Grati-Tuesday 11 Dec 18

Hi All

Some great messages this week and a special couple to start off with.

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Hello All. My husband is in the US Coast Guard and was recently with the awesome crew of HMAS Adelaide. He is still working so he asked me to message you for him....

"I would like to thank you all for the amazing artistry and skill that was put into the laundry bags we received while aboard the HMAS Adelaide. It's amazing how something as simple as a laundry bag can put a smile on your face. I misplaced the letter that was inside of it. I attached a picture so the person who made it can be thanked personally. Thank you again and may God bless you for the great work you are doing for your military personnel. 
Petty Officer Alston, USCG"

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and then there is this one

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Hi there Jan-Maree and fellow quilters.

I am the current Commander of all Australian Forces in Taji, Iraq, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to you to say hello. The reputation of the Aussie Hero Quilters is well established over here and we look forward to keeping the linkages strong for our rotation.

With winter already upon us the need for your services will not diminish and I'm sure that you will be kept extremely busy over the coming few months.

The soldiers of Task Group Taji - VIII thank you for your continued support and we look forward to catching up with some of you after our tour of duty.

All the very best for Christmas.

Warm regards,

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Hi Sandy,

I just wanted to pass on my thanks to you and your team of Kay, Bev and Mary. I received my Aussie hero quilt and I’m over the moon with it, something to treasure for the rest of my life, that is for sure. You all do amazing work and it is felt that we have so much support over here while serving our country. I am part of the maintenance team on the aircraft base in the UAE.  I wish you all have a merry Christmas and happy new year.

Cheers,

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Hi Janelle and Craig,

I wanted to sincerely thank you for all the time and effort you put into my wonderful Quilt, as well as your letter. I was thrilled in receiving it and I absolutely love it - particularly the cupcake print. I love baking and knitting and all things homely. I'm learning how to crochet whilst I'm here but i'll admit, I'm not great with circles!

Thank you once again for your lovely gift. It was a pleasure to know it was made with love and care from someone who understands what it means to serve, but also how much it takes to support those who serve. I know it can't be easy with your son being away often and it's an amazing and selfless thing you do supporting us. You have to manage all aspects of life back in Australia, without your loved ones, while we are here just doing our job. So, thankyou for your service and support to the troops of Australia. It won't be forgotten. I look forward to one day being able to hand down this quilt to my own children and tell them the story of how a lovely lady from Cxxxxx made it for me and my time on deployment.

Thank you so much,

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Hello Georgina,

I cannot thank you enough for the amazing quilt you have created for me and my nephews.  I was so excited when I heard the parcel had arrived and once I  opened it, brought a tear to my eye!

The detail and effort you have put into it, which so clearly show my nephews different personalities is beautiful, and your understanding (must be from having boys of your own) of what would bring the most excitement to both of them shines through!

I managed to get a hold of my sister and send her photos and she nearly cried too.  She knows both the boys are going to fall in love with it

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Dear Sue,

Well it’s quite a difference over here in the Middle East, with temperatures starting to hit 50 degrees Celsius and still climbing!

Thank you so much for my Sydney Swans laundry bag!  It made my day when it came in the mail, and it actually makes me happy to do washing because I get to use it!  The work you’ve done on it is amazing, you’re very talented.

I’ll be sure to continue using this well after this deployment, on all Army courses or exercises, and pretty much anytime I travel and do washing away from home.

Wow, you have a strong military connection!  I hope you and all your family are doing well.  That’s exciting you have three grandchildren!  I hope they are growing well and giving great joy to the family.  And I hope you are all managing to stay warm as winter settles in!  I remember how cold it can get when I was living in Canberra, but it’s easy to forget when I live in Brisbane.

All the best, and thank you so much for my laundry bag.  I’m very appreciative J

Regards,

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Hello Margaret,

I am so happy with my laundry bag, I cannot thank you enough.  It’s perfect and exactly what I wanted.  The heart is definitely staying as that spark of colour on the green and gold is lovely.  I think it will be a perfect addition to my overseas travels later in the year, and I am sure will bring many nice comments on the lovely green and gold pattern.  I especially like the trim at the top with the flags and kangaroos, it’s a great touch!

