Grati-Tuesday 12 May 2020

Hi team,

Happy Grati-Tuesday! 

You know; Tuesdays are starting to become my favorite day of the week! I get a huge kick out  reading all these lovely letters of appreciation from our awesome recipients.... and they aren't event addressed to me!! 

This weeks we have another batch from the Fearless Crew of HMAS Toowoomba, from them you can see that the moral of her Crew is at a high as more and more Quilts and Laundry Bags  are received. Great to see!

We are also starting to see letters come though from the ADF teams around Australia that are working hard on the home-front in the battle against COVID-19. I am so glad we can send them a Laundry Bag as a way of thanking them for their support during this time.  

Find a comfy spot and have a read!

......

Dear Ma’am,

Thank you, so much. Aussie Hero Quilts is an organisation that gives so much. Last year, I worked in Headquarters Joint Operations Command where I regularly spoke with deployed ADF members. Each member indicated that their favorite keepsake and item from deployment was the quilt from Aussie Hero Quilts. While the Good Will Mail at Christmas and Easter is appreciated, there is something very special about an item that has been lovingly crafted by someone.

My mother in law is a keen quilter and as such I appreciate the effort and time required to produce a quilt.

The quilt will definitely liven up the very bare container I am currently living in. It will be a great splash of colour in the bland  Desert. It will then hang proudly in my house, when I return to Australia , as a reminder that there are still people in society who legitimately care about ADF personnel deployed around the world. It is even more appreciated in light of the conditions at home, where you and our fellow Australians are facing your own hardships.

This is my fourth deployment and first quilt – so I am very excited.

Once again, thank you for all that you and the team are doing.

Regards

 .......

The following is an email from one of the recipients of our Operation Assist COVID 19 Laundry Bags;

Janis and Jan-Maree,

We got a really nice laundry bags from our CHAP Bruce XXX.  I can’t say anything but big thank you.  Myself and my colleagues really appreciate the generous work you have done.  We thank you very much.

Regards,

.....

Hello Toni,

Thank you very much for the laundry bag that you have made me. I am so very appreciative of it. Also, thank for for writing me a letter, it made my day.

It is a blessing to have a stranger back home make me something that makes my life over here just a little bit nicer. I am of the opinion that I am not that special, I'm just a guy doing his job. I believe wholeheartedly that people like you are the special ones. Volunteering your time to make laundry bags and quilts for people you don't know, just because you know it will make their life a little bit nicer. And for that, I say thank you! I think that's in our Aussie spirit to help others and be kind to others and it makes me so proud to be Australian.

I thought I should share a little bit about myself also, I am an Technician on the C130J Hercules aircraft and I'm very passionate about my job and the work we do. I have been in the RAAF for 14 years now and this is my 6th rotation into the Middle East, so I've become quite comfortable over here. However, I do miss my wife very much. We've been married for 4 years now and my going away for work is just a part of life for us.

Please keep up the amazing work you selflessly do for the community, it's because of heroes like you that Australia is the great country that it is.

Best regards,

......

Thank you so so much for sending individual laundry bags to our team in NW Tasmania. We appreciate everything you do and this was such a beautiful way to end our time in Burnie.

THANK YOU!

....

Hi Clarissa,

I am a Paramedic in Darwin (for past 15 years) and I was recently presented with your laundry bag during a joint AUSMAT/Defence mission in Burnie (NW Tassie).

AUSMAT (Australian Medical Assistance Team) is a team of some 1400 members, spread across Australia.

The team consists of Medical (the whole range of Drs, and the whole range of Nursing Staff,

Paramedics (me), and Logisticians.)

We deploy to a variety of disasters across Australia and into the Asia/Pacific region.

Just to give you an idea of what we do and where, over the past 6 months (this has been very busy and not the norm for AUSMAT), we have had 5 teams deploy to Samoa following the measles outbreak there, (we where there for 10 weeks in total). We have a mobile field hospital (think of MASH) which we deployed and used as a negative pressure isolation ward to treat the overflow from the local hospital.

