Grati-Tuesday 28 Jan 2020

I hope you all had an enjoyable Australia Day and if you were lucky enough to get a public holiday yesterday, a relaxing enjoyable day. 

Here are some great messages to get your sewing/working week started. 

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G’day Melissa,

Thank you so much for the quilt and laundry bag. They were put to use very quickly. I loved the pattern you used and the colours you picked are amazing.

My first impression when I saw the quilt was that of my parents. The image of them sitting on camping chairs, looking over the sunset was very reminiscent of when my family would go camping when I was a child! So, thank you, you’ve done an excellent job!

Thank you for the letter as well! You sound like an incredibly busy women juggling so many things at once but it does seem we are required to do that these days. 

I’ve worked in a few trades; Subway supervisor, Chef and warehouse logistics until I decided to join the Army.

During my early to late 20’s I did allot of volunteering with the State Emergency Services (SES) and often sent to help with natural disasters all up and down the coast of Queensland. I am the man I am today because of the people I meet and surrounded myself with in the SES. Both men and women that I met within the SES provided direction, experience and guidance at a pivotal time in my life and I couldn’t stress that enough, that is for younger people to surround themselves with the right people and even now I try to emulate that to the younger soldiers. 

I joined the Army later in life at the young age of 31 which brought its own challenges. Being a more mature person, focused on the task at hand and being thrown in amongst younger people who just want to have fun had its moments. But more often than not we all come together as a team, bringing together each other strengths and accomplished tasks not a single one of us could accomplish by ourselves.

I believe joining the Army, even at a later stage in life was an excellent choice. Both the difference in lifestyle and experiences I’ve had has made me grow as a person. 

It saddens everyone deployed to see Australia burn and it weighs heavily on everyone’s minds over here. I truly hope you haven’t been affected to badly by the fires.

Again, thank you for your quilt and laundry bag. My quilt has been getting used allot on cold nights and the laundry bag is easy to spot amongst all the other laundry bags and can’t be mistaken for someone else’s. Please see attached pictures of the quilt on my bed and see if you can spot the laundry bag you made 😊.

Thank you for your kind words. I wish you all the best for the New Year and good health for you and your family.

Kind Regards

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Dear Diane,

Thank you so much for the beautiful quilt and letter. The quilt is amazing and everything I hoped for. I only have a few weeks left here and then I get to go back home to my beautiful wife and daughter. They don’t know that I am coming home a week early to surprise them. I have only been married a year and I missed my anniversary this year. I guess I will have to make up to her! I have a beautiful 2 year old daughter, people say she is the spitting image of me. 

My job over here is an Aircraft life support fitter. I take care of the pilots safety equipment, life jackets and emergency radios. It’s a lot of responsibility but still a great job.  As you could probably guess I am a big Batman fan. I love reading comics in my spare time.

I know that everyone here really appreciates all the hard work you put into our quilts, everyone is very grateful.

We all look forward to coming home.

I hope you and your family have a very safe and merry Christmas.

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Dear Cath,

Firstly, I am so sorry about my delayed reply to your well-constructed letter, as you can imagine things have been very busy in the middle east – noting world events!

I am so so delights with the wonderful work that you have done in creating the one of a kind laundry bag for me. You have without a doubt brought a very big smile to my face – everyone in my workplace was rightly so very jealous! You created a bag that was truly 100% me, it was exactly what I wanted and more!

It was so lovely to read your letter and learn so much about you, your fur babies and your son. So a little about me.

The ADF is such a wonderful organisation and we are all brothers and sisters and being deployed over such special parts of the year really was hard made very easy by being with the Aussies! I know that the ADF has so much more to offer me, I am developing every day and learning new things. In my most recent posting, I was a Health Centre Manager managing 40+ staff in one of the busiest operationally focused centres, granted small but we provided LOTS of support to operations. I never thought for a second that I would be 31 years old managing so many people, doctors, nurses, physios etc! I am very much looking forward to getting home.

I cannot thank you enough for your truly wonderful gift that I will treasure for the rest of my career. You have given my a little piece of home. Your laundry bag will have many adventures moving forward, it will have many stories to tell!

Thank-you again.

