All at sea!!! and Quilts of the Week 10 Aug

Before I really get started

you should go and read the comments on last night's post.

Special!  

All at sea!  

Yes, that is where some of our quilts will be come September.   If you are not on the Aussie Hero Friend Register of those who sew for us you will not be aware of this yet.  

HMAS ANZAC has headed off from Australia to the Middle East Arena to support our troops over there and whilst they are part of Operation Slipper we will be supporting them.  They are there to "provide maritime security in the Gulf region. This will include counter piracy and anti-terrorism operations in the Gulf of Aden and working to prevent the illegal trafficking of people and drugs.” (source)

I would love the be able to send them as many quilts as they ask for but that can't happen.  I have to make sure that, as much as I can, I share what we do with those in Dubai, and Afghanistan and the ship.  

With that in mind I have implemented a quota system for HMAS ANZAC.  

We will be sending five quilts per month to the ship and on Wednesday night I sent an email to all those who sew and asked for volunteers to fill the list from September till January when the ship returns to Australian waters.

So far I have enough volunteers to provide five quilts per month up to and include three for December.  I am pretty pleased with that.  Time will tell if that leaves us enough capacity to  cater for those in Dubai and Afghanistan as well but I think we will be right as not everyone wants to put their name down in advance.  Lots of you like to let me know when you get a quilt finished  and others have chosen to save your quilts for those on the ground.  

We can accommodate all of you and so far it has worked just fine.

Now, just to make sure that I have the list right - Wednesday night was a madness of emails going back and forth, you have no idea!  Here is the consolidated list as it stands at the moment.  Please feel free to email me if I have made a mistake.

September  - Jill, Marilyn, Karen D, Naomi, Bern

October - Kelly and Carol, Stephanie, Nadene, Naomi, Marg

November - Julie Ann, Carolynne, Sue S, Pauline, Jacqui

December - Fran T, Sue S, Liz B, Linda

For the quilters who have put their names into the hat, you have been allocated to a month.  I am yet to hear back from the ship with names but when I do I will pass the appropriate name on to you.  You then need to ensure that your quilt is in the mail in that month, as early in that month as you can comfortably achieve.  It might take a few days before we get the list as they have to call for requests and then decide which 25 have been successful.

PLEASE if LIFE gets in the way or has other plans for you and you are not going to be able to make the deadline let me know so I can make other arrangements.  That goes for all special requests.

Life happens but I can work around it if I know.

We still need two quilters for December and five for January but there is no need to jump in right  now unless you want to.  I will call for quilts again closer to the months required.

AND if you want to know more about HMAS ANZAC you can check her out here and here

Christmas Break

Additionally, I am planning not to take any requests over the Christmas break unless I have specific people that sign up to sew over that period or if I know there are quilts on hand.  No need to worry about this for the time being but I just thought I would mention it. For some people holidays mean more sewing time, for some it means less.  I will think about how and when to implement this and get back to you.

Dog Quilts 

 Finally got word about the preferred size for the dog quilts - 35" by 52" is the size of their dog bed but if that doesn't work for you because you have already started something just go ahead with what you are doing. 

Hope that works for everyone.

And now on with this week's quilts and laundry bags.

This one is made up of leftover BOMs and was constructed by the lovely TurramurraTwins.  It was then sent off to be quilted by one of our long arm quilters Kim and then bound by Judith.  A real group effort.  I sent this one off on Monday to a VIP - can't say too much but I am sure we will hear back from him in due course and I will tell you more then.

Kaye Sent this lovely one off - there is a female room that is going to be so much nicer soon.

And another female is going to love this pretty one by Fran.

Wendy's strippy quilt went off the the Special Ops Task Group this week

As did this one by Julie Ann.   I can tell you that as I am trickle feeding quilts and laundry bags to them on a regular basis and they hand them out to injured personnel or those that have done  a good job!  Love it!

Cherie made this great iconic quilt.  

Christine has sent off another pretty girly quilt.  Honestly these girls are getting lucky!

Chris from SA is sending this one off 

and also this one.  Love the border fabric on this one.

The last quilt for tonight is from Liz with her trademark kangaroos.

Carolynne sent off this cool quilt

and laundry bag.

Caroline and her wonderful sewing group, the Nine Patches, made these fabulous laundry bags which have headed off too.

Fifteen 

in all!

WOW!  Thanks ladies!

Karen made these great laundry bags and they headed off this week as well.

I heard from a lovely woman today whose military son told her about us and asked her to make some quilts for his mates serving "over there".  Love it!  
Hopefully I will be able to share photos soon.

And the sugar on top of all that we do is the thank you messages that we get
-and this one is from a mother whose son received a care package-

I would like to thank you from the bottom of me heart.  My son just returned home safe and sound from his deployment in Afghanistan.  He received one of your beautiful quilts with a few rather yummy treats.   He will cherish the quilt for the rest of his life.  Keep up the fantastic work, it made a world of difference to my son.xxxxxxxxx

Laundry Bags to go anyone?

I have had a number of people email me in the last week or so to tell me that they have laundry bags ready to go - now that the dust has settled and I am caught up (mostly) if you have laundry bags with patches ready to go please  send me another email and I will tell you where and when to send them.  I am sorry I don't have a list of you but now I am ready to get it all sorted.

448 quilts and 310 laundry bags!

Got to be happy with that!

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