Grati-Tuesday 18 April 17

First a special message from a Warrant Officer who has just arrived in country and passed  back the following feedback.... 

 "I'm in country now and look forward to receiving the quilt. You would not believe how much people here appreciate those quilts and laundry bags and the letters inside the bags make it even more special."

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Good afternoon Jan-Maree and Joan,

Joan, I would firstly like to apologise for my tardiness in acknowledging the wonderful laundry bag you sent me. I absolutely love fabric and it's certainly easy for me to find my bag in the sea of blue bags in the laundry of an evening. 

I can't  thank you and your husband enough for the incredibly kind gift that you continue to do provide; I think I speak on behalf of all ADF pers, that you make our days when we receive your parcels. From the bottom of my heart I sincerely thank you.

Jan-Maree,  thank you for your email and I look forward to receiving the quilt! 

A little about me.... On the 4th of April I celebrated my 22nd  anniversary of enlisting in the Air Force;  I've had a very fortunate career and I can honestly say I still thoroughly enjoy it. 

The attached photo was taken when I was providing relief in the XXXX Cash Office and you can see that we have a collection tin right outside the Cash Office window for ADF pers to make donations!!

My thanks again to you both,

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Hi Jean,

Just wanted to send you my deepest thanks and regards for your time and effort into making my laundry bag! I absolutely adore it!  Thank you again for making the time and effort for not only myself but the other 200+ people. It is really appreciated even if you don't always get a message in return. My life on board is now a lot easier to find my washing all thanks to you. Thank you again.

Kind Regards,

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Good morning Jan Maree

Just a quick note to thank you for my Star Wars themed quilt. I hope you can pass on my thanks to Rachel, Gail and Sharon for the work that went into it. My room looks a little less Spartan and a bit more homely now. Amazing what a bit of colour can do!

My 8 year old son is looking forward to Dad bringing it home so it can eventually go on his bed.

Once again, a big thank you for your support to those of us far from home.

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Dear Bev U

I apologise for taking so long to write this letter, but I decided to write you an actual letter rather than an e-mail because I figured you get plenty of those!

I just wanted to thank you so much for my quilt that you made for me.  I really love it!

It amazes me that people like you are willing to spend so much time and energy on these quilts for us, and the finished product is something that I personally will treasure for years to come. So, from the bottom of my heart...thank you.

I would like to thank  you and all of your friends at AHQ who contribute their time and effort to brighten our lives whilst we're away from home. I will flick you a photo of the quilt in it's new home.

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Hello Ruth,

I am a serving member of the Australian Defence Force, and am currently deployed overseas for 7 months.

I wanted to let you know that I am making very good use of the red, white and blue laundry bag which you made.

Again, thank you for your support. It is much appreciated.

Kindest regards,

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Good afternoon Penny,

Just a quick note to thank you for the laundry bag you made and sent over here in the Middle East. 

It certainly stands out in the laundry and I have already had people comment on how good it looks.

Please know that your work in the ER is just a valuable as what we are doing here, perhaps even more so, and nurses probably don't get anywhere near the thanks and recognition that they should.

Once again, thank you.

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Dear Su,

Today I received an absolutely lovely package. Your quilt and laundry bag are amazing and just scream my style! It is excellent to hear you enjoyed making such a wonderful quilt and laundry bag.

I have been a big fan of the Lord of the rings and dragons since I was a young boy and my father first gave me his copy of the Lord of the Rings that brought when he was still living in the UK, so this beautiful quilt reminds me of all the good things and is incredibly touching with the effort put into it!

I have been an avid supporter of yours and the teams work since I saw the laundry bags and quilts my mates had donated to them whilst in Afghanistan, so to have my own is awesome. Organisations like Aussie Hero Quilts are incredible and I hope there will be many more soldiers, airmen, airwoman and sailors to be blessed with your labours.

Many thanks and best wishes,

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LTCOL Sarah Craig of HQIADS is happy for AHQ to post and name her in. She is exceptionally thankful for all the AHQ support given to our troops.  (especially those in the Rifle Companies in Butterworth, Malaysia)

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Hi Wendy,

Thank you very much to yourself and Norma for the Laundry Bag and treats! It is very kind of you to take the time to do this and is greatly appreciated. I am enjoying have a little bit of Australia in my small room and it just makes it that little more homely.