It is quite warm where I am at the moment.  The thermometer we have only reaches 50C so I am not sure what it gets up to at the top range.  Back home I work as a dog handler.  I have been around dogs my entire life, with my parents breeding Dobermanns and my mother running boarding kennels.  My Military working dog is called Onyx, she is a 7 year old Belgian Malinois (or Belgian Shepherd) and we have been teamed for about 5 years now.  I am looking forward to retiring her in the future.

Again, thank you very much for the time and effort you put into making my lovely laundry bag.  I am looking forward to using it for years to come!

Kind regards,

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Dear Margaret,

I hope this letter finds you well.  Firstly thank you for my quilt.  I was surprised to receive it.  I initially did not ask for one because I did not believe my sacrifice was enough.  However, knowing the sacrifice my wife and kids went through, I am glad I have a heirloom that can stay in our family.

Secondly, I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this letter.  I received the quilt during a busy time of the year.

I have watched my Mum quilt for many years, and I know the amount of time your would have put into my quilt and for that I am truly grateful.

Best wishes,

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To dear Lyn,

Thank you so very much for sewing me such a beautiful hero quilt.  I love it and it looks great on my bed here in the Middle East and will look lovely over the arm on my recliner in my bedroom at home.  That is why I requested black, white and grey as that is the colour scheme of my bedroom at home and I wanted to keep the quilt on display after my deployment.

I loved reading your letter and hearing about you and your life, it makes me feel connected to you.  Thank you for the packet of Tim Tams, they are like gold over here, as the Americans want them so badly, so we exchange things with them that they can get that we cannot.

I am so thrilled Lyn to have got to know you via the Hero Quilts.  You are such a generous person giving up your time, money and energy to create such pieces of art.  I love my quilt and matching laundry bag so very much.  I especially love that I now feel like I know you.  I will sleep soundly under it being eternally grateful for who you are and what you give back.  You inspire me to want to be a better persona and I want to volunteer when I retire and give back.

I am so proud of what you do and how you give to others.  I hope you know that your countless hours of careful sewing and design are very much treasured.  You too are serving our country proudly.  A piece of you is over here fighting with me.

Thinking of you Lyn and so thankful for my quilt and laundry bag.

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Dear Jan-Maree,

Thank you very much for the effort that you have put in to produce my Aussie Hero Quilt.  it is amazing, and will be treasured by my family and I as the years go by.  This my third deployment to Afghanistan, but my first time being afforded the opportunity to receive an Aussie Hero Quilt.  It is also the first time that I have been away from my two young boys,  (5) and (3) for a deployment since their birth.  So the quilt will take on extra sentimental value, commemorating the home sickness that has come with separation from my family on this tour.

I am absolutely thrilled with the quilt, and it is better than I thought it would turn out!  It is a perfect marker for the time that I spent away, and given the ages of my boys, the design motifs of the multiple dinosaurs on the quilt hit the mark beautifully.  One son will be very satisfied with the ancient lizards, whilst the other will be all over the volcano – they fascinate him. For interest, before I joined the Army in the mid 1990’s, I was a geologist who aspired to be a paleontologist.  So my boys have probably received some of my non-military professional interests!  Please pass on my heartfelt thanks to Rachel, Sheena and Gail who also helped with the final product.

This tour has gone well so far and I will have accumulated almost 18 months of service in Afghanistan by the end of it.   I will be home for Christmas, so the end approaches rapidly and I am very much looking forward to leaving the Middle East When my time comes to return to Australia.

Thanks again for your fine efforts.  I have shown the quilt off around the joint operations room within the headquarters and have piqued the interest of several colleagues who have since approached the Padre for a quilt of their own!  You are doing a great job for the morale of soldiers, sailors and airmen/women here in theatre.  Please keep up the excellent work – it is greatly appreciated.

Warm regards,

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Dear Anne,

Thank you so much for my Invictus Quilt.  it is absolutely beautiful.  I cannot explain how grateful I am to have received it.