Warm regards from Afghanistan, 

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Hi Cath,

Thank you so much for the laundry bag!! It is amazing!

I have been deployed 4 times into the MEAO over the last 12 years in the RAAF. I have spent just over 2 years in total here. I have also served in the Army as a Combat Engineer until I was medically discharged when damaged knees.

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Hi Sue,

Thank you so much for the package. The laundry bag is amazing, and the lollies will be well utilised. Hope you are safe and the fires are under control. My family wasn’t directly impacted however there were a few close calls.

I just want to let you all know that you all do an amazing job. Everyone is walking around showing of their blankets and the effect that it has on moral is phenomenal. It can be a bit of a grind here, and the smiles that the blankets and bags bring to everyone is amazing.

Once again thank you for your hard work and efforts, and please be reassured that we all appreciate what you all do for us, especially with all that is happening at home. We all think of the people and fire fighters that are affected by this tragedy, and to be honest it can be frustrating at times, as all we want to do is be there to help.

To you and everyone please stay safe and remember our love and thoughts are with you all.

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Dear Roz,

Thank you so much for the laundry bag. It reflects my travel bug so well and is absolutely perfect!

It has certainly been an interesting time to be deployed. I’ve enjoyed visiting a range of places around the region and learning more about the Middle East. The variety of dates and baklava have definitely been a highlight! I hope you received similar enjoyment from your army career – 24 years is quite an achievement!

I am so impressed that you are able to find the time to make these laundry bags and balance work in a busy emergency department. I hope it has been a smooth transition into civvy life.

Thank you for all your support to those of us deployed and to the community in Brisbane who, I’m sure, are grateful for your exceptional nursing skills. All the best for 2020!

Kind regards,

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Hi Kathy,

First I'd like to say thank you very much for the effort you have put into the quilt I received. The quality and design look fantastic! I'm sure it will stay with me for many years as a display piece. Jack Russell's have always been a part of my family as well for as long as I can remember.

The quilt reached my family in Australia as there wasn't quite enough time left on my deployment for it to reach me over there. None the less my mum sent me a photo of it to enjoy until my return just a few days ago. 

This was my second time deployed but my first as the captain of my aircraft which was the highlight of my tour. 

Kind regards,

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Hi Clarissa

Thank you very much, I  received your LB on Christmas eve and it was a fantastic surprise, thank you very much, It is everything I hoped for.  I have been in for nearly 40 years now (time fly’s when you are enjoying yourself) , I joined as an apprentice at 16. Always loved aircraft and wanted to travel (but not pay for it myself ha ha) so the Airforce looked to fill both those criteria. 

This is my 3^rd tour (done Iraq, Afghanistan and now here.) and first LB!! So I Joined in 1980 as an Aircraft maintainer and worked on Mirages, HS748, C130 Hercules, King airs and FA18 Hornets. 

Thanks you again for your time and effort, rest assured all work is appreciated very much and helps take the edge off being so far from home and loved ones.

Yours sincerely

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Good afternoon Joy,

I'd like to express my sincere thanks for the hero quilt and laundry bag you sent my way whilst on a recent deployment in early 2019.  I am sorry for the tardy reply - your letter got mixed up with all my personal effects when I returned home and some recent (not-so-spring) cleaning has unearthed it, to my great relief.

I do hope that you, your family, home and town were spared the worst of our horrendous fire season, I know the Nowra region was affected. Whilst I haven't been directly involved in the ADF's response to this disaster, many of my colleagues have been and there is still the possibility I will be called upon to help also.

I absolutely love the quilt; it graced my bunk on deployment and has done so back home in Australia on cool winter evenings.  I had to laugh at your husbands description of the quilt, 'Insanity', but I love the patchwork of it.  As you may recall, it included a red cross, rod of Esclepius and some surfing scenes.  I work as a GP with the RAAF and on weekends you'll find me surfing with my wife when the swell is up - thank you for combining two things I am so passionate about.

If you are able, please continue to support such a great cause in Hero Quilts.  I was humbled to receive your thoughtful gift at a challenging but also incedibly rewarding time of my ADF career.

Kind regards,

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

Jan-Maree xx