Happy Mail Wednesday

Another busy day here with loads of phone calls but it was great to talk to all of you.  We really are a special on-line community and I feel very privileged to be getting to know so many of you!   It is sometimes easier or quicker for me to speak to you direct rather than to email so don't forget to send your phone number if you are comfortable with that.

Now down to business.  A few people have asked me if there are any specific guidelines regarding the extras you can include in the boxes you are sending to HMAS ANZAC.  Here is a list that the lovely Chaplain has shared with me.

Basically send anything (food wise) that won't melt.  People seem to like biscuits (like pizza shapes), bags of lollies (like snakes, mixed lollies, mentoes, fruit tingles, life savers, chewy gum), small tin food (some like salmon, tuna), some types of cheeses in tins or fully wrapped and in cardboard (like cheddar triangles), cup-a-soup, - assorted nuts with or without fruit are very popular, potato chips in tins - (like pringles).  Non-food = magazines, puzzle books, mini-puzzles, socks (people are always loosing a sock in the wash).

If you are sending batches of laundry bags I have finally got the chaplain to admit that he is enjoying the coffee sachets and minties.  That is his compensation for having to keep track of all the laundry bags and their senders and pass the details on to each sailor.

You might be interested to know that the ship already knows when its next mail is coming - in about three or four weeks time!  Good grief! I would hate to wait for my mail that long!  I have been promised pictures of sailors opening boxes of quilts and I can't wait to see that!

PINK or BLUE

I happen to have a very healthy supply of female quilts and laundry bags at the moment so if you are about to start something, and do not have it allocated to someone specific, you might like to veer away from the pinks and pretty and look at some gender neutrals or manly stuff.

A quick comment on laundry bags.  

Please don't think that laundry bags are the poor cousin of the quilts.  That is actually how we got started and I only called the blog AUSSIE HERO QUILTS (and LAUNDRY BAGS) and not Aussie Hero Laundry Bags coz I knew that more people google quilts than laundry bags!  

I mean, really, how many of you thought about laundry bags before this!

Liz's (of kangaroo quilt fame) lovely ex-army hubby, Mr B, really feels very strongly about how important the laundry bags are.  They are far from a luxury.  He says the domestic arrangements are so necessary for morale in his opinion.  After a busy, tiring and often loooooong day, getting sorted with laundry, shower, feed and a good night's sleep is crucial.  They are the fundamentals of life.   Get them right and a lot of other things fall into place.

Additionally, Liz had a phone call recently from a Mum whose son had just received one of Liz's quilts and a cool fishing themed laundry bag.  As Liz said it seems her recipient was more pleased with his laundry bag than his quilt.  Well, of course says Mr B.  Being able to find your laundry quickly and easily makes life so much easier.

Oh, and I should say, Mr B loves to give me a hard time when I call - he, being ex-Army is spoiled for choice when I call as I am both ex-NAVY and ex-RAAF and it is almost too much for him to know which side to pick on first!  LOL.  Hi Mr B!  :-P

Guess it is that time of the week again - Happy Mail time!

Can you believe how many BOMs we received for the month of September?  Well over 400 and can you also believe that I received another 100 plus this week!  
BZ or Bravo Zulu Aussie Hero Friends!

Translation - that is BZ is navy speak for well done!

Sue N from Vic sent me 120 of them this week!  No way could I put all of them on the design wall so I just chose a representative bunch to show you.

Some great masculine colours there and 120 blocks, trimmed to 7 1/2 inches and arranged 6 across and ten down is enough blocks for two quilts!  Thanks Sue.

Marg from WA sent in these blocks.  She was staying with her daughter and raided her stash.  But because her daughter did not have a 12 inch ruler this was as far as she could go.  Nevermind - great colours!

And finally Dorothy send in another 38 blocks - from memory she has already sent in 80!

BZ!   Well done to all of you this month.  Now remember, all the October BOMs are to be posted to Naomi's home this month - let''s see if we can send her even more than we received in September!

Now this is a slightly off-topic subject but I couldn't help myself.  The only travelling I am likely to be doing in the near future is to take my son to boarding school and going to collect him again at the end of the term.  A seven hour drive with 16 year old who sits in the back of the car (I have an MPV with a seat removed) where he can stretch his 6ft frame out.  He puts in the head phones and barely says a word for the whole trip!  Makes for a thrilling trip!  

:-)

You lot, however seem to be travelling all over the place.  So far I have heard of a trip to Antarctica, a 12 week trip to the States, a three week trip to the States taking in PENNSYLVANIA!!!!!!!! (you have to be a quilter to appreciate that) and a cruise from Singapore to Freemantle.  And my hubby has just come back from Oktoberfest in Munich FOR WORK!!!!   Jealous much?  Well I am.  So go on, do your worst - share where you are headed for hols over the summer break and watch me turn green!  Oh and did I add that I am turning 50 this year!  You would think I could have organised something better than a trip to Boarding School and back for my 50th.  LOL  Just goes to show I can organize AHQ but not my travel plans!

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