We had a small team travel to New Zealand to repatriate some Aussies caught up in the White Island Volcano eruption.

We had two team travel to Victoria in early January to assist in the bushfire response, and at the same time had a team deploy to NSW for the same bushfire response.

We had several missions to repatriate Aussies from Japan and various cruise ships following the COVID-19 outbreak. We had a team on Christmas Island who looked after two separate arrivals of Aussies Quarantined there for their 14 days isolation.

The remaining cruise ship “Guests” where transported to Howard Springs (just out of Darwin) and that facility was also run by AUSMAT members.

We had a team travel to WA to provide medical assistance to the cruise ship Atarnia recently.

Our latest deployment (where I was presented with my laundry bag) was to Burnie in Tasmania following the outbreak of CIVID-19 to hospital staff (and the forced closure) to Burnie Hospital.

This was a joint AUSMAT/Defence mission with 7 AUSMAT members and approx. 35 Defence Drs, Nurses and Medics, as well as a sprinkling of Transport (Truckies) personel.

Our mission was to supervise the cleaning of the ED, Operating Theatre and other essential wards of the hospital. Once the ED was clean, we opened the ED, staffed with AUSMAT/Defence staff, until the original hospital staff had completed their 14 day isolation and where cleared to return to work. We saw some 450 patients during this time.

The attached photos (Left) was taken on the Helipad and Burnie Hospital following our ANZAC observance.

It is the 7 of us AUSMAT members (in blue shirts, except me, I had just come up from the screening area at the ED Triage, hence the hospital scrubs and disposable gown and mask) and 3 of the lead Defence personnel.

The other is Me, with my Laundry Bag, and Gus my Curly Retriever Dog. (I think the idea of the fishing theme came from where I was and what I was doing when our AUSMAT Team Leader phoned me and asked me to deploy).

Thank you and your team again for the laundry bag and the letter.....Very much appreciated.

Please pass on my thankyou to the Aussie Hero Quilters (and Laundry Bags).

Take care and Cheers......

.........

Hi Clarissa,

I wanted to drop you a note to say thank you so much for the laundry bag - it means a tremendous amount to receive that. 

I had not heard of AHQ prior to this and it is a real honour to be receiving such a gift. 

I have attached a photo of the bag - each was chosen to reflect our personalities and as a proud dual Australian and UK citizen, who clocks up half his life living in Australia this year - I arrived 24 years ago for a 12 month working holiday - it is perfect. 

Thank you again and best wishes to you and your family in these extraordinary times

......

Dear Donna

I received the quilt from you and your Mum this week, and I absolutely love it! I've attached a photo of me with the quilt, and one of my sausage dogs (who I miss terribly!). More than happy for you to pass my pictures and message to Jan-Maree for the blog.

I follow the blog and every week I am simply in awe of all the fantastic work done by volunteers such as yourself, and Jan-Maree for her leadership and coordination skills as well.

I lived out in S.W Sydney  before I deployed, it's such a beautiful area but a shame how far it is from where I usually work in Holsworthy.

It's been a long trip, made even longer by the COVID restrictions in place here, but I am looking forward to coming home in a month or so even if I won't be able to travel back to WA  to see my family and puppies for a little while yet.

I would have written a letter, however our postal system is not so reliable at the moment and I would hate for it to get lost. 

Thank you again for the beautiful quilt, I hope this email finds you and your Mum well!

Take care 😊

....

Good evening Anna,

Firstly I would like to extend my gratitude for you to take the time out of your day to complete my request. I’m absolutely in love with the quilt and how simplistic but to the point it is. The fabric you chosen is amazing although I think you have a strong attachment to it hahah. A quick little back ground as to why I wanted this is since the release of the Destiny franchise I’ve been an avid supporter and has brought me countless hours of joy providing a little escape from reality. My partner says I spend a little too much time playing it but I always make sure to make time for her!

