Requests.... all the bits and pieces........

We have a lot of new people so I thought I would write this post to help you look at the request list and know what you are looking at.

Often some of the request ask for specific things like the Rising Sun or the Skippy Badge and you might not know what they are talking about. Hopefully this will de-mystify some of those requests and help you to know where to get the various bits and pieces from.

Aussie Flag 

Ausssie flag panels are available at Spotlight. They are not usually with the patchwork fabric so you might have to ask for them but they usually have them.

Another option is this all over Aussie flag fabric, also available at Spotlight. It is usually with the twill fabrics but we have used it in countless laundry bags and quilts. 

Service Crests.

Often you will find a request asks for one of the service crests and we are lucky enough to have all of them digitized.  This means that they can be completed by people who have home embroidery machines. I will forward to program to you if you have a need to make a quilt that requires one of these badges. If you are not able to embroider them yourself then I keep a stash here to send off as required. If you need one in a particular colour then I have volunteers who are happy to embroider them for you. If your colour required is too specific you will need to post some fabric to the embroiderer, otherwise they often provide the fabric themselves. Colours like black, white, cream, blue etc are usually easy to arrange.

Various Badges

This is the Royal Australian Regiment Badge.... commonly known as the Skippy Badge.  Again I can send you one or you can embroider your own. This is not necessarily appropriate for ALL army quilts. 

This is the badge for the 2nd Commando Regiment and you will be advised if you need to add this to your quilt. 

Royal Australian Engineers Regiment.

This is the SOER badge

United Nations 

Embroidered words

There are a number of requests that ask for things like the following...

Operation Accordion

Force Protection Element 7 or FSE 7

Afghanistan 2017 or AFG 2017 

If you do not want to applique so many letters I can have them embroidered and send to you.

If they just want the year or something small added then you will need to applique them or leave that request for someone who does. 

Afghanistan Flag

At the moment we have a lot of 7RAR troops who would like the Aussie flag and the Afghanistan flag on them. The problem is that the Afghanistan flag is hard to duplicate with the white crest in the middle. 

 I would think that the best substitute is to applique the map in the three colours, black, red and green and ignore the white crest. If anyone has a better suggestion please let me know. 

Other Flags

 A number of the other flags that are commonly asked for are not too hard to create.  If the only reason you are passing over a request is because you do not know what the flag is, or are not keen on appliqueing it if it is a harder one, just let me know. I can possible print one for you.

Silhouettes

Aircraft and ship silhouettes are another common request. I have quite a few of these on record and am being given more as a friend (and past recipient) can organize them for me.

Footy/Sports Teams

Finally, we get lots of requests for sports teams.  These do not have to be complicated. You can go all out and add logos and so on but simple quilts in team colours are just fine. You can add the teams nicknames.. for example, for Cronulla you could add Sharks.  There are lots of other examples, just ask if you do not know.

Lots of people tell me they do not want to do a sports team themed quilt because they are not interested in sport but the other way to look at these requests is to pick out the colours that you like.  I would love to do a red and white quilt or perhaps red, white and blue.  Blue and white quilts are always lovely and black and white can be striking.  Just doing a quilt in the team's colours is adequate. 

I hope that helps you to interpret the requests and helps you to feel more confident about choosing requests.

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

Jan-Maree  

xx