A blast from the past.

We send many quilts off here at Aussie Heroes and some we hear back from but many we don't and there can be many, many reasons for that.  But still we send them because we are not expecting a "thank you" for each and every quilt or laundry bag we send.  These quilts and laundry bags are gifts, meant to let the soldiers, sailors and airmen and airwomen who receive them know that we appreciate them, their service to Australia and the sacrifices that service asks of them.

Some of the people we send to have protected identity status which is as much to protect their families as it is to protect them.  We have t respect that and I do what I can to make it possible to request quilts and laundry bags and still remain anonymous.  Some times I receive a list of initials and sometimes a just receive a number.  

When the very first quilts were sent off to Tarin Kot at the end of 2012 I had the name and address of the very first Aussie Hero, the soldier I called "the Lovely Warrant Officer" because Warrant Officers were certainly not lovely in my day - they were scary and grumpy!  LOL  Anyway, The Lovely Warrant Officer sent me the initials of his entire team of 15 so that we could make personalised laundry bags for each of them and we also sent them quilts. 

wAround April 2012 When the time came for the Lovely Warrant Officer to come home we arranged quilts for the team that came in to replace his team.  This time I didn't even have initials - just the number and gender break down.  Around that time Marg from WA was sewing away feverishly on the farm and sent me the following pictures of the awesome Aussie Flag quilt tops she had made.

Next thing I know she had had a quilt-a-thon an had quilted and bound all eight quilts and was ready to send them off.  

This photo used to be our cover photo when we first started off.

We never heard back from any of those quilts as far as I know until........

Imagine Marg's delight, almost two years later, when she checks her email on Sunday and finds the following message

Dear Marg,

My husband served in Afghanistan in 2012 and received a handmade quilt from you.

I am writing to thank you for your effort in producing such a beautiful, thoughtful piece of craft work especially for our boys.

Until recently the quilt was stored away in a trunk with lots of other bits and pieces from his deployment, un-opened.

Our 5 year old girl spotted it as it came out and asked her Dad about it. He says he used it as a kind of topper on his bed every day whilst deployed.

It now lives on my daughter's bed, she has abandoned all her usual bed clothes in favour of it.

Thank you once again for this lovely heartfelt gift, we will always treasure it.

We wish you and you're family good health and good fortune.

Sincerely,

Marg forwarded the thank you to me and was delighted to have received it but felt bad because she didn't know which quilt they were referring to.  I think she felt she should have recognised the name.  I had an inkling that it might have been one of these quilts so I wrote off and asked if it were possible for them to send us a photo of it so that we could be sure

Hi Jan-Maree,
Thank you for your quick reply, sorry about my delay!
Here are some photos of the quilt as requested. I hope Marg will be pleased to see them. It would be next impossible to know who personally receives each quilt unless you get some feedback, so please tell Marg not to be embarrassed about that. It's certainly no trouble at all to write and thank you for your work, it means such a lot to us.
All the best to you and your fellow quilters and your families.
Warm Regards,

Mystery solved.  It is indeed one of those quilts.

So if you have sent a quilt off and have never heard back, take heart.  Chances are it has been brought back home and is now on a sofa, a bed or even a child's bed and is more than likely a special memento to the recipient if not their while family.

It is Thursday night so just in case I have left someone off my list, here is the list of those who have sent me pictures of the quilts and laundry bags that they have sent off this week.  If you are not on this list and believe that you should be then please let me know.

Louise

Debbie

Hilary

Joan

Judy C

Julie Ann

Mary

Pennie

Rita M

Sue N

Till next time...............keep spreading the words and happy stitching! JMxx