Quilts of the week 30 November

864 quilts and 1166 laundry bags to date!

Another great week!

Just to round off the statistics 71 quilt requests are underway.
That means so far 935 quilts look like being send so far this year!
Got to be happy with that!

Quote for the day borrowed off a new follower's page, actually one of our recipients who is actually one of those "rough" men!  Thank you! and not just for the quote!

People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because

 rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. - 

GEORGE ORWELL

Hi everyone, it's Naomi again.....well I wouldn't exactly say I was "CON"vinced to assist with tonights' post so much, but nudged (right between the shoulder blades with a pointy object ) into uploading a few pics, so here's this weeks QOTW (quilts of the week) and Laundry Bags.  Aren't they all great?  I think so, and I'm sure the recipients will think so too.  Just in case you're wondering, the laundry bags have had the initials identity masked, for security (cough cough) reasons!

Angela

 Amy

Bern J finished this gorgeous quilt inspite of finger surgery!

 Caz and I pieced this and Carol quilt it for us!
(back and front)
No prizes for guessing what this fellow does.

Caz

with a matching laundry bag sewn in Penrith on a sewing day.

 Cheryl

Christine

Gorgeous quilting

Gina from Vic made this lovely quilt top from the panels that were donated by Carole from country NSW.  The quilt was then quilted by Paul and Paula in Sydney and then it was sent up to Angela in Brisbane who bound it and sent it off with a laundry bag!   

That is what I call teamwork.

Julie Ann 

Front

(Back)

Another team effort.

Julie from Vic made this lovely quilt top.  The quilt was then quilted by Paul and Paula in Sydney and then it was also sent up to Angela in Brisbane who bound it and sent it off with a laundry bag! 

Karen B

Kerryn

Leonie

Lorraine

 Liz

You will see Liz's friend, Pat's quilts coming up and 

some of these laundry bags are to go with those

 Lyn

Nancy

 Quilt top made by Louise and quilted by Nancy

Pat  is a new Aussie Hero Friend and she made the next six quilts and was ably assisted by Audrey and Chris who did the binding.

Now that is what I call a pieced back!

check out this awesome quilting!  Now that is what I call Free Motion!

And another cool back!

Just wonderful ladies!  Thank you so much!

Terry

Lorraine P is another first time Aussie Hero Friend and she is all of 78 years YOUNG!  
Love your work Lorraine!

Donna

Pauline C is a new Aussie Hero Friend and she has completed her first nine laundry bags.  

Jill made a supreme effort to get these four quilts finished and ready to go in spite of all the challenges that she and the family have experienced in recent weeks and I know it hasn't been easy!  I take my hat off to you Jill.

Even Siobhan managed to finish two in spite of having her end of year commitments for Year 12 and ballroom dancing and having to run the house for her Mum while she was with her mother in law.  Well done Siobhan!  We are all proud of you!

Fran T's huge batch of Laundry bags

Now these next few photos came from Tess M from SA and I just have to tell you a little about the lovely Tess!  A little while back on the 25th of October Tess contacted me and requested a quilt and laundry bag for her husband who was about to deploy.  Of course I said yes and then Tess asked if I knew someone in the Adelaide/Gawler area who could use some donated fabric for AHQ.  I put Tess and Julie Ann in contact and they hit it off straight away. 
A few days later Julie Ann and Tess got together for a sewing day. 

Tess says - 

I already knew how to sew and I've made items before, I just didn't know how to quilt. And I

really wanted to know how to quilt.   The idea of 'sandwhiching' three layers together without it wrinkling and all the quiliting terms like 'on the bias, basting, batting, binding, sandwhicing, honey roll, layer cake, quarter inch strips, squaring up and half square triangles,

it was all just so overwhelming.  

But the main reason I rarely sewed was because I just couldn't bring myself to cut into my beautiful fabric.   You should have seen the look on Julie Ann's face when I told her the dials on my sewing machine haven't moved from when I purchased it five years ago.  You see, using my sewing machine meant a needle would punch holes in my beautiful fabric 

and I couldn't have that.  