I am honoured to be the recipient of your first package and I hope yourself and Norma continue to support the troops.

Thank you for your generosity and I hope this finds yourself and Norma well.

Keep warm as it starts to enter Winter back home!

With Thanks,

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Dear Pennie Turrill,

Thank you so much for your beautiful work and support.

I hope this package finds you well.

I am a dentist and have been working on a NATO base in Kabul,

Afghanistan for months now.

Your package really made me smile,

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Dear Pennie,

Thank you for the latest laundry bags.

For many troops receiving one is a deployment rite of passage and becomes a touchstone for good memories when they return home, and of course a cheerful and practical gift to use whilst here!

Thank you for your generosity and choice of fabrics, the game of thrones design simply ran from the shelf once I indicated its availability.

God Bless, Thank you

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Hi Maree, 

I recently received the quilt you made for me. Sorry for the delayed reply as I have been in an area where I have not been able to receive mail for a while. 

Firstly, I would like to sincerely thank you for your time and effort in making the quilt. I really appreciate it, and it is comforting to know that folks back home are supportive of our efforts. 

Thank you for sharing a bit about yourself and your family. I am happy to hear that everyone was involved in making the quilt. I hope that everyone had fun. 

I am extremely impressed with both the design and the craftsmanship of the quilt. I knew it would be a tough one to design, but thought that someone would have fun with the challenge. You are very talented, and your family have done well with the design. It looks exactly as i had imagined, and I am very appreciative. 

I like the name Dragon's Flight. When I look at it, I can picture books I have read and movies that I have seen of medi-evil fantasy lands with incredible scenery and adventure. This help to drown out the monotony of the sandy or concrete surrounding here. There is not a great variety of colour here. 

I look forward to when I get home and I will hang the quilt as a feature wall in the lounge. It is essentially a piece of art, and I will display it as such. 

Thank you very much, and please pass my thanks to your family for their contributions. 

I hope all is well and happy Easter. 

Kind regards,

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Lorraine,

I received an awesome hero quilt form you in the mail today, to say it blew my mind was an understatement, it is very cool. Your letter is also a very nice touch and thank you for making it all a bit personal.

What a coincidence that you and your husband are into to motorbikes as well, I own 3 Harleys (you Ulysses people don't like them much I hear), a 2009 Night Train, 2002 Sportster and a 1994 Fatboy, I have done some big rides on the Fatboy (5000klm) over 2 weeks and absolutely love it.

Once again thank you so much for the quilt, it been some months since I've been home and I have about 4 more months to go and little things like this make it a little bit easier to do this job so far from home.

Regards,

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A massive thank you to the team at Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags) and special thank you to Bridget, Melissa and her mother-in- law Pam for sending me these beauties!

When asked what design I had in mind I was unsure at first but then put down an ambiguous 'Russell Coight' as my response.

Bridget and the team made sure to cover all bases of my vagueness and managed to track down Russell Coight (and Meredith) himself, Glenn Robins to sign some patches used in the quilt.

Absolutely wonderful job team! Keep up the fantastic work.

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Lynn thank you so much for my beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, spectacular quilt. Words do escape me and it did take me by surprise as the video will show (you can see it on Facebook).  I think Cath forgot where the off button was! I am truly grateful for your work and the thought that went into this beautiful piece of art work. It is going to be sent home and I am going to get a pocket put in it and hang it. Everyone needs to see this when they come to visit. I am so honoured and humbled to be part of this deployment and to be considered worthy of such a gift. Thank you so much. Much much love, from a very happy soldier.

A huge thank you to Ally from WA for my beautiful quilt. I asked for a quilt that reminded me of the Adelaide Hills and Ally came up with this beautiful design .... churches, that remind me of Hahndorf in particular! It made my day, my week and my tour to receive this wonderful creation. I will treasure this quilt, I can appreciate how much work went into it. You are such generous, wonderful women. Those of us who are fortunate to receive a quilt or laundry bag are always grateful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Dear Joan and Robin

Please let me start by saying thank you for the laundry bag I received a week or so ago. It is absolutely spectacular. What stands out most to me is the care, consideration and time that you took in putting this bag together. I am very humbled to have received it and grateful to you both for your generosity. Although I know your intent is to enrich our living spaces, I can assure you that the bag will definitely be returning home with me. This is an item that will be proudly kept for a very long time.

