KISS

With lots of new followers, some of whom are going to or are already sewing for Aussie Heroes I thought this was a good time to remind you all that simple quilts are just as welcome as fancy quilt for want of a better way of putting it.   

Basically you are welcome to make just about any kind of quilt you like, except for RAG quilts.  (If you don't know what a rag quilt is check this out).   Some people would find the simple strippy quilts boring to make, others would find a quilt made from 2" squares tedious.   The bottom line is that you need to decide what you like to do and then stitch accordingly.  The important points to note are that we have two rules.

The first is - no quilt police or quilt snobs allowed in Aussie Heroes!   The quilts need to be as well made as possible so that they stand up to wear and tear - as long as your seams are strong and there are no loose threads, we don't mind if all your seams don't meet and if some of your points are cut off!  And no one is going to assess your quilting 

The second is - no stress allowed.   Harder to police this one, but a good one to remind you of (and probably myself) occasionally  I want you to enjoy what you are doing when you are stitching for AHQ so pick something well within your means and skill level and just stitch to your heart's content.  

Most important, please stitch with love.  I won't promise that we can deliver a personalized quilt in the colours of a favourite footy team etc but I do like to promise that the quilts being received are stitched with love.

And so to KISS!

MWAH!

Oh, um not that sort of kiss.  Awkward!

In Aussie Hero Land KISS doesn't stand for KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID as that would be far too rude, nor does it stand for KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE  as we don't want short quilts.  

My definition stands for KEEP IT SUPER SIMPLE - just so you know!

You can make your quilts as fancy as you like.  You can hand piece, hand quilt and hand bind if you want to - why not?  Our troops deserve the best.  But most of us can't hand piece or quilt, or don't have the time.  So you can machine piece, machine quilt and machine bind.  But how fancy do your quilts have to be? Well, the answer is that they don't have to be fancy at all.    The whole point of Aussie Heroes is to get as many quilts and laundry bags as possible sent over to the troops so that they know we support them.  As well as getting as many quilts to the troops as possible, I want to be able to allow as many people to get involved as possible.  

So, hence the KISS principle.

The first Aussie Hero Quilts were simple strippy quilts.

We had to make 25 in a very short period of time, using what we had, and I still can't believe how much the guys loved them.  

  This gorgeous fellow gave his to his 4 year old son when he returned from Op Slipper and later on came to visit, bringing his quilt and laundry bag to show me.

When I greeted them at the front door his little boy had "his" quilt bundled up in his arms and told me very seriously "this is MY quilt!"

We moved a little more up-market to make more "coordinated" quilts like this one made by Cynthia.

Again it was well received.

You can always add in a few blocks, in this case, stars to form the Southern Cross. This quilt was done in black and gold for a "Tigers" fan.  There is a tutorial on the blog for this one if you are interested.  Look here.

Or you can add a Football Team's logo like Fran T did.  Someone loved this one so much they offered to buy it when they saw it on Quilts of the Week.

I love simple monotone quilts as they are easy to personalize or Australian-ise.

This quilt by Miranda has always been one of my favourite quilts as it is so simple, but with its  straight line quilting and lovely colour combinations it looks really cheery and cozy.  

  

Its new owner thought so too.

If you want to add a bit more to your strippy quilt then why not add a tea towel like Sue P did.  This quilt hung in the office of one of the chaplains in Afghanistan for the duration of his deployment and acted as an ambassador for AHQ

Here is another great use of a tea towel resulting in a great cheery quilt by Terry.

If you want to make a quilt for a footy fan - all you need to do is use the team colours.  This simple Disappearing Nine Patch was well received by its Carlton loving owner.

This lovely red and white quilt by Angela was also well received by its Sydney Swans loving owner.  The tutorial for the huge stars can be found online if you want it.  Aren't they awesome!  Note the simple addition of the Swans' logo.

Stephanie's simple two tone red and black quilt is a simple one for an Essendon tragic fan!  :-)

I hope that gives you some good simple ideas for your next quilt.

Here is a list of those who have been to the post office this week as far as I know.  If you have sent a quilt or a laundry bag off this week and you are not on this list please let me know as soon as possible so that I can add you in.  

Angela

Ann V

Belinda

Beth

Evelyn

Gail

Jenny and Gale

Joan

Judith

Julie 

Karen B

Katrina

Kerryn C

Leanne J

Louise

Lynne

Peggy

Stephanie D

Tess M

I have some things on tomorrow and my not get time to make additions to the list if I get emails after tonight so anyone whose pictures are not included in tonight's post will see them on next week's.

Well time for me to go and do some SIMPLE sewing and some SIMPLE binding so I can get some quilts in the mail tomorrow.

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