AQC Wrap Up updated version...

EDIT!!!

Unless your name is Sandra you did not win the sewing machine. Greg, from Bernina, drew the raffle and when I called to give her the news she was ecstatic to say the least!  She said that the first thing she will cut out to sew with it is some new laundry bags.

Well I have to write this early as I don't know how much time I will get closer to time. This is a big thank you post.  

I would say that AQC has been a big success and there are so many people to thank.

I need to thank Gary and Judy and all the crew from Expertise Events for inviting us along and their great support all the way though.  What a fabulous show and what wonderful organisation.  What really touched me was the fact that they "get it", they understand what we do and were more than happy to support us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

It was very special having LTCOL Michelle talk on our behalf on Wednesday night at the cocktail party  - she did a wonderful job and it was a privilege to be asked to provide a speaker for want of a better way of putting it.

Next I need to thank Bernina for their wonderful support with the Gorgeous Sewing Machine they gave us to Raffle - what a hit that was, and the Victorian Quilters who agreed to allow us to raffle it in association with them.  We could not have done it without them.  

Bernina also supported us in a big way with their laundry bag work shops.  For each laundry bag made,  the sewers paid $5 which Bernina matched and that meant we gained not only a laundry bag, but a $10 donation.  Thank you so much Bernina.  

Another big thank you has to go to Howard Long of DTS Communicate for the brochures he printed free of charge for AHQ.  This is the second batch he has done free of charge for us and it is so appreciated.

Then there are all the lovely ladies who volunteered their time to work on the stall.

Jeann, Sue M, Billy, Jo, Sue N, Marlene, Sue O'D, Hilary, Michele, Lisa N, Su, Leonie and Sue P.  

Please forgive me if I have left anyone out.

Special mention goes to Billy who made the dash on Friday morning to the printers to collect the extra flyers we needed to print after we went through several hundred on the first day!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all the wonderful people who came to see us 

- the mums of serving members who stopped by to tell us how much their children appreciated their quilts, often at the urging of their sons or daughters, including the mum of the photographer who has been shepherding the Centenary Quilt around the Middle East, 

- those who follow us on Facebook,

- those who read the blog

-those who had read about us in the AQC brochures, 

-those who are already Aussie Hero Friends and Followers and came to introduce themselves. It is so nice to put faces to names ...... not that I promise to remember them all...

and finally BIG BIG HUGE THANK YOU to Evelyn, Robin A and Caroline!!  AQC would not have been possible without your support.

They traveled to Melbourne with me, helped carry bits and pieces for the stall in their luggage, did lots of bits and pieces in advance of the show to help get us ready and were an invaluable help every day of the show, and they put up with me being unsociable each night while I caught up on emails, wrote blog posts and attended the Cocktail Party and Dinner and just generally tried to keep my stress levels down. 

Tonight we visited one of the chaplains have been invited to the home of one of our Navy Chaplains for dinner and then tomorrow we head home.  

Thanks again to all involved. I could not do this alone and I have come to believe that i have the best volunteers in the country!  

Many thanks everyone!

Jan-Maree xxx