Then it dawned on me that if I cut into the fabric and made something with it, like a quilt for my bed, then instead of only seeing my beautiful fabric when I took it out of the cupboard, I could see my fabric everyday whenever I walked into the bedroom, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

The ironic thing is that now that I'm sewing, (or as I call it: punching holes in my beautiful fabric), I'm making items with it to send away to live with someone else. I know it's adoptive parent will be kind and treat it well, and I couldn't be happier. 

Tess hasn't started a quilt yet but we will get her there however the first day she and Julie Ann got together resulted in a Laundry Bag which was immediately sent off to Tess's husband.  

He has just received it "over there" and, after watching his wife stroke that fabric for so long, I don't think he could believe that she had actually cut some of it up and made something for him with it.  

Now Tess is sewing around five laundry bags a week and is sending them over to her husband to hand out to his colleagues who are more than happy to be on the receiving end!  
I guess that makes for a very popular wife and a very happy husband!
Way to go Tess!!!!

 and one final say.  Tess found a hole in one of her laundry bags after she had completed it!  So do you know what this clever new to sewing lady did?  She appliqued a hexagon over the hole and and a couple more for good measure!  LOVE IT!  
We will make a quilter out of her for sure!

At long last ANZAC must have received some mail..

Deborah,
        Thank for the wonderful laundry bag it was a fantastic gift. It is a great gift that i sincerely appreciate and thank you again.


Hello Cheryll,

Where to begin in thanking you.
I was so excited to hear I was getting a quilt, and to hear someone had picked me. It made me feel very special. Yes, I did give Chaplain XXXXXX a hard time for a while. Over here you hang on to the little things that bring excitement or happiness to your day. I honestly rang my mum and sent her on a hunter down for who she might know that would be making me a quilt (clearly no luck there).

I Facebooked XXXXXXX to tell XXXX's to thank you for me. I was also very happy to hear Jake thought to put my name forward. I can never thank you enough for my quilt and doby bag, I love them both. And thank you for letting me know how to wash it, I would of been so upset if I wrecked it.

We now have 7 weeks until we are home and I really am starting to miss home. It is very hard out here, as you probably hard from XXXX.   I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing my mum. You really don't understand how much your mum does for you until you cant talk to them everyday or go and see them.

Again thank you so much.


Afternoon Hilary Thank you very much for the quilt, laundry bag and magazine. I really appreciate the effort you went to and will keep the quilt as a memento of our deployment. We're currently halfway through Patrol 5 and have one patrol left after this one. It's been quite an experience, and although I've enjoyed my time in the Middle East, I'm glad to be going home shortly. Please pass my thanks on to the rest of the Aussie Hero Quilts group - your efforts are much appreciated and mail from Australia never fails to boost morale onboard. Kind Regards



Tonight we have a very special message - as you know I never post the names of our serving members but this time I have been asked to as this gentleman would like to thank Mrs Norfolk whose laundry bag ended up on HMAS ANZAC with him but I do not have any contact information for her.  If anyone knows her please pass on this message or ask her to contact me so that I can pass the message on to her.

Dear Mrs Norfolk,

My name is LEUT Albert Moule, I am 26 years old and currently posted to HMAS Anzac as an Officer of the Watch. My job onboard is to act as the Captains representative and delegate to maintain overall safety of the ship and its crew during my 4 hour watches every 12 hours. This operation has been very high tempo and has kept us all very busy, which has aided in the time passing by a little quicker.

I was most grateful to receive the laundry bag you most generously made, your support and generous donation of your time is greatly appreciated. Kind acts such as these are appreciated by all members of Ship's Company and assist in letting us know that people back home care about what we do.

Thank you once again and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and safe 2013.

Kind Regards,

Albert

A.B. MOULE

LEUT, RAN

and for the final word......

Hi everyone, Caz here.

This is the list of people that I have as definitely coming to the dinner on the 8th

Dasha B

Tess M (NSW)  + 1

Terri P

Michelle S + 1

Naomi V

Caroline Gunn

Jan Maree + 1

Jill
Del and Don
Lyn and Martin

Can everyone please let me know by Wed 6th at the latest if you are coming and I have missed you off the list.

Thanks Caz
carolinejgunn@gmail.com

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