I am extremely honoured to have this opportunity to represent Australia at the games, and I am really hoping to bring home a Gold.  My training has been going well, I have had a few bumps in the road with additional injuries and aggravating my back and hips on a few occasions, but I have had some great support from my family and friends that helps me push through.  Swimming through winter has been a bit rough, as I don’t handle the cold very well.

It was lovely to read about your husband Alan, congratulations on 51 years of marriage, that is a rare and beautiful thing these days.  

Thank you both for your service.  You both sound like you truly are Aussie through and through.  I had a laugh when I read about Jack, puppies are a lot of work, so much love and so much entertainment they express.  We don’t currently have any dogs but we foster puppies for the shelter until they find a home.  The girls love it but my back yard not so much.

Please send my regards to all the people that helped with the quilt, I love it and I’m so thankful.

Thank you again for your letter.  My apologies for taking so long to return a letter, these last few months have been very busy.

The games are not far now and I am looking forward to seeing Australia cheer us on.

Game on Down Under!

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Dear Clarissa,

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful laundry bag you created (with the help of Bridget) for me.

This was such an unexpected surprise and would make me smile every time I used it, especially knowing my deployed friends also shared the same.

I was an ADC for the Governor General (GG) before deploying and it was one of the busiest jobs in my life so far.

My friends, who were ADC’s to the VCDF, CAF and GG (Navy) supported me through this time and we were then lucky enough to deploy together too.

It must be a great experience to work with Jan-Maree and the other wonderful supporters of AHQ.  Please pass on my thanks to everyone present at your next meeting and tell them although they may not always receive the thanks, everyone, EVERYONE loves their AHQ gift made especially for them.  It brings so much joy, warmth and comfort to those away from home and their loved ones.

Again I’m sorry for the delay, I was a nurse coordinating medical evacuations and days turned into weeks and months.  It doesn’t make me any less grateful to you.

Thank you and best wishes to you and your family.

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Dear Su

Thank you for your colourful laundry bag which I used on recent deployment on HMAS Adelaide in Papua New Guinea. We were working at the APEC summit recently and it was  a friendly reminder of the families back home. Great work.

Kind Regards

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Good afternoon Bridget,

I am one of the lucky members deployed health unit that received a laundry bag made by you on our recent trip over to PNG in support of APEC.

When the bags arrived the entire room including the senior commanders were excited to get their hands on one. And luckily for me I managed to score myself one of yours - a retro 80s theme with sharks in boardshorts!

It was awesome to finally get my hands on one, I was kicking myself for not getting one during my time in Iraq last year.

Thanks again to the amazing work that you do, The team at Aussie Hero Quilts definitely bring a little joy to our trips.

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I shared this on the Facebook page but here it is for the Non-Facebookers... 

Hello Jan-maree. I hope this message finds you well. I was trying to work out today how many different places my laundry bag has been to since it was made for me for my deployment in 2015/16. The only answer I can come up with was alot. It's always the first thing that gets pack, a good luck charm for me I guess. Thank you for everything you and your team do for us. Only another week for me and I will be home. Then my fathful laundry bag gets put away, ready and waiting for my next trip.

laundry bag made by Kaye G :-)

Dear Pennie,

I am so sorry I have not written sooner. Your magnificent quilt arrived a couple of weeks ago but I was traveling in a different region and since returning have been awful busy. 

I can’t describe how amazed I was to see photos of Colt and Geronimo (my dogs) right there on the quilt!! It was an amazing surprise and you’re right I love sitting in bed reading and looking straight down at photos of my boys right in my lap. I can’t thank you enough. The pattern looks so complicated! I am hopeless at sewing (I can barely sew my name tags on haha) so I can’t even imagine how much effort went into my quilt. I’ve shared photos with all of my friends at home!

Hero quilts have a wonderful impact on the deployed soldiers. Most of my team received their quilts/laundry bags in the same week and everyone always rushes over to see each new design. It’s might seem like a small thing but to know people at home are thinking of us, especially being gone over Christmas when many of us are homesick, is really comforting. 

