Grati-Tuesday 18 March

Hi All.

First up, thank you for all the lovely feedback from last night's post about the homecoming of HMAS Melbourne.  I am so glad that you enjoyed it.

Debbie and I certainly enjoyed being there.

The next sewing days are coming up. 

We have one at Penrith this coming Sunday the 23rd.  We will be making laundry bags.

We will get started at 10am and go till about 2pm.

BYO lunch, coffee mug and sewing machine.  I will provide all the materials and hopefully a little something for morning tea.

The address is 

Penrith Patchwork,

97b Henry Street,

Penrith.  

There is plenty of parking at the rear. 

The next sewing day at my home will be Thursday the 27th of March.

Once again please BYO lunch and sewing machine and I will provide all materials.  I am not sure what we will be doing.  It could be one of those days where we do a bit of this and a bit of that or maybe some laundry bags.  We will be putting a quilt top together though if enough people can make it.  Something in red and white and I have the fabric here but if you want to bring something nautical in red, white and/or blue it won't go astray.

For either day if you know you are coming please let me know.  Late notice arrivals are always welcome but a rough idea of numbers makes it easier to plan.   If you want to come to my home and have not been here before just email, call or PM me for the details.  All welcome including non-sewers!

.....

Now it is time for some thank you messages.  This first one is really special.  It is from a 13 year old girl who received the quilt that was sent to her father.  He has specifically requested something suitable for her and I chose a cute Owl quilt that Millie had made and sent to me.  As you know, HMAS Melbourne came home on Saturday and on Sunday I received the following email.

My father was on board HMAS Melbourne for a 7 month deployment. I would just like to thank you for the fabulous quilt he received whilst overseas. I just thought you might like to know that the beautiful quilt made sits proudly on my bed. I do textiles at school and recently put together a quilt so I know how hard it is to make. The construction of the quilt was truly superb and your quilt makers are very talented.

Again thank-you, what you do not only affects the men and women on board but also their families because it lets us know that someone is caring for them when we can't. 

Didn't she write a beautiful email for such a young lady!

and now to HMAS Darwin.  They know that the way to a quilters heart is to send a photo and so they have created an Album called Aussie Hero Quilts on their facebook page and have posted the first five photos of happy recipients.   You can imagine how delighted I was when I spotted it.  If you are on facebook you should think about liking their page HMAS DARWIN so you can keep up with what they are doing.  The caption for the album reads....

Excited Darwin sailors recently received the first delivery of hand-made quilts from Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags)

Aussie Hero Quilts is a not for profit organisation, where Australians from all walks of life and age groups, known as Aussie Hero Friends, donate their time making a gift for ADF personnel on operations overseas. In addition to quilts, Aussie Hero also make personalised laundry bags, which is very handy when it comes to picking out your bag of laundry in a sea of identical bags.
A big thank you to Jan-Maree Ball and her team for all their hard-work and dedication!
We will continue to add photos to this album as they arrive.

and here are the first five photos!

Quilts by Debbie, Hilary and Sue N

Evelyn

Hilary

Stephanie T

Louise Turner and the Dolphin Quilters

....

and to our other thank you messages....

Dear Stephanie T,

Thank you so much for the amazing poker themed quilt that I received.  The time and effort that you took to create something for a stranger touches my heart.  I will cherish the quilt forever.  When I look at it, I will always think of your kindness and appreciation for myself and other Defence Personnel serving overseas.  As you can imagine, being posted away for extended periods of time can be stressful but your quilt will bring me some comfort.

Once again, thank you.

Kindest Regards,

.....

Hello,

Gale & Jenny, 

I received my quilt and my laundry bag from you lovely ladies it is fantastic, all the girls love it just as much as I do.  A big thank you to you both for volunteering your time and effort to make us our quilts. It means a lot to us out here. 

We are nearly two moths down in our deployment and going strong.  I use my beautiful quilt every night and it's something I will keep for the rest of my life and hopefully pass down to my own children one day.

Again thank you so much 

Hope your both well and keep up the excellent work

Kind Regards,

.....

Hello Gale and Jenny,

Thank you for the wonderful Quilt and laundry bag. I do love dogs as does my girlfriend, actually she is crazy about dogs! We don't have a dog though we do have a couple of surrogate dogs we borrow, with the main one being a cheeky mini husky (Alaskan klee-kai) called Kye who lives down the road.  I miss my little part time friend and your quilt and laundry bag reminds me of the good times I have with him.  I love the patterns and appreciate the work that has gone into making them. 

Thank you again and give your dogs a pat for me!

.....

Hi Lisa,

I received my quilt today. Thank you so much! It is so lovely and the bright colours look fantastic in my room. Thanks for the time and effort you put into it, I really appreciate it :) (and I love the Aussie flag). 

I hope you enjoy making your next quilt and I am sure the person who receives it will enjoy it as much as I enjoy having mine.

Thanks for your well wishes. 

Kind regards,

.....

Dear Jan-Maree, Lynn and Belinda,

Ladies, you are absolutely incredible. I received my quilt a few days ago and I'm staggered. I have managed to 'hang' it in my room, actually it's draped over a mattress leaning up against the wall. I look at it each time I get in from work and each time I see something new. I took me a little while to realise that the stitching was in the outline of a Chinook among the clouds. It is also very impressive that you have captured the colour contrast in the shadows on the Spartan helmet. You guys are just amazing. I would very much like to be able to hang it properly in my house where everyone can admire it and enjoy your work. You have all certainly achieved your aim of inspiring happy thoughts and memories of home for a soldier who's family is struggling each day he is away. Thank you for your personal letters that came with my quilt, and most importantly for your on-going support for our deployed servicemen and women.

.....

Hi Ann,

I love the quilt that you have made for me. It is exactly what I was after.
I usually live in XXXXX, with my wife and our daughters and have done on and off for the last 20 years.  This is where my love for Gecko's first came about.

Thanks again, I'll be in contact soon with a quilt pic.

Best wishes

.....

Dear Pennie,

thank you so much for the gorgeous laundry bag that I received this week.  The colours are just lovely and just right for me.  It is  a nice decoration in my room too.

P.S. the teabags were incredibly thoughtful.  Thanks

.....

And just a little extra ........

Hi Jan-Maree,

Today we had the inaugural South Adelaide chapter  of Aussie Hero quilts get together quilting day.

Mary kindly hosted us, and it was attended by Mary, Sue, Kerri and I.

It came about as a result of our pot luck dinner with you last month and despite being "new" friends, we all got along famously. There was copious tea drunk, a yummy pot luck lunch, and non stop chat. Despite all these distractions we even got lots if quilting done!

Next sewing day is next month.

Cheers

Pennie

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