Happy Mail Wednesday 20 Feb

I have all sorts of happy mail to share with you tonight - messages on facebook, special 

requests, thank you messages and even some blocks and quilts. Grab a cuppa and 

maybe a kleenex or two - you just might need them.  I did with a couple of these.

This is not just a simple laundry bag!  

This is a MORALE BOOSTING laundry bag.

If you made it you are responsible!  See below!

Hello JM, I just wanted to share this photo with you. 

I was given this laundry bag by XXXXXX whilst overseas last year. 

Even though I am home now and settled back into work, this laundry bag still brings a 

smile to my face and reminds me of all hard work you and the team do. 

I use it every day for my PT gear. 

Keep up the good work!

And to think that we have sent over 1800 of these simple laundry bags in the last 14 months or so.  

I said this on facebook but I am repeating it here as I know that not everyone follows facebook.  

A huge big thank you to all who have made donations to our account as they have 

enabled me to buy another whole roll of batting to complete all the quilt tops that get sent

to me. Couldn't do it without you

I even outed myself with my latest blooper on facebook just to let you know that we all make mistakes!

First up Spot the Obvious Error!

I didn't pick it up, several people I showed it to didn't pick it up (and will now probably say they were too polite to tell me!)  but luckily Carol (of Turramurra Twin fame) noticed it yesterday afternoon and pointed out the error .......... and then promptly left - chicken!

Don't anyone tell you that fusible web can not be removed.  I should have taken a photo before I put the initials on to cover up where the star was - it was barely noticeable but I decided to put the initials on just in case.  I am just so glad Carol spotted it before it was too late!

I braved talk back radio today and had a very quick chat with Ray Hadley on 2GB to try and get the word out about what we do and hopefully draw in more quilters.  If anyone feels like braving the radio waves in their local area please let me know.  The more people we tell, the more quilters we get.

I have already had a few emails and one phone call.  Who knows where they will lead.

Now for some Happy Snail Mail

Late last year Kaye sent off this wonderful quilt - you can read all about it here - in short, the squares were decorated by last year's Year 3 and 4 students from the school where Kaye teaches and then Kaye put the quilt together.

Well yesterday Kaye received a letter from the recipient.

Dear Kaye and the children of Year 3 and 4 (2012) Thank you for the wonderful Hero Quilt that you all helped to make especially for me. It arrived for Christmas which was a welcome surprise and did indeed brighten up my day.

Let me say just how honoured I feel that such an effort has been made to recognise the service of our men and women currently deployed in the Middle East. We are all volunteers who have chosen a career in the Defence Forces and are proud to have the opportunity to serve on active duty on such an important mission as the one here in Afghanistan. It is a task not without it's challenges of which there are many.

Being away from our families for many months is a hardship we all have to deal with but knowing that we are in the thoughts of many good Australians, such as the children of Bethany Catholic Primary School, makes the burden easier to bare.

Your quilt has been very much appreciated by me especially during the cooler months of an Afghan winter and will be a cherished memento of my service. Thank you again for the quilt and for keeping us all over here in your thoughts.

The children were also sent a photograph of their happy recipient draped in his lovely quilt.  Kaye was extra lucky and received another lovely thank you letter for one of her quilts.

Thank you so much for the quilt. It has brightened up my room no end. The quilts that have been received by the members here have been the source of much discussion and admiration by everyone - we love it when someone receives a hero's quilt parcel in the mail.

I am nearing the end of my tour and will be home in about 2 months. I can't wait to see my family and catch up on all that I have missed over the past 6 months. Thank you again, it is humbling to have people creating such beautiful things for us over here and it is very much appreciated.

I hear more and more how everyone loves it when one of our parcels turn up.  I don't know about you but that makes me so happy!

A message lives on...

Back in November for Remembrance Day I asked you all to write to me and tell me why you sewed for Aussie Heroes and why it was important to you.  I received lots of gorgeous  messages.  If you want to refresh your memory of what was written or if you weren't following the blog or indeed if you were overseas and couldn't access the blog back then you can check it out here.

I thought you would like to know that post is still being circulated by at least a few who appreciated all that it means when they introduce Aussie Heroes to others.  This is a special request that I received in the last 48 hours that I found very special.

I took great pleasure in reading the messages from your quilters, in honour of Remembrance Day last year. To be truthful some of them brought a tear to my eye, particularly their words of appreciation for the sacrifices we make and the joy that they get in doing something for the soldiers deployed.  It is hard, particularly as  a mother, being away from home.  I left my 6 year old son at home for 6 months, the first time I have been away from him for anything more than a couple of nights.

I would love to receive one of your quilts and laundry bags that I can put to good use here and brighten my room up a little and also then take home as a keepsake after my deployment. 

I consider that to be happy mail, don't you?  

Now for some of our more traditional Happy Mail.

This quilt top was made by Louise and I am undecided if it will be a Wounded Warrior Quilt  or not but there is no rush to decide - I will wait till it has been quilted and then see what we need.  

Louise also made this quilt top - the photo does not do it justice and I have cropped up the bottom so as not to give the game away.  I could really do with a volunteer to quilt this if anyone has the time and inclination.  This is a special request and I would like to get it off as soon as I can. 

It even has a matching laundry bag.

Some of you might recognise your BOM blocks from January in this one.  Louise took the blocks and assembled them.  Don't they look great!

More BOM blocks went into this one as well.  This has got to go to a Navy fellow!

On Sunday when I was out in Penrith I was given two quilt tops.  The other one was pale pink and did not photograph well but this one came up alright.  We have decided that we will cut this in half and that way we will get two great green and gold quilts out of it.

Jill M sent me this quilt top complete with backing and batting AND a matching laundry bag.  I handed this over to Stephanie on Sunday in Penrith for quilting (just so you know where it is at Jill)

Now this gorgeous quilt was sent complete to Naomi who forwarded it on to me from Leanne Mc. How gorgeous is this one>  This is called Delectible Mountains for anyone who is interested   I just love it and it looks even more gorgeous in real life

Wendy H sent me several boxes full of laundry bags and treats and this quilt.  All of them are heading off in this week's mail - assuming I get them all packaged and addressed in time.  You will see the laundry bags on Friday.

Naomi made this quilt top during Kylie's Christmas Mystery Quilt.  Don't you just love the colours?  This will be a Wounded  Warrior Quilt and I just have to say - don't those red, white and blue borders remind you of the old airmail envelopes we used to get?  Back when we actually wrote  letters not emails!

Love them.

Gail put this one together using most of the last BOM blocks from September last year (including some that arrived early this year!)  They were a whole collection of blocks in all sorts of different colours and I had no idea what the end result would look like and I just love it!

And finally we have this little fellow!  Is he not cute?  He arrived with a lovely thank you letter for Aussie Heroes and one of our quilters.  I would so love to keep him but I think he should head off and go and live with the quilter.  I am not telling you who that is because I do not want to spoil the surprise.  Tomorrow morning it will be the cold dark inside of a post satchel for him.....

Three other parcels will be heading off in to the mail tomorrow and that will be the three prizes for our Australia Day Laundry Bag Challenge.  I am not telling you what the prizes are just yet - but once I hear the parcels have been received I will show some pics- unless of course the recipients want to send pics of them modelling their prizes --that would be even better.

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