Egypt and more

Time now for an update on what is happening with Egypt.

As you know there are 25 Aussies serving in Afghanistan and we are progressively sending quilts and laundry bags over to them.  There have been a few questions from AH Friends as to whether we should send laundry bags to Egypt so I checked with my contact there and her response was "I use my laundry bag all the time" so that seems like a pretty good answer to me.

And you will be pleased to know that I had a quick email from my point of contact over there letting me know that some of the quilts arrived.  Here is some of what she said.

Morning Jan-Maree, yes we got mail about 20 mins after I’d sent your email, C's quilt was in the mail along with 3 others ( all boy ones I believe) Thankyou letters to follow, the three still in my office were from Erica L of Vic and 2 from Susan S from SA. Actually one from Susan has just been opened and oh my it’s beautiful. I am going to have to learn how to quilt.


This is the quilt that Marilyn made for her daughter-in-law, the C mentioned above!  She has already emailed to tell her she loves it!

I am guessing here but I am thinking this is Erika's quilt which has arrived

 And this

 And this are Sue's!

And just before I go here is something I found today when I was trying (in vain) to catch up on the blogs I follow.

One of our Aussie Hero Friends, Pip, has been working on a quilt for Aussie Heroes using the latest BOM - 

Check out her blog.

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

More from Turramurra and other lovely ladies!

The Turramurra Quilters have sent off another lovely bundle of quilts.

A gorgeous Aussie 9 patch by Heather H

Blissful Blues by Judy E

Great greens and mustards wtih koalas by Mary.  It has a real Aussie feel because of the colours and they aren't your typical green and gold.

Fabulous Aussie squares by Claire  - I just love some of the fabrics in this.

These lovely soft squares are by Mary.

These next two are Quilt as You Go - joint projects by these lovely ladies.

A great bunch of quilts and would you believe they are not finished yet!

A couple of weeks ago we had a couple of requests come in for quilts.  This was completed by Nadene for a fellow whose home town is in Victoria.   

Nadene added special squares in each corner featuring a nifty fabric with iconic Melbourne buildings on it.  Love it!

And finally, these two quilts are headed off to Egypt this week.   This was made by Erika

 and this by Sue S.  Both really lovely quilts.  

I hope to get a couple at least in the mail next week from my neck of the woods and there will be a couple going from WA next week as well.  If anyone else has a quilt ready or nearly ready to go just leave a comment if you want the address.

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

Quilts for Wounded Warriors!

Hi All!  I received an email today from one of the chaplains in the Middle East and we have been asked to provide three quilts that can be held in the hospital in Kandahar to be given to any wounded soldiers who transit through there on their way to hospital in Germany.  Preferably they should be Australian in flavour as they will accompany the soldier to Germany and a bit of familiar Aussie-ness would hopefully be comforting to them.  The quilts will be sent direct to the Chaplain - you can email me for the address.  They need to be sent in plastic bags that can be vacuum sealed as the Chaplain said the dust gets into everything and we don't want the quilts dusty and dirty before they are even handed to their recipient.  I would also like to have two more quilts here on hold.  Once we hear that a quilt has been passed on I will send the next quilt off to replace it as quickly as possible. We don't need lots of quilts to go and storage is limited but if you want to go ahead and make one please let me know.  I am looking for three to go as soon as we can.  There is already one offer on the table from Debra and I think I have an offer of another quilt top which I will complete and have on hand here as a replacement.  If you are interested in making a quilt for this purpose or if you are working on an Aussie flavoured quilt at the moment  please leave a comment.  We will not be restricted to posting these quilts only during the April and November mailing dates obviously.

It has come to my attention that although our people are serving in the Middle East that does not necessarily mean that they are all in Afghanistan so I have amended the description of the blog accordingly and also the label.  This is how the new label reads

This is an

AUSSIE HERO QUILT

 made for an

Aussie Hero

in The Middle East

with gratitude for your service.

2012

aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au

djlmball@bigpond.net.au

Now if you have already made a label with Afghanistan on it don't throw it out and some that I still have will have that on them but from now on, when I print more they will say the above.  

Now on to finished quilts etc.  This cool whole Aussie Flag quilt was made by Erika from one of the huge panels at Spotlight.  If you look carefully along the centre of the Union Jack Erika has quilt Advance Australia Fair.  Love it!  and I am sure the recipient will too.

Check out these cute nine patches from Maria and 

these four are from Claire!

These cute ones are from Caz.

  This ones reads "Shhh Shhh Little Girl Sleeping"  Cute!

and here is a laugh on me!  I spent hours today searching the house high and low for these blocks and I couldn't find them anywhere.  I just couldn't remember where I had put the.  I couldn't even remember when I had take the picture of them!  And no wonder!  I had only seen a picture of Caz's blocks that she had emailed me but I have been so busy the last few days that I got completely confused and convinced myself that I had them - thank goodness I have Caz's number and could call her and check!  Okay, you can stop laughing now!  :-D

You might like to know that I am in the process of completing three feminine quilts and one masculine quilt plus one feminine laundry bag to go to the incoming Psych team. One of the girls already has a quilt on its way.  I have also just sent off two quilts to two chaplains.  One has not yet arrived and instead of asking for a quilt for himself the current incumbent has asked for a quilt for his replacement.  I have another chaplain's quilt on my design wall as we speak.  He is the Head Chaplain and I have decided to make his myself seeing as I can post it after the mailing period and I haven't been able to actually make a quilt this year as I have been flat out finishing everyone else's and no, I am not complaining.  Seeing as I know what this Chaplain's hobbies are, and he is a RAAFie chappie and I am ex-RAAF (and exRAN) I wanted to personalize it a little.  More on that in  future post.

I am also finishing off the group nine patch quilt for a very special someone but I can't tell you who just yet.  I want to wait until it has been received as I guarantee this recipient will have no problem getting internet access if he wants to  contact us.  We will just have to wait and see.  I am sure someone will let me know once this quilt has been received and then I will tell you more.  Intrigued aren't you!  Hee Hee - love a bit of suspense as long as I am not the one in suspense!  Forgive me!

So, did anyone head to the post office today?  Don't forget to let me know.

And please leave a comment if you want to make an Aussie quilt for a wounded soldier - hopefully the only quilts not to be used!

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

More boxes hit the road today!

I am loving these emails!  Sue from SA sent me these pictures.  She has posted off this gorgeous feminine quilt - how pretty.

 And she had fun making laundry bags x 10!  Love them all but my drummer son would like the middle one best.

 More great fabrics - love those bright patches too!

And check out the Strawberry Shortcake  and Raggedy Andy bags!  What fun!

 A nice neat pile of ten going......going....gone!

 And lastly Erika, who runs a charity in memory of her son Shannon, called Shannon's Army sent me this picture.  This isn't the only quilt she is working on either!  You can read all about Shannon's Army here.  I think you will understand why Erika has gotten behind Aussie Heroes.

Has anyone else posted off their quilts or laundry bags?  PLEASE don't forget to let me know what you are sending - we all like to hear that and we all love the see the PICTURES too please!

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