Happy Mail 19 April 17

On Wednesday night last week one of the chaplains came and collected bags of laundry bags to take back in to the city to HMAS Choules. These are our way of saying thank you to the crew of 160 and the army contingent of 60 from 6ESR who deployed with them to help the victims of Cyclone Debbie. 

This morning Bridget and I had the pleasure of a quick trip into HMAS Choules to deliver a quilt in person, not something we get the opportunity to do all that often.  As Bridget made the quilt she had the pleasure of presenting it to the recipient. 

This quilt had to be made in a hurry and having the BOM on hand made it much quicker to complete.  

Suffice to say he was a pretty happy chappy when he saw the Waratahs logo on it... 

By the way, Bridget is not exactly short!  

After the presentation the chaplain took us for a quick look at the Flight Deck.  There are so many ships alongside at the moment.  As we looked over at some of the other ships we were treated to a display as they conducted an exercise warding off some "bad guys" who were coming too close to the ship in a small boat. It even included shots fired!  Very nice of them to put on a display just for us. 

Walking back along the corridor we were introduced to a lovely young lady.  The chaplain explained that we had arranged for the entire crew to receive laundry bags as a thank you following their efforts for Cyclone Debbie victims and she asked if she could give us both hugs.  She made a point of thanking us as her partner had deployed previously, was home now, and she had given her her laundry bag to use whilst on Choules. She was delighted to know she would soon have one of her own.

Many of the crew went on leave on return from operations in Queensland but the chaplain is hoping that most of them will be back on Friday afternoon or Monday morning so that he can hand out the laundry bag to all of them. 

.....

And now for the rest of the Happy Mail.  Lots of lovely BOMs (Blocks of the Month) and some great random stars.  Start saving your black, white and teal for next month's BOM.  No prizes for guessing what team they will cover.

Anne S 

Daryl R

Denise B

Helen O

Kelly G

Jenny and Margaret

Judy and Kathy 

Susan P

Milton Quilters Newbies

Carol W 

Dorothy C 

Thanks so much everyone.  These blocks are great and they all get used, resulting in some wonderful quilts!

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

Jan-Maree xx