Grati-Tuesday 14 November

Good morning all, lots of great messages and a few special photos today.   Let's start with this photo sent to us from HMAS Newcastle... if you would like a high res copy please let me know VIA EMAIL please. 

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Hi Robyn,

I apologise for such a delay in responding to you from the date you sent me the wonderful quilt and laundry bag. Mine must have gotten lost in the mail for a while but it finally arrive in the last port that we stopped in. I have to say that you have done an amazing job on both the quilt and the bag! (All of the quilts that have arrived on board have been great but I personally think mine is the best haha). The patch that you were donated was great because it actually celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang. The main Mustang on the front is the 2015 edition while the Mustang in the background (Front and rear) is the 1965 edition. So a very big thanks to yourself and to the Lady from Bendigo who donated the patches.

I was very happy to receive this quilt because I actually bought my own 1969 Mustang when I spent 6 months training with the United States Navy in Virginia. So I was in the USA while they were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Mustang. My Mustang (Called Sally) is very dear to me because it was the very first car I ever bought after saving up in order to buy it in cash at 21 years old. It was because of buying Sally that I was able to travel around the USA while I was completing my training and I actually met my wife. We spent a lot of time exploring the back roads and hidden areas during the spring time in America in Sally and she has been a big part of our family since. I had a lot of issues with the heater in Sally while we were over there and I always had a blanket folded on the back seat for my partner in case there were any cold nights driving around. That blanket became known as the Sally Blanket and will now be replaced by your quilt.

I will be finishing off a restoration of my Mustang once I get back to Australia and rest assured your quilt will be a very important part of when I get her back on the road. Your quilt will be part of many adventures in the future for times when my wife (and one day my kids) and I go for drives along the beach, camping and will be on display when I participate in car shows and classic car rallys.

I will attach a couple of photos to the email as well of both me with my Quilt and Laundry Bag at work while we were transiting the Arabian Gulf and one of my wife, myself and Sally.

Thank you once again for all the work you put in as it makes a huge difference to deployed members like myself where that display of appreciation helps us remember why we do this job.
Warm regards,

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Hello Kay,

I am very gratefull and would like to thank you for taking the time and putting in so much effort in making the quilt and laundry bag. This is my second operation in the middle east, I missed out on a quilt the first time around and didn't want to make the same mistake twice. All the quilts I've seen are top quality and have great designs especially this one.

Thank you once again for a fantastic quilt and bag, 
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Hello Cheryl T,

I hope this email finds you well.  I am writing to thank you for the surprise I received in the mail during our last port visit. 

I am very appreciative of the effort you have gone to provide a quilt and laundry bag for me, which has brightened my deployment.

The ships company took a photo of all of the quilts made and hopefully I can get a copy of that to you shortly.

Again your efforts are much appreciated. 
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To the Bundaberg Quilters, 

Thank you very much for the quilt, I love it.

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Dear lyn K 

Thank you ever so much for the wonderful quilt and laundry bag.
Most Excellent 

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Hello Kaye,

I’d like to thank you sending me the Laundry Bag with the Great Barrier Reef theme including the snacks and letter written by you. The time and effort you have gone to in sending me this parcel is greatly appreciated. Our mail delivery here is somewhat inconsistent and it is always a good day when it something arrives for you. I have forced myself to share the goodies, an act of necessity otherwise I really would have eaten everything myself.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year. I am lucky enough to have leave over this period and will spend the time with my family on a holiday. I’m trying hard not to count down the days.

All the best and thanks again,

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Dear Clarissa,

I would like to Thank you for the gift I received in the mail from you today, it was such a kind gesture from you and your team at Aussie Hero Quilts. I can't explain how much it means to us to receive something from home while we are working over here on deployment.

I have been deployed for 3 months now and as much as I have good mates here it is always nice to receive a letter from someone at home, I will be lucky enough to head home for some much needed R&R and to spend some time with my wife and two children soon. I will then return for the last 3 months of the deployment before heading home again.

So far we have had a good deployment and I hope that us being here is making some difference to the lives of the local Afghanistan people and their future, It really is a lovely country and the people are very friendly that we work with.

I also am a keen sewer, I like to say "man sewer" on my weekends while I am at home, I am a Motor Trimmer by trade so I upholster interiors in cars and boats, I never make any money doing jobs for the boys so you could say I'm a volunteer, HA HA
One day in the future maybe I can look at repaying the kind gesture and make up a few bags to send down to aussie hero quilts.

