Aussie Hero All Sorts!

I am always tempted to call these sorts of posts Licorice Posts - as in All Sorts but I am not sure that my sense of humour will be universally understood.  

First up - Bigpond is struggling for some reason and my email are not downloading well.  I have checked and it is not a Jan-Maree problem but a Bigpond problem so if it takes me a while to reply to your emails you will know why.  Most of you will know that I tend to reply fairly promptly so you may have to wait just a bit longer this time- contact me via phone or  facebook if it is urgent!  

Gotta Love Telstra - NOT!!!

And talking of annoying glitches - apparently a few people stopped receiving their copy of the blog posts via email on or around the 23rd of August.  I know of three ladies in SA and one in Brisbane, who have had this happen.  If anyone else has experienced the same problem can you please let me know- email, comment or facebook message.  The Tech -Guru is trying to work out what is going on - I am thinking a blogger problem as I didn't do anything - HONEST! 

 I wouldn't know how!

Now a quick word on WWQs.  If you are making one and are planning to send it off from your home when the call comes, please be aware that you need to have a vacuum pack bag at the ready.  These quilts are held on site in Afghanistan and it is a very dusty place.  Obviously they are being given to injured personnel so must remain clean and dust free until handed to their new owner.  That is why they need to be sent and will then be stored in a vacuum sealed bag. 

These are the ones that I use and I buy them from Bunnings.  The Small Size would probably suffice but I have never been able to locate them so I am not even sure if they make them.  The medium size will do the job just as well.

 

I usually place the quilt, a laundry bag and a postcard in the bag in the box before I set the vacuum to work.  I think it makes it easier to know when you have vacuumed enough.  You don't need to get as much air out as you can - just enough to seal the bag and be able to close the box.

Cat sent in this message and a picture of her rolled quilt, before she filled the box with more treats!

I sent the crazy star quilt in the mail today. I found that folding the quilt to the width of the box and then rolling it up made fitting it in the box really easy and left plenty of room for some treats! 

A lovely thank you came in last night from this fellow for a quilt that I posted off - the top was made by Heather T and it was quilted and completed by Carol, both Turramurra Quilters.

The combination of a slow mail system and me being away for a while meant that I only received the quilt and laundry bag last week.

Can you please give Heather T and the Turramurra Quilters my heartfelt thanks for an absolutely wonderful gift.

They have brightened up my otherwise bleak and bare quarters, as you can see from the photos. 

Once again, I would like to pass on my sincerest thanks to your wonderful group for providing the men and women over here a small piece of Australia to brighten their days.

We have lots of great talent working with us here at Aussie Heroes and all of them are very humble.

One of our members has quietly published another pattern in the latest Quilter's Companion Magazine and I would never have known if Liz had not tipped me off.

This is the work of Christine C from Queensland - You will have to buy the magazine to learn more about her  and her pattern but I will share a few pictures of the magazine.

You can also check out Christine's blog here

We also have some gorgeous young talent among us too 

You may remember me referring to Angela of the Chatting Chooks.  
Well, meet her daughter, Amy!

She is in Year 10 and when she wrote to me to ask if she could make some laundry bags for those on HMAS ANZAC she said in part -

I think what you do for these soldiers is great and something from home, which I am sure they miss when over there fighting, so thank you.

What a little gem!  Well I like to encourage new sewers so of course I said she could sew for us and I asked her mum for some photos of her sewing to share!

Once she had finished the first one, according to her Mum she said "these are easy”!  She whipped up a second then asked Mum if she had any more fabric? What a question to ask a quilter.

Angela I think we will be making another 2-3 over the following week/weekend. 