A little run down of myself,

My partner and I are also a very geeky household we binged watched the Mandalorian and Witcher (secret man crush on Henry Cavil) before I departed and would you believe it or not we are both Dr Who fans. My mother got me and my sisters into it when the reboot came around and I haven’t looked back since, Matt Smith was my favourite doctor just from the way he seemed to play an excitable child on the outside but was an old doctor on the inside!

My partner and I recently brought a house and I got to spend a grand total of 26 days in it before we deployed so you can imagine how crazy that would have been. We have an exotic Persian 5mo cat (the flat face always looks grumpy kind) named Theo and he is doing a great job of keeping my partner  busy hahah.

COVID-19 has placed a big strain on our deployment as of the other day we have been confined to the ship for over 50 days now and if the resitrictions don’t lift anytime soon we are looking like 100+ so everyone is going a little loopy myself included! The quilt couldn’t have come at a better time as it is getting tougher here but the home stretch isn’t far away! I’m hoping the restrictions are a little less when we get home so I can enjoy the joys of being back. My partner has been keeping me up to date with everything back home and I’m glad there are some things I missed out on hahah.

Once again I can’t thank you enough and I’m going to hang it in my games room on my return home!

......

Dear Cath,

This is going to take me awhile to write this letter and I’m really not too sure where to begin.

So I’ll start off by saying; Oh. My. God.

Over the last few weeks people have been receiving their quilts and laundry bags and although they have been fun and warming designs, a lot have been very simple. I was starting to wonder If I had asked for something too specific and wasn’t really sure what I was going to find in the box when it came. Now let’s fast forward to yesterday when I received my parcel.

It was a bit of a rough day to start, morale has been dropping a bit recently because of all the restrictions that have been put on us due to COVID19. We had been told in the morning that we would be receiving mail but I thought I was going to be getting some snacks or supplies my family had sent me. I went down and saw the Aussie Hero sticker on the box and instantly perked up. Like a kid on Christmas, I quickly took my parcel and ran to find a free spot to open it. The quilt was the first item I pulled out. I rushed to remove the plastic bag encasing it, then held it up and let it unravel; and majestically unravel it did. I basically went into shock. It took me a good few minutes to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing the absolute master piece I was holding before me.

There was perfect lighting coming down on the quilt and all of the gold embroidery lit up light a Christmas tree, it was truly amazing. From top to bottom I gazed at it, still remaining in shock. The hieroglyphics on the top and bottom are perfect and I love the black and gold braids that complement the theme. Anubis alone is a master piece in itself and then I realised you took it ever further and that it was hand painted and it just blew my socks off! (They are some next level skills you have). I basically couldn’t contain my excitement and began running down 2DECK stopping and showing every person that came past the piece of art work I had received. I then tracked down a few of my boss' to make sure they got the privilege of laying their eyes on it as well. I decided that the quilt is far too special for me to use on the ship and that it deserves much more respect than our cramped little living quarters can provide. Luckily for me I am currently building a house back home in Western Australia and this quilt will be my first piece of art work I will be hanging up in the house and I will keep and cherish it as an heirloom to pass down one day. The timing of receiving this quilt couldn’t have been better in such a dull time like this, you have made me the happiest sailor in the fleet. You have gone well above and beyond with the amount of effort, care and love put into this quilt and I cannot thank you enough from the bottom of my heart.

A big thank you for the snacks as well, the Tim Tams were delicious and Turkish Delight eggs are my favourite chocolates! It was quite hard trying to resist eating them all in one session haha, though I made sure I shared some with others so we all had a piece of home in these dull times.

Now for a little about myself.

I grew up in Western Australia with my brother and sister have had a few jobs before I joined the Navy but none of them really stood out to me so  I decided to bite the bullet and follow my uncle down the military path (He was also in the SAS and   he served for 25 years and became a warrant officer class 1) except instead of going army I signed up to the RAN.