Once again Thankyou, my room mate and I will sit back tonight and enjoy a few Tim Tams over a hot brew thanks to you.

Yours Sincerely 
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Good morning  / evening Lisa,

Thank you for my beautiful, stunning, perfect quilt!

It was even more closely aligned with what I hoped for than I could have possibly imagined. You are so talented and your daughter chose perfect colours. I told my girls (Ella 10 and Amelie 8) that I now get to cuddle up with them every night because their names are on the quilt, which stays on my bed when I sleep.

I miss my girls so much, but absolutely love what I am doing over here. It is why I joined the military in the first place. I get to go home  on a break in a couple of weeks and intend to spend it at home in Canberra spoiling my girls.

Once again, thank you so much for my quilt.

Cheers,
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Dear Sandra,

My quilt arrived and its amazing!

Your quilting talent is incredible and the time and care taken can be seen in the quality. The box was sitting on my desk after we had finished with the incoming flight and as soon as I saw Aussie Hero Quilts on the box I was so excited to open it and see the surprise inside. I will treasure this quilt and it will always remind me of the great time I had overseas doing what I love with some great people!

I hope since joining Aussie Hero Quilts you have enjoyed quilting and found it a rewarding experience because I know for a fact all of the aussies cant say enough good things about your team who go out of their way for us.

I will be spending christmas here which is not ideal but its only for one year so I'm sure ill be fine! I wish your family a great festive season and once again a massive thankyou to all the men/women who make up Aussie Hero Quilts, you are creating a piece of art that each defence member can use to remember the challenges, friends and great times of serving their country overseas.

p.s will be taking a photo and sending it through when I get the chance

Kind Regards
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Clarissa,

Sorry for the late reply to your package and letter. I'm writing to thank you very much for taking the time to make me an Aussie Hero quilt, package and laundry bag. Your time and effort are very appreciated and I'm very happy with both my blanket and laundry bag. They are really well made and It is fantastic to receive something so thoughtful while away from
home so long. My mum also makes Aussie Hero blankets etc and I know she was happy that someone took time out for me.

Again thankyou very much and best wishes to you and your family.

Kind regards,

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Hello Clarissa,

I am the lucky recipient of your beautiful Taylor Swift/Helicopter quilt!! I just wanted to say thank you so much, it is amazing! Definitely had our crew in stitches (pardon the pun). I love it!

After joining the Navy 10 years ago, this has been my first ever posting to a ship. I am an aviation warfare officer and fly the MH-60R seahawk helicopter. Nearly all of my time up until now has been in training, with a short gap during which I deployed to Afghanistan in an operations job. Being at sea is very different. HMAS Newcastle is one of the older ships in the fleet, and is due to decommission in a couple of years. It will be sad to see her go but the new ships we are getting will be much more advanced and a big step up from what we currently have. Us aviation types don’t get to sea very often, we are mostly based out of HMAS Albatross, Nowra. The areas on the outskirts of Nowra are amazing- Jervis bay is gorgeous and there are plenty of national parks around as well near Kangaroo Valley and down towards Ulladulla. I highly recommend a trip down if you ever feel like an escape from Sydney.

Anyway, just wanted to touch base and thank you for such an amazing gift, it means so much. 

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G’day Caroline.

Just received a large shipment of mail over here and wanted to say how much I appreciated the arrival of your quilt and the other goodies 😊

Just to give you some background, this is my 7^th tour on operations since 2004 so I’m no stranger to what it’s like to be away from your family, loved ones and country for long periods of time.

During these times, it is the little things that tend to mean the most. I’m struggling to put into words just how much receiving that beautiful quilt means to both me and my partner.

I’m due for 2 weeks R & R in a couple of days, and my partner will be flying over to meet me where we will be spending a week in Iceland. So the quilt will be even more appreciated😝 lol.

And funny story, my old laundry bag broke two days before your package arrived😲 So yes laundry is going to become A LOT easier from now on!!

Also, not 100 percent sure how you knew but BBQ Shapes and caramello koalas are some of my favourite vices!! So thank you so much!! Believe me, they won’t be hanging around long. As for the Tim Tams, my American friends said to say thank you as well. They are like a form of currency over here when it comes to asking favours from our coalition friends!!

I’ll close now by saying thank you again, we all absolutely love our quilt and laundry bag and I’m truly touched by what all of you guys do for us whilst we are over here. Even after 7 stints away, its things like this that remind why I come over here in the first place. To protect our country, her people and their interests.

So thank you again, very very VERY much appreciated.

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

Jan-Maree xx