Grati-Tuesday 28 Jan

Well, it is Monday night and I am about to hit the hay so I wake up bright and early, well....early....for my drive.  8 hours!  Oh joy!  Hopefully by the time this goes to air I will be helping my son unload the contents of the car into his boarding school room.  Back on the road again on Wednesday from 11ish till probably late afternoon.  Will answer emails etc in the evening.  Feel free once again to call me if you have any queries.

For now, enjoy the thank you messages from this week.

Pick of the day for me is the response we got to one of the Mystery Quilts we did last year.  (Those of you who participated in it will remember it - everyone else won't know about it as that is why it is a Mystery Quilt! LOL!)
Here is the response to our Engineers' Jokes Quilt which arrived the day before Australia Day!

Jan-Maree,
Would you believe it. the quilt arrived yesterday!
It is SOOOO funny! I am now the butt of many jokes, but the effort is brilliant! I will treasure it always, and my kids will forever be laughing about it too!!!!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful support. It really means a lot, and helps me and many others keep going through the days, especially on days like today when we miss family the most. It feels like a small piece of Australia here, and we are having a special BBQ tonight, as well as pie eating and thong throwing competitions. A little bit of Oz!!
Thank you once more,
Kindest regards,

Doesn't it look great!
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Hi Jan- Maree,

Apologies for the late reply, and yes thank you I have received my wonderfully Aussie quilt. It has been put to good use, surprisingly being in the heat of the Gulf, our ship keeps her A/c on full blast and when we're in our racks sleeping the extra quilt goes a long way. 

Thank you for the letter and providing a little insight about yourself and your family. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and celebrated the New Year with the family. If there is one thing that I have learnt on this deployment to the Gulf so far, it has been to appreciate family and how fortunate I am to be raised in a great country like Australia. Your work with Aussie Hero Quilts is greatly appreciated and makes a lot of us Navy sailors feel like we haven't been forgotten. Often when people think about the Gulf, they tend to generalise and only think the Army are the only ones out here. So I thank you again.

As a ships company we spent our Christmas at Sea and enjoyed each others company with a good old Aussie BBQ lunch. It was difficult for most with families at that time, because Christmas isn't Christmas without the family.  Hope you have a great day. Thank you again for my wonderful Aussie quilt

Yours Aye 

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Sometimes I really hate to edit out all the personal info that is shared in the emails as there is so little left of the email to share and you don't get the feeling how personal and warm the message was.  This is just one of those times.

HI Rita, ( Granny Smith)

Thank you very much for the Port Power Quilt. It’s the best ever. "GO POWER". Everyone here was so jealous. 

Well I better get back to work. People need supplies and that’s what I provide for the Middle East area of Ops. Thanks again for such an awesome quilt. I know many of you ladies do quilts for Troops but this quilt went to an Airforce guy. Well we pretty much all come under the same banner here.   Well keep out of the heat. I here it’s been in the forties around Adelaide. We are lucky it’s winter here right now and the weather is mild. When summer hits again we will start to see temps back up in the 50+ region. It sometimes hits above 60+, I’m not kidding. It’s really hot and gets above 60 here. 

Take care Granny Smith.

GO POWER 

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I personally love the following message!

So  I'm working away, walking in and out of the server room, being all geeky and nerdie!!  Not realising that I had mail! So it was brought to my attention and I opened the lid to see a blue eye looking back at me........? WTH!  Then it clicked!  I got my Aussie Hero Quilt!!!!!  So happy and over the moon, truly heartwarming!  Thanks Stephanie T.  As I always do I wrote back and asked for permission to publish the pic and this was the response I received.  

All fine to publish the pic!  Stephanie did the best job.  I love it!  So So going to be a family heirloom!

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Dear Stephanie D

Thank you so much for the lovely quilt and treats you sent me! It was certainly an unexpected surprise. The colours are beautiful and I know that a lot of time goes into making a quilt. I really appreciate you making the quilt and sending it to me. I didn't bring my own personal doona cover on deployment and have instead been using the plain white sheets provided on base. Therefore, the quilt has pride of place on my bed and is a very 'welcome home' after a long day at work. And, as the weather has cooled down it is also giving me some much needed additional warmth.

I look forward to taking my quilt home with me and showing my family and friends. Some of my friends quilt and I have spent many an evening chatting to them as they cut out fabric and sew (I usually cross stitch). 

Thank you again Stephanie for the kind and thoughtful gift.

Warm Regards

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Hi Su,

Thank you so much for my quilt, I love it !!!!   & the laundry bag - I will pass onto one of the other girls - as I got one at XMAS time.

I have just put the quilt on my bed and took a photo but it wouldn't down load - so I will try again later.  Also thanks for the chocolates  yummy.

THe story to go with quilt is an awesome touch - thanks I will keep it to tell my friends, when i email them a photo.

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I also received a couple of photos - a laundry bag that our sweet 16 year old Amy made

And a quilt by Sandra.

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Dear Kirsten,

Thank you very much for the quilt.  Even though we are in a warm climate, the air conditioning onboard HMAS Melbourne makes it very cold when sleeping.  All the quilts are of a very high quality and everyone who has received one is very appreciative, as am I.  We are in the Middle East and are probably 3/4 way through this deployment, everyone is keen to get home now.  I did the same trip last year so I'm a little more keen to get home.  

We spent Christmas at sea so we had to make our own fun.  New years was in Dubai, which was good, however would have rather been home.

Our role up here is anti piracy and drug smuggling interception.  Both these things we have been successful with since we have been here.  

I hope you have a wonderful Australia day in Orange

Thank you very much again for the quilt.

This is a news link for our pirate capture ARRRRRRR.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-navy-ship-captures-somali-pirates-20131021-2vw3k.html

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G'day Maree,

I hope this email finds you well. Firstly, thank you very much for your quilt and your letter. Coincidentally, the quilt arrived just after Christmas so it  was a welcome gift!

Your choice of theme is quite apt as we recently conducted a port visit to a place called Dar es Salaam which is in Tanzania. Whilst we were there I went on safari in one of their national parks which was quite an experience; seeing warthogs, giraffes, elephants etc in their natural environment was an amazing opportunity and your quilt design will often remind me of the experience.

Your quilt has done exactly as you wished, reminding me that people in Australia do appreciate our efforts and sacrifice, making it easier being away from family for such a long period of time. 

So thank you for the work you continue to do and thank you for the quilt. The efforts of yourself and Aussie Hero Quilts truly have made a significant difference to the Ships company of HMAS Melbourne.

Take care and thank you. 

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Well that is it for me.  
Til next time..................keep spreading the word and happy stitching!  JMxx