For those of you not on Facebook you will not be aware that we have had a huge growth in numbers in the last 24 hours - we have gone from less than 500 likers to 522 as I write this at 230pm and loads of lovely encouraging and supportive comments.   If I get time........I will try and  copy some of the comments on to the blog for you but that means re-typing all of them so that might take me some time unless  someone has time to do that for me and email me then I can put it up on Thursday.   (As at 8.30pm Central Aus time the info requested by Jan-Maree has now been sent)

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

Thank you messages galore

Before we get started for tonight a little bit of information that was left off last night's BOM post.  I have edited the post so that it is there now but just to make sure you all know 

Please send all finished blocks to 

Aussie Hero Quilts

PO Box 248

Cherrybrook,  NSW  2126

It would be great if you could aim to have your blocks in the mail no later than the end of September.


Lots of lovely thank you messages to share with you today.  So nice to know that what we do is making a difference.  Just about every day I hear that we are raising morale and they really appreciate it.

Caroline and the Nine Patches,

I would like to thank you for taking the time out to make the Aussie Hero Laundry Bag that the Padre handed out this morning.

It will be a pleasure to use this item for my laundry needs and will be used frequently.

Very distinctive and I'm sure I will not lose it in the laundry when there are lots of others around.

All the best and thanks again, we do appreciate all that you ladies are doing for those on deployment.

Regards

Caroline,

Please thank your group very much for my personalised Laundry Bag. There has been a great amount of work put into it

and I will very much enjoy using it for many years to come. I especially like the lighthouse/yacht theme, (being a sailor this was quite appropriate)!

I know I will be the envy of many of my comrades when I get back to ships in the future.

Thanks again for all your hard work. 

Dear Caroline,

I would like to thank you for the gift of the Laundry bag you have made so expertly for me. I am deeply touched by your gift, and I find it very heartening to know that it is not only my direct family that think of us here, but groups and individuals like yourself that give up their time to make our life a little easier. 

Please thank all the ladies of Aussie Hero Quilts from the bottom of my heart and know that your work puts a smile on a Diggers face.

Warmest Regards 



Dear Penrith ladies,

I am just writing to thank you for your kind gesture in making a laundry bag for me to use during my deployment on OP SLIPPER.

I am very grateful for your efforts and find it encouraging to know that people at home in Australia are thinking of us and wishing us well. 

I am still only seven weeks into my six and a half month deployment and so I will get a great deal of use from your work.

I hope you are well and again you have my many thanks for your support and your work. 

I received this thank you message last week, 

not for making the quilt but for organizing it which was nice. 

Hello Jan-Maree,
I received my quilt and a gorgeous laundry bag with my initials sewn on the front!!! Both are beautiful and my little room is now much more cosy!!
Thank you so much for organising this for me it is something I will cherish always. I have also been speaking to some of my friends here who have also received quilts and as I am sure you are aware it really gives the guys here a lift to receive something like this.
A big thank you from me!! 

and Pauline who actually made the quilt received her own message...

Hello Pauline,
I received the quilt and laundry bag you sent me! They are both absolutely gorgeous and my room is now cosy and a lot brighter than it was. When I walk in after a big work day, it brings a smile to my face every time. I have spoken to some friends here who have also received them and they are quite the talking point. Thank you so much for going to the trouble to do this for me, it is very much appreciated.
Thank you again and take care 

And then there was this one!

Hi Carolynne,
I just wanted to send you this e-mail to let you know that I have received your quilt and laundry bag. It is very easy to see the time and effort you have put in to making these, and wish for you to know how much I appreciate what you have done.
Warm Regards and Thank You! 

And this message for Kaye.

This is just a quick email to say THANK YOU for the gorgeous quilt I

received from you. It was such a pleasant surprise to come back from

holidays and have this lovely gift awaiting my return.

The work that 'Aussie Hero Quilts' does is absolutely fantastic and we

know that there is so much love and hard work put into everything you create.

Once again, thank you for the quilt, your kind words and extra goodies

that came my way!

Here is a photo of me and my new quilt!

All the best and take care.

When I emailed this lovely young lady to ask permission to publish her picture this is the response I got

Of course you have my permission to publish my email. All the volunteers working with 'AHQ' deserve all the recognition possible!

What you have started is absolutely fantastic and it's times like this that it's really nice to know there are complete strangers who appreciate what the Defence Force does.