I hope your holidays are joyful and your family is safe and happy over Christmas. Thanks again and again for the quilt. 
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Dear Pennie,

I am so sorry I have not written sooner. Your magnificent quilt arrived a couple of weeks ago but I was travelling in a different region and since returning have been awful busy. 

I can’t describe how amazed I was to see photos of my dogs right there on the quilt!! It was an amazing surprise and you’re right, I love sitting in bed reading and looking straight down at photos of my boys right in my lap. I can’t thank you enough. The pattern looks so complicated! I am hopeless at sewing (I can barely sew my name tags on haha) so I can’t even imagine how much effort went into my quilt. I’ve shared photos with all of my friends at home!

Hero quilts have a wonderful impact on the deployed soldiers. Most of my team received their quilts/laundry bags in the same week and everyone always rushes over to see each new design. It’s might seem like a small thing but to know people at home are thinking of us, especially being gone over Christmas when many of us are homesick, is really comforting. 

I hope your holidays are joyful and your family is safe and happy over Christmas. Thanks again and again for the quilt. 

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Dear Ellen

Reading your letter made me wonder how such a perfect match was made.
The idea of my wife, a caravan and kelpie dog touring Australia is pretty much our idyllic retirement plan!!

Words can't express how thankful I am for the wonderful quilt you have made for me.

I have just returned from leave back home in Australia and your package was waiting for me on my return.   It genuinely made a significant difference.

The day before I left to come back over here I was driving with three of my boys in the NSW High country trying to get a "fix" of eucalyptus and the sights of the Aussie bush I love so much.   To get back here and receive your quilt so wonderfully made with images of the Aussie bush, the flag and the "Skippy" was just the lift I needed to help get over the post leave blues.

It will remain on my bed for the remainder of my tour and serve as a poignant reminder of home.

As the Chaplain over here I hear often of the morale lift that the Aussie Hero quilts to make to many so thank you again so much.

I am grateful that Jan-Maree "twisted" my arm in to making sure I placed an order for myself. 

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Hi Su,

I’m currently serving in the Royal Australia Navy as a medic for the past 9 and a half years. I wanted to say a huge thank you for making my bag J I absolutely love it!! I received your sunshine coast tea towel bag which means a lot to me as I am from the sunshine coast! It’s a great comfort when I’m away from my family and automatically think of my home when I use my bag.

Thank you for putting smiles across Australia to all serving members, it means a great deal to us!!

Have an awesome chrissy and a happy new year!

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Dear Jo

Thank you so much for my lovely quilt and the warm words (& Tim Tams) which accompanied it. I was very touched. Your ability to include my interests was both thoughtful and creative and I am very honoured and grateful that you took the time and effort to do so. There are so many details I appreciate: the puppy with his sideways glance, the camera creations, the beach scene in the middle (also a reminder of Coffs Harbour and the lovely people who made it), the Australian flag edging in the travel area and the maps to inspire me with travel ideas. Not to mention all the beautiful shades of purple! I have yet to decide where the quilt will be able to safely live at home with a puppy who believes all things are his, but for the next few months it will be safe & sound on my bed.

As an added bonus, geography has not been my teams strongest area in the trivia competition we play here fortnightly. I'm hoping the maps will also be a helpful study/reference point for me. I've attached a photo of the quilt on my bed. It certainly brightens up the room and as the nights get cooler, it will be very useful. 

Thank you again for the effort you and your sewing club go to, to make not only this quilt but the quilts and bags for others. They are much admired when they arrive and are a lovely reminder that our time overseas is appreciated by more than just the defence community.

Wishing you safer travels and a lovely Christmas.

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Good evening Helen,

I just wanted to write and say thank you for my beautiful laundry bag! It really brightens up my little cabin and has already been well used in the past week, and will be for years to come! 

From your letter it sounds as though you are extremely busy with family and social activities, and am grateful you take the time out to sew for us. I used to sew and even made a couple of dresses. I hope to be a good seamstress like you one day! 

Thanks again, 

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Till next time, keep spreading the word and happy stitching

Jan-Maree xx