I started out in Melbourne at HMAS Cerberus and spent over 15 months completing recruit school and my category training. That was a pretty good experience and I enjoyed the weather and land scapes over there as it was always so green and I love the rain. From there I went to Canberra and joined Australia’s Federation Guard for a year in a ceremonial role. You may have seen some of the parades and ceremonies we did while you were visiting Canberra. The only negative about that posting was that it was sooo cold over there and I wasn’t used to the negative temperatures every morning. I then landed back in WA at HMAS Stirling for a little while before joining HMAS Toowoomba. It’s been a big journey to get from then to where we are now with lots of ups and downs but it has been very rewarding and I’m glad to be part of such a good crew and ship. COVID has certainly made this deployment a bit less exciting since we can’t really go anywhere anymore since we don’t want to catch it, but I guess the positive out of that is that I’m saving more money to put into my house.

I love my video games, tinkering with gadgets and my fitness. When I get back to Australia I’ll be planning to make my office into my own little gaming world which I am super excited to do! I also spend a lot of time researching new concepts on anything and everything to keep my brain active as much as possible. Apart from that I’m a pretty simple man that considers eating and sleeping as hobbies haha! I try to get to a lot of the food festivals over in Perth as much as I can to try all of the different and delicious foods of the world.

Once again, thank you so much for the Quilt! You are a wonderful lady and what you do is amazing and is definitely a huge boost to ADF personnel on deployment! I hope you are well and are staying safe in these odd times.

All the best,

.....

Thank you for making my day Ruth 😊❤️

I will treasure this for many years.  

......

Good afternoon Jacqui, 

I just received the wonderful laundry bag you made for me! 

You definitely made my day and fit the brief. I love it! 

It is going well over here, just managing Covid over here like the rest of the world. It was good to see that some things are starting to be slowly lifted in Australia. So hopefully that means you'll be able to go out and have a coffee with a small group of friends again soon. 

I have heard that some post offices have shut from family that have being sending parcels and that the time is a lot slower than usual. 

Thank you so much for creating lovely laundry bags and quilts for all of us deployed. I know it definitely gave me a morale boost getting my laundry bag in the post along with those delicious tim tams, candle and the hair wrap! The hair wrap has already come in handy and it will continue to do so. 

Thank you once again Jacqui. 

Kindest regards, 

....

Good Afternoon Jenny D, 

I just wanted to send a quick email to show my thankfulness for the package I received from you.

You have gone above and beyond my expectations and this is definitely a highlight of my trip. As you can imagine with plenty of COVID-19 restriction, moral is quite low. The effect that Aussie Hero Quilts has had will never be forgotten and we are sincerely thankful.  

I cannot admit to having a ‘design diary’ but Pinterest is very familiar to me. I guess this is the age I was born into. Never let anyone change how you design, not even a computer could put this much love and soul into a quilt.

I will definitely smile every time I see this and I can guarantee so will my little sister when I return back home to SA  to be with them again.

Thanks again Jenny, love your work! 

Kind Regards,

...

Dear Melissa,

                Just a quick note to let you know that my Aussie Hero Quilt has arrived and I absolutely love it. The work that your organisation does is very much appreciated by not just everyone here, but also those back at home. As a member with almost 28 years in the Navy, I have been fortunate enough to be awarded several medals for my service over the years. These will be passed down to my son in time, however I have never had anything to give my daughter from my service. This quilt will be passed to her as a keep sake from my time in the ADF, it’s a good thing that she is a Raiders fan like myself.

                I am current serving on the HMAS Toowoomba which is deployed to the Middle East in support of Op Manitou. We have been deployed for several months thus far and have just a few  more to go before heading home. Life here is pretty good compared to all of you at home currently dealing the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s pretty frustrating not being there to provide support to my wife and kids as they go through these uncertain times but they seem to be coping, just like the majority of other Australians.

                We are pretty much isolated from the threat at sea which is good but we have not been able to step ashore for a while, with no signs of that being lifted any time in the future. I can understand the reasons behind it, we are doing the same thing in Australia at the moment by preventing other vessels docking in our ports.

