Sewing Day Efforts

Last week several lovely Aussie Hero Friends came to my home for a sewing/working day.  Boy!  Did we get a lot achieved.  Terry spent most of the day cutting up a roll of batting that we had been given.  It was 90cm wide so we had to piece it no matter what we did to make the batting wide enough and long enough.  Terry cut all day...

And Jan, a newcomer to Aussie Heroes pieced all day.  By the end of the day the batting was all cut and pieced and we had a bunch ready to use.   We also paired up backings, some of which needed piecing, with some of the quilt tops that have been sent to me.  Now there are sets of tops, backings and battings ready to go to a quilter when the opportunity arises.

Dasha, who brought Jan along with her, also pieced batting and then she started working on a quilt top from Blocks of the Month from November.  Dasha ended up taking that quilt top home to finish and last report it was pinned ready for quilting the next day!  

Gail, on the left, and Lisa on the right spent most of the day trimming blocks.  Lisa is a new recruit, in fact I had only met Lisa the day before at a friends New Year's Day party.  I had been sitting sewing (as you do) when my friend Carol, another Aussie Hero Friend, called me and said you have to come over here and meet Lisa - she wants to know about AHQ!  

Once the blocks were trimmed Caroline arranged them on the design wall into groups for quilts and now there are a bunch of those ready to be sewn together.   I will probably take those along to the next Penrith Sewing Day on the 13th of January.

What a great day. We worked hard but we had fun and we achieved so much!   We are planning to do it again with those of us who can make it (and who are game) on the 21st of January.  Anyone else in Sydney who is interested in coming you are more than welcome so please just let me know.

Thanks so much Ladies!!!

We received some more great thank you messages over the weekend!

For Rita M

I have received my quilt and laundry bag, have been quite busy and had little time to formulate a response in thanks to my generous donor. If you could pass on my thanks greatly, as it will be a great keepsake which I can pass onto my daughter on my return. A big thanks from me and the rest of our contingent for the time and effort yourself and the ladies take to bring a small and sometimes big reminder that there are people who are generous enough to give their time to bring some comfort to the guys and gals over here, whilst being away from family, loved ones and friends. From me it is greatly appreciated and keep up the good work. 

Caz

I have been away for a bit.  I did get my quilt and I LOVE it.  I am trying to organise a photo so I can add it to your website.   I can't thank-you enough, it brightens the room so much

Hello Dasha, 

I got your package last week and wanted to say thank you for the laundry bag and the other stuff you put in there. I am grateful that you took the time to make it for me and I will hang onto it for a long time.

This is my first deployment to Afghanistan, It has been ok so far but is getting very cold now and will be below 0 degrees soon. 

Rita C

I have received my quilt and it is absolutely lovely. Thankyou very much for the work you do-it is much appreciated over here! 

I received my quilt a month ago. I have been incredibly rushed of my feet.  My apologies for not getting back to you promptly. Thank you so much. It means a lot that that little touch of extra warmth I get at night comes from the support of fellow Australians

Dear Ruth,

Thank you so much for the quilt and laundry bag, I must admit that I had a tear in my eye when I opened it up and seen just how much effort had gone into making them.

I have already put them both to good use and once again wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time to do so  for me.

I trust that you and your family had a happy and safe Xmas and that the new year will be all that you want it to be.

Thank you and God bless.

One for Caz

Hello,

I received your quilt :)

Its amazing and something ill definitely cherish during my Navy career.

This quilt will be taken with me from ship to ship and deployment to deployment.

I will take a pic of me with it and try to send it to you, i may have a tad trouble but i will get it done.  Thanks so much for it and for my laundry bag....

They're simply outstanding,

 for you to do something so nice for someone you've never met means even more.

Thank you again, 

I have a bunch of people who are happy to receive boxes of laundry bags to hand out.  This is wonderful as it means that we can send some to those that might not feel they should ask or those that just don't have the time or facility to send an email.  Recently I checked with this gentleman to see if he was still happy to be receiving the boxes and here is his reply.

Hi Jan-Maree

Xmas and new year greetings to you and your team as well.  The laundry bags arrived and were literally snapped up in about 20 seconds.  I had the CSM (Company Sergeant Major) explain all about the Hero Quilts again as well.  Yes, still happy to receive laundry bags, they are a very desirable item especially as they are individually recognizable in an organisation that can sometimes be a bit clonish.  The guys and girls love them and I know they are literally being used every day in Afghanistan where temperatures have recently reached -15 overnight.  

Just one thing I guess, if you can let your workers know that there is really no need to send goodies in the packs (lollies, museli bars, coffee etc) as throughout the Middle East Area of Operations the troops are well supplied with care packages (we just received 78 palletts of goodwill packs).  Don't get me wrong the items are well received but you and your workers are spending your own cash when there are other avenues for the guys to receive this type of benefit.  Actually, I think they appreciate the letters sent by the makers of the quilts more than anything as they then realise someone they have never met has taken the time and effort to not only make a lovely quilt but to tell them a bit about their background as well.

I will get a photo taken for your website as soon as I can with all of the items you have sent.

Thanks again for the great work it is really appreciated.

As he said, the extras that we include are very well received.  I think what he wants to get across to you is that the quilts and laundry bags are enough and the letters are a real bonus.  So feel free to include treats etc if you want to, but do not feel obligated or guilty if you don't, especially at this time of year.  It also depends on where you are sending to.  I don't want to say on the blog to send to this area or that as that requires me to identify the locations associated with the different AFPOs and I have never done that.  But, if you really want advice on whether to include the treats or not just email me.  

Penrith Sewing Day

The next Penrith Sewing Day is on next Sunday the 13th.  There is only so much space available so if you are interested please email me for details and to let me know that you are coming.  I have loads of blocks so we will be putting quilt tops together.

That is it for tonight.  The blog is back to normal posts as from tonight so I will be back again tomorrow night but for now - I am off to SEW!!

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