Once again, a huge thank you to Kaye and yourself, not only for the quilt I received but also for all the hard work you put in to make this work.

Kindest regards,

Isn't that lovely. Everyone is loving reading the messages from the guys and gals over there so please keep sharing them so we can all enjoy them.  

I was passed a gorgeous thank you email and photo and, of course, requested permission to publish and this is the response:


I have no problem at all with posting my email on the blog. However, I have attached my picture with a small change. I'm unable to publish unedited photos of myself whilst I'm serving over here. So if you could use the new picture I'd more than happy to give you permission.
I think it gives me a more mysterious look anyway....

I have also attached a photo of the type of scenery we have over here to give you a sense of why colour is sometimes missing from our lives whilst serving.

All the best, and keep up the great work

And here is the original email to his quilter, Pam M.

Thanks so much for the care package. I received it couple of days ago
and have been using the Hero quilt and laundry bag since.
Unfortunately the biscuits only lasted a few minutes in the
office.....
I have seen some of the other guys with hero quilts, and have been
envious since.
I have made a small space where I watch DVDs and write emails. Its a
great spot but its right next to the airconditioner and is freezing. A
simple and less inventive fix would be to turn the aircon down or off,
but simple isn't always the best. Now, as you can see, I have the
perfect fix!
With thanks

Naomi got a very special thank you for he quilt that she made at the request of a wife.   Today she received a lovely email from that wife and a photo of it on his bed!

Hi Naomi,

HE GOT IT!!! Here is a picture of the quilt on Nick's bed. He was so excited about it. He said its pretty special that you made it for him specifically and that he got it in time for Fathers day.

Naomi thank you so very much for making this for him, it means a lot to us. 

I received a request for a laundry bag and suggested that I send a box full as one laundry bag takes up so little space - here is the response

The mail is working very well at the moment as the bags have arrived. They look excellent and made it much easier for me to find my laundry today.
The postcard asked for one of the bags to go to a chef if possible. I will be taking this with me on my next trip to Tarin Kot where we have ADF chefs and pass this on. I will let you know when this has occurred.  I will also pass the remaining laundry bags to our Chaplain who will coordinate handing them out.
Thanks again for the great service your team offers to us. In these tough times it is great to know that people care. 

Lyn from Mt Helena WA - you will be pleased to know that it is your cool laundry bag that he is talking about.

The next lovely message was left on Facebook for us after a fellow received a quilt made by Karen D from Vic.

Hi have received my quilt and it is amazing.  I can't say thank you enough for the effort you and your ladies have put in to make and send them to us, knowing people care and support us helps us that miss our lives back home just a little more bearable, from all of us over here to all of you over there, take care and again thanks heaps.

Where possible I chase up every quilt we send if we don't hear that it has arrived.  This is one email I received in response to such a query regarding a quilt from Christine.

Hi Jan-Maree,
Yes my quilt has arrived, it came in the post end of last week... I absolutely LOVE IT!!! So much time and effort has been put into it, and I really like all the colours that were used :)
It is definately something I will treasure always!! Thankyou so much for all that you do for our troops you really have put a smile on mine and many other faces around the camp, not to mention it has brightened up my incredibly plain bed :) Thankyou for giving us all a touch of home to take with us along our travels we all do truly appreciated the time and effort you all put into the quilts and wash bags for us all :)
Thank you again 

I also received a batch of homemade pillowcases from  a group in Queensland and sent some of them to a girl in Tarin Kot.

I have received the pillowcases and handed them out to the ladies.  They absolutely love them and send a very big thank you to all of the ladies who made them!  It is lovely to have something hand made by people thinking of us. Your thoughts and kindness are truly appreciated by all.

And just a bit of mail...

These blocks were sent in by Fran from Tassie and they missed out on being in last night's post and I don't want to wait till next week's post so you are seeing them tonight.  Love the Aussie fabrics.
 

And I know it isn't Happy Mail Wednesday but I thought I would show you these ones as well which are from my sister-in-law Julie and they go really well with the ones from Fran!

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