My family assure me that everything is fine and they are coping well via our regular contact through the various social media outlets that we have available. I actually think that my wife is enjoying not having to run around every week end with her job. She is one of those people that is always on the go and I don’t think I have ever seen her cooking so much as what is she at the moment. I just hope that it continues when I get home. I think that she has also re-arranged the house at least a couple of times and cleaned out just about every cupboard and closet we have. Hopefully she has stayed away from my shed but time will tell.

I have two children myself however I have lived through the stage that you are currently going through with the driving lessons etc. My eldest  has moved away to the WA Wheat belt to live. She seems to be enjoying the rural life, but has now worked out how convenient city living is when you run out of milk etc. She is just starting to get into sewing so perhaps a future quilter is on the cards? My son,  still lives at home with us. He’s on a pretty good wicket at the moment but provides company and support to my wife, so  I can’t complain too much. I can tell you that they don’t get any cheaper to look after, instead of replacing tyres on their push bikes it will now be tyres for their cars. But I love them to bits and miss them all dearly.

Thank you again for your support, all of us here really appreciate the great work you do (not to mention the Tim Tams – few more hours on the treadmill I guess but well worth it). I hope that you get through the Covid-19 issue unscathed, and wish you and your family all the best in the future. You are truly amazing.

Thanks and Regards,

.....

Good Evening Philomena,

I absolutely love the quilt. I just received it in the mail. Thank you so much.

I can’t believe you ladies do what you do. This is my nine deployment and I have only just been exposed to the Aussie Hero quilts because everyone keeps talking about it.

You are definitely appreciated by so many people.

I still have several  months left of my deployment. Times are pretty touch over here but we are all managing because of people like you.

Sounds like you and your family have traveled a lot. That’s amazing!

I'm so excited.. It really is the small things that mean the most.

God bless and thank you dearly

....

Greetings Rose,

Thank-you for the quilt that you have put together and sent to me. Receiving your quilt filled me with a feeling of pride and gratitude and has demonstrated that people back home in Australia appreciate the contribution that I make every day protecting Australia’s security and interests.

I’m currently on active full-time service in the Navy on HMAS Toowoomba an ANZAC class frigate in the Middle East area of operation.

Watching people open packages with quilts inside them through-out our ship (HMAS Toowoomba) brought with it joy and excitement. I would like you to know that what you are doing is really making a difference to the general mood on-board the ship. I would compare your quilts to opening Christmas presents on Christmas morning. From the bottom of my heart thank-you! 

Regards

....

Hi Su!

Oh my gosh thank you so much for the quilt and laundry bag, they are PERFECT! 

Hahaha I know I threw a weird one out there but there’s a story behind it so thank you for accepting to do it, it means a lot to me to have these memories!

The background colours are beautiful, the whole quilt absolutely brightens my room and my day. I haven’t stopped smiling and showing everyone since I got it when mail came in today. Everyone is so impressed and are all laughing about how classic his face is. Well done, his look of joy is perfect!!

I’m thrilled that you were willing to create this. It’s fabulous and I’ll treasure it for sure. I’ll be home hopefully in July to show it off to my friends and family. My mum will be just as confused by the pistol-wielding Cookie Monster but he is as you say having the time of his life which absolutely reflects my experience here so she won’t dwell on it for long.

I feel like you know me so well already! The surprise treats were such a thoughtful addition that really lend themselves to my sweet tooth... thank you! I haven’t tried the choc covered fruit before. I’ve sent a picture to my boyfriend who’s from Adelaide asking him if he knows of these delicious morsels. I’ll let you know what he says! He’s a bit of a foodie too though so I’d be surprised if he didn’t know about them.

Thank you again. Your time, effort and thoughtfulness has really touched me. I really appreciate the effort you went to and your letter had me in stitches! (Haha pun not intended but on point right!?). I’m actually exploring calisthenics here on deployment as a way of getting fit without needing the gym (it gets extremely crowded here...). 

Cookie has gone straight on my bed and looks completely amazing there.

Take care in these bizarre times. All the best to you and your family, and hopefully stay in touch!

Best wishes,

......

Dear Bridget,

I hope this email finds you well in these uncertain COVID-19 times.