I only found out about Aussie Hero Quilts and Laundry Bags by chance – it was mentioned to me by another Australian here in Kabul, who happens to be a member of your fraternity. Having received your laundry bag, I consider myself very fortunate to have heard of you. Thank you for all the work that you both put in to making all these lovely items. Sometimes it is pleasure enough just to receive an unexpected parcel, the pleasure is very much magnified when the result is so attractive.

Thank you on behalf of all those who have received laundry bags from the both of you. The vast majority of us do not serve for recognition but it is still very gratifying to know that our service is appreciated.

I know I owe you a photograph too – I’ll ensure to get that to you as soon as practical.

Once again, many thanks.

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Good Evening from a sunny and hot Bahrain!

My apologies about the delay in sending this message as we only just got our mail delivery and I had just had a 2 week leave period.

First off, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the quilt, it is absolutely amazing and I will cherish it!

I was lucky enough to see them play last week against West Ham United at the Emirates, thank God we won. The atmosphere is just something you cant describe in words I don't think.

Thank you for the cool hanging sleeves, It will definitely go well with the rest of my Arsenal memento, although you need not worry, I will definitely be using it for a while yet.

I hope the weather hasn't gotten to cold for you there!

Again, my deepest gratitude for the quilt, I love it!

Kind regards,

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Hi Debbie,

First of all my sincerest apologise for the delay in this thank you email, I have been away and was extremely excited to return to my amazing quilt and laundry bag! Thank you so much for the amazing gift you have given me, I can only imagine the amount of hrs and love  you placed into it and I appreciate it more then you can imagine! The fact that someone I have never met is willing to do something so amazing for me is lovely! 

Thank you doesn't seem enough but thank you so much for your kindness and beautiful work, I will treasure the quilt for a very long time to come.

Kindest Regards and Warmest Thanks 

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Hi Gail S

Thanks for taking the time to make the quilt it is very nice and the pics in the stars made me smile it will come in handy next week when I move around the region 

So thanks again for making this quilt 

Regards 

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Dear Rosalin,

I am writing to let you know that I am the proud (and very elated) recipient of your absolutely wonderful laundry bag. I must be honest, I chased after the Padre right after he stopped by the office to get it.

Thank you very much for all the time and effort that you put in to make our time here just that extra special. I did not know that we can get something like this whilst on deployment and from myself and on behalf of the other Defence personnel currently away from home that we appreciate all the support and everything that you have done for us very much.

This is my very first deployment, so I am definitely very nervous about what to expect, so your laundry bag really made my day today. I grew up in Sydney and I come from a family of 4 girls. I joined the RAAF about 4 months after I finished High School in 2013. My decision to enlist took my family by surprise.

It is great knowing that you enjoy making the quilts as much as we love receiving them.

I cannot describe how appreciative I am for all your contribution. Thank you very much again for the awesome laundry bag and also for all the support you give for us here, it means a lot.

One very happy airwoman,

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Hi Melissa and Pam,

Thankyou both for the wonderful laundry bag.

I am absolutely stoked with the design, and the time and effort Pam and yourself have taken to deliver it.  I will use it for my uniforms and linen but I think I will feel bad if I throw smelly socks into it. Lol.  

On behalf of all my team here, most who have also received quilts, I wish you a happy Easter and keep up the amazing work you all do.

Kind regards,

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Hello Kay,

I would like to thank you so much for the quilt you made for me. I received the parcel a few weeks back, but have been unable to email until now.

You did a fantastic job of making it. I love the design and the fabrics are fantastic. The prints are spot on! The minties were a lovely treat too and I have enjoyed the Magazine. Thank-you.

I have put the quilt to good use already and is now my bed cover. When I return to Australia, I will put it in my son’s room. He will be 15 months by the time I return home, I’m sure he’ll love it on his bed too.

The weather here has really started to heat up here, so I’m looking forward to getting back to Aus for some cooler days. I live in Sydney now and have done for 20 years. Time fly’s.  However I grew up in Victoria and have a soft spot for the state. I do miss the football and I try and see Essendon whenever they play at the SCG! I take my daughter who’s nearly nine (I’ve forced her to support Essendon!) My wife is from the UK, and does not have the same passion for the game as myself.

Thanks once again for making me the lovely quilt, I will be sure to treasure it always and when I deploy it will always go with me.

Regards,

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

Jan-Maree xx