Latest news.... and its a small world after all.....

G'day all.

Lots is happening in the next several weeks so I thought it was time to catch you up.

The next sewing day at my home is on the 13th, that is next Thursday. All welcome.  Just let me know if you are coming so I can have project organised.  You need to BYO lunch and machine and I provide the rest.

Next Friday, the 14th, I will be travelling up to Maitland as guest speaker for the Opening NIght of the Maitland Patchwork and Quilting Show.   If you are in the area make sure you stop in and check out the show!

The following week I will be making a flying visit to Canberra to finalise the details of the Dinner and will be away from the 18th to the 20th of October. 

Our next sewing day in Penrith is on the 22nd of October.  Same deal as for a sewing day at my home.  All welcome and BYO lunch.  Again I provide the projects, just let me know if you can make it so that I can make sure we are gainfully employed. 

On Monday the 24th of October a small group of us will be attending HMAS Darwin for an afternoon tea when they will present various organisations, including Aussie Heroes, with the funds they have raised whilst on deployment. 

November will be a busy month for me....

We have our dinner in Canberra to look forward to.  

The biggest, most exciting news is that HMAS Perth has invited me to travel to Perth as their guest to be there to welcome them home from deployment.  How incredibly special is that!!   For those of you who do not know, I am a Perth girl, born and bred and fiercely proud of being a Sandgroper so to go home to welcome home HMAS Perth in my home town of Perth is extra special.... What an absolute honour!

In November I will also be making a very quick trip to Wagga to participate in Defence Force Day at one of the schools.  I will be taking classes of children for 25 minutes at a time and telling them about Aussie Heroes and what we do and why we do it. 

Please bear with me over the coming weeks if there are a few less blog posts etc as I will be flat out and the priority will be getting quilts and laundry bags to the troops, especially for Christmas. 

And now for something different......

The Aussie Hero World is getting smaller... you just never know who has received a quilt or a bag........or who is making them...

Yesterday I took myself off to the local shopping centre to buy a new pair of runners (or in my case walkers!).   The young lady who was serving me asked me what I had planned for the day and I explained I was going home to a sewing day. She asked if I would be sewing on my own or with friends and I explained about Aussie Heroes.  She stopped what she was doing and fixed me with a look... "You run it? she said.   I told her I did and she told me her mother used to sew for us.......  

Then today I received a text message from a local quilter who is away on holidays....

She said that she met a friend of hers from her school day in Brisbane... they got talking and it turns out that the friend's daughter also sews for Aussie Heroes!!!

But my favourite story so far....  and forgive me if I have already shared this one with you.....

From a story that was passed to me and I am sorry but I am not sure who shared it....

.....

A quick note on a serendipitous moment.

Had to go and see my sons VCE English teacher because he thought he was failing English and he is utterly scared of her.

It turns out that he is not failing, moreover she is a lovely person.

We got off topic, ..... And it turns out that her son is in the navy and while he was deployed he received an AHQ. She told me that the quilt made all the difference in his 6months deployment on the seas and how happy it made him and how grateful she was as a mother to know that there are nice ladies going through that much effort make sbd happy.

I puffed up my chest (discreetly under my big winter coat) and to.d her that I just posted a quilt myself just last week.

Now I am certain my boy won't fail English 😜 and it was so gratifying to experience joy and gratitude in a roundabout way.

Just thought I let you know that your magic and drive reaches the most remote corners of Australia (Upwey in the Dandenong Ranges).

Off to have a glass of wine and look at quilting patterns.

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

Jan-Maree  xx