 I graciously received the quilt that was created by yourself, Inge and everyone who contributed a block a week ago in one of the few mail run we have being able to conduct since COVID-19. I have seen multiple ship mates receive their quilts and laundry bags over the past couple of months and I have been eagerly watching the Facebook page for the dispatch post and waiting for mine to arrive. Thank you so much for your efforts they are not in vain!!

A little bit about myself. I grew up in NSW in the southern highlands and move around quite a bit as a kid and ended up seeing out my teen years living in  S.W Sydney  NSW. In 2011, I decided to join up after a few jobs one as an apprentice shop-fitter then working for a Law Firm in Sydney as a Junior IT Helpdesk trainee. Since 2011 I have served in HMA Ships Success, Warramunga, Stuart, Parramatta, Adelaide (LHD), Canberra (LHD), Anzac, Arunta and now Toowoomba, I have also spend 3 months living in Darwin as a member of the transit security early in 2013 and spend a few months on various patrol boats. I cannot count the countries I have visiting in my years of service, but the majority of countries in the South and North East Asia region I have been to, and now ticking over a few countries in the Middle East, which was always a big contributing reason to join, because who doesn’t like free travel. 

I have one sister , 3 step brothers and 4 step sisters, but no family of my own just yet. I am a proud uncle to 5 nieces and 6 nephews and counting, this alone keeps me on my toes. All my family still lives on the east coast spread between  NSW in the southern highlands up to Cairns QLD. I have had the pleasure of being posted in Sydney whether at HMAS Watson on South Head or at Fleet Base East in Woolloomooloo and more recently to Fleet Base West in Rockingham WA. I decided to change things up with a sea change and I moved to Perth for something different which I love, except for being away from family. I’m not sure if you have ever visited Perth, but compared to Sydney it is a big country town with little to no traffic, however the drivers are a bit questionable and the shops still close early and only trade for a few hours on weekends.

Everything that you and Aussie Quilt Hero’s do is amazing and I thank you so much for taking the time to personally craft my quilt!! The earthy colours brought together by the ships crest looks amazing. I cannot wait to get home and show the family that a complete stranger took the time to create something for another complete stranger. I will cherish it and it will now travel with me until the end of my career! 

Take care, and thank you.

....

Hi Deb!

Thank you so much for the Laundry bag you made for me, it’s perfect! I enjoy the imagery and the description of Poseidon seem actuate for me when I’m a little sleepy and haven’t had any coffee hahaha.  In fact I keep bragging about it how it’s the best one in our Mess (sleeping space). I share it 15 other guys.

A little about myself. I grew up in Townsville to an Army family so you could say I destined to join the Defence Force in some fashion to continue the tradition of defending the country. Both my parents served for 20 years each, Dad in the infantry and Mum in logistics. I joined the Navy from Townsville in 2011 and have loved every day since, well, most days. I have been all around the Australia and the World over the last 9 years and even meet my wife. However, she doesn’t like it when I’m away but tells me to deploy again once I’m home and I wreak havoc throughout the house messing up all the nicely folded linen etc. hahaha.

We did a little math a few months ago and since we’ve been married , we’ve spent 14 months together and this year we will spend 75 days together in total. So the wonderful job you do by making the Laundry bags and the filling it with goodies makes the world of difference while we are away from home so often. By the way, the treats didn’t last long. Though, I try to use my time away wisely by completing so University. I’m five subjects off a Bach. Psychological Sciences Maj. Criminology.

I don’t want to take up too much of your time but thank you again it means the world J!!!

Kind regards,

....

Good Afternoon Jenny P,

Thank you so much for the beautiful quilt that you made me.

I appreciate your effort, talent and time spent making this for me.

I am very impressed with how it looks, so much so, that it took my breath away when I first laid eyes on it.

I’ll tell you a bit about myself.

I have been in defence for about 5 years as a supplier and have enjoyed every moment.

I went on my deployment in October last year and just got back recently  

When I arrived back into country the quilt brightened up my hotel room that I was staying in during my 2 weeks of quarantine, and brought me comfort.

