I am going to need more help.  A lot of people seem to only want to make tops or blocks and then send them to me.  Unfortunately if I don't get any more quilters onboard that is really going to limit what we can achieve so if there is anyone out there who feels like doing some quilting please give me yell.  I would hate the Christmas mailing period to come around and still have a bunch of quilts sitting here layered and unquilted.  Maybe you could reach out to some of the long arm quilters in your area and see if any of them would be prepared to help out.

Till next time................keep spreading the word and happy stitching!


4 comments:

  1. I could probably handle more quilting of tops rather than making them up if you need another hand ... and are willing to send them up :) I DO so enjoy the quilting I am doing in the challenge, and would love the extra practice actual quilt tops will give me. Should be up to date with most of my uni by the end of next week, so let me know if I can help!! I am really enjoying learning this technique!!
    Also, I agree on your points per the rag quilts ... definitely something I don't want to think about, lol!! Have a great week! Hugs!

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  2. You have made the right decision about rag quilts I think.

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  3. I love the rag quilt. Plus they seem so much easier.
    Hugs
    donna

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  4. I would love to join in but I think it is a bit too far. I will be with you in spirit!

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