Currently I am working from RAAF Base Richmond and am living on base with my husband and 2 cats 

That was why I wanted the theme of my quilt to be 2 cats, to remind me of them.

The quilt turned out better than I could have ever imagined.     

You have such an amazing talent and I appreciate what you do for defence members serving on deployment.

Thanks again Jenny

Have a great day.:)

Kind Regards,

......

Dear Pennie,

I just wanted to say thank you so much for laundry bag!

I am so in love with it – it’s absolutely perfect.

To be honest, it’s so pretty that I don’t even want to put dirty washing in it!

The llama and sloth prints are just stunning and they match perfectly with the little llama and sloth teddies my sister sent me.

Thank you so much for your continued hard work and dedication – receiving these gifts make such a huge and positive difference to our deployment.

I’ll be forever grateful for my bag. 

I hope you are doing well and that corona virus hasn’t impacted you too much.

Thank you so much again,

....

Dear Pennie,

I hope this email finds you well.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your lovely laundry bag, it is absolutely beautiful. The Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Airwomen are extremely lucky to receive beautiful gifts such as laundry bags from dedicated personnel like yourself when we are on deployment. The smile that gifts such as yours puts on members faces is just magical. I arrived in the Middle East in the middle of January 2020 and my deployment end date is January 2021.  

In  2019 my family and I moved from the NT and purchased a house in NSW, Your letter made me laugh because my parents bought my wife and I a new Toro self-propelled lawn mower for our house warming present which is great for me however, it is way to heavy for my wife because our yard has a number of levels so I had to purchase her a battery mower prior to my deployment. I must admit I was very skeptical about a battery mower however, it actually works extremely well.

I can only imagine how extremely busy you must be working as emergency nurse in a major hospital and still find time to sew, dance and learning to speak French.

  

Take care and stay safe.

....

Hi Ruth,

I have just received the wonderful laundry bag you made for me.  Thanks so much, it really made my day. 

Our issued laundry bags are flimsy and need to be replaced often, but I can see this one will last me a long time.  It will remind me, not only of the deployment, but of all the great people back home that support us. 

I chose bees because we don’t see them on the ocean, obviously, and I have a big rosemary bush in my front yard at home that the bees buzz around happily.  It’s amazing how much you miss the little things when you’re in situations like this. 

I hope you are keeping well in these uncertain times.  Thanks again for the lovely gift.

Cheers,

....

Hi Lyn,

I wanted to take the time to thank you immensely for my quilt. It’s lovely and I really appreciate the time you spent making it. It reminds me of my late Grandmother who used to sew me winter PJs with similar patterns and designs as a child. 

I really enjoyed reading your letter, it’s nice to know who the quilt came from with a little about them. 

To tell you about myself...

 I’m a Corporal in the Australian Army, working in Signals. I grew up in  NSW and am now posted to NT. 

My husband is also in Signals in the Army. He returned home from a deployment in February this year. I’m currently deployed to the Middle East. Luckily I was able to see him for a short time during a hand over period.  It’s hard being away from each other and family for so long but we both love our jobs and have very rewarding roles in the defence force. 

I am one of five children, two brothers and, two sisters. One of each are also in the Army. We’re spread across Australia so that gives my parents an excuse to travel and visit. One which my mother’s takes up very often! She enjoys heading up to the NT and getting some warmer weather as well. 

I can’t even imagine what it must be like back home with COVID19. We’ve got restrictions here as well. I hope you’ll be able to get back to travelling very soon! I also look forward to getting home and going camping. 

Thank you very much.

Cheers,

.....

Jo,

      Please accept my sincere thanks for the time and effort you have put in to making my Broncos Laundry Bag! The end product is amazing and I’m sure my crew will be very envious when join the mighty HMAS Gascoyne in December. 

The work that you ladies/men do certainly does not go unappreciated and always achieves a welcome smile and boost to morale when the troops get to open their personalised gifts.

Very Many Thanks!

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Have a great week everyone.

Kylie