Happy Mail & Aussie Hero Sydney Sewing Day

Hi Everyone.... Caroline filling in for Jan-Maree, as her computer is not playing nicel.

A quick update on last night's post - there is now a Tutorials Page at the top of the blog and you can download the Applique Tutorial from there and the template.  More templates will be added in due course.

Carole left a comment on the blog last night asking the following - Can you please give an idea where I can find a Kangaroo design I can use like the one pictured.  Thanking you

Unfortunately I cannot respond direct to Carole as she is a noreply blogger.   Hope you see this update Carole.

And now here is the run down of the Happy Mail received this week.

The following  3 quilt tops and 8 BOM blocks were received from Julie.. love the blue waves around the first two.

These lovely coloured BOM blocks came from Kirsten.

There was so much Happy Mail that came in at the last minute that Jan-Maree decided not to rush uploading it and will have a second Happy Mail post tomorrow night.

:-)

Another Sydney Sewing Day was organised at Jan-Maree's and it seems that they had a very productive day once again.  I was unable to go because of work commitments, but the roll call was:  Dasha, Jan, Terry, Gail, Rita, Amanda and Jan-Maree.

Gail brought the Aussie Car BOM blocks and also a completed quilt top to pin ready for quilting



This quilt top was made by Amanda, an Aussie Hero newbie  - great use of Aussie Fabric and the BOM pattern.  This was first quilt top pinned on Monday by the ladies ready for quilting.

Jan W came to sewing day and brought first AHQ quilt top to show, love it

If you remember from our last sewing day, this is the quilt top that Dasha assembled using some of the blocks that were sent in for BOMs November,  some of these are from Margaret H .

Dasha has now completed the quilt and just has to bind it.

Here are some close ups, as she has quilted the words "aussie hero" and also the recipient's name into the quilt

Rita C came to her first sewing day yesterday and brought along the memory stick of her camera so that Jan-Maree could download the pics of the quilts she made before Christmas and more recently.  Lots of great looking quilt's Rita

Lots of things were completed on the sewing day, backs were sewn, BOM's were trimmed, quilt tops married with backs ready to send to longarm quilters, and some quilts were layered ready for quilting by the ladies who came to take home.  
All in all I'm sure alot of fun was had by all and hopefully the whip wasn't cracked too many times by the Chief Nut !! LOL

Signing off for now.... Caroline aka  Deputy Nut

Quilts of the Week 11 Jan 13

33 quilts and 90 laundry bags for 2013 and 
979 quilts and 1469 laundry bags overall!

Well it looks like we have hit the ground running this week - holidays are just about over and lots of Aussie Hero Friends are back on deck, and just as well as I have a healthy supply of requests for us all to sew for!

Funny note - today is the anniversary of the first time that Caroline, A.K.A. Deputy Nut, left a comment on the blog!  How far we have come.  Actually at the end of this month we will be starting a new regular post - "This Time Last Year" - looking back at what we were doing a year ago.  So, that is bound to bring back some memories, for all of us, as I won't be writing it.  Janine has "volunteered"  to do it!  Thanks Janine!

Friday's are usually a busy day for me so just as an explanation I am not going to write something about every quilt and laundry bag I show you unless there is something special to tell you about it.  Also, to be guarentee being included in the Quilts of the Week post please get your photos in by Thursday night, or as early in the week as you can manage as it is too hard for me to try and add in loads of photos on Friday during the day.  And I will try and remember to remind you a couple of days before as well.

Now on with the show!

Gail

Me!

You can't see it in this photo but the fabrics in this are a mix of Aussie wildflower prints and American prints - thanks to Terry and Lisa for the American prints.  Note I used stars and stripes for the letters in America

and I had hoped the picture would turn out better but written on the Aussie letters are all sorts of Aussie words and place names.

A 7RAR pig in case you are wondering

I can send you this template if anyone wants it - you can use any pig but this is one that was sent to me.

Can you tell I have been enjoying sewing during the quieter period over the Christmas break.

You can probably also tell that I had a hand in this one as well but whilst I did the applique and handed over some leftover blocks Caroline did everything else with this quilt which needed to be created in a hurry for someone special - story to come once it has been received.

More of Caroline's work 

Dasha

Gidget is an AHQ Newbie - welcome to the club Gidget!

Jacqui

Evelyn W is also a Newbie and she completed a partially finished quilt top that was donated to a group called Stitching Hearts and then the quilt was delivered to me to send it off.  

Rita M 

Julie Ann
(name on the other side)

Karen B

Kaye

This is one of the quilts made as a result of Kylie's Mystery Quilt run over the Christmas break.  you will be seeing more of these

Sue Niven

Beth

Judy D

Kylie

Janine

These letters and Roos were done with fabric paint pens!

Liz

Liz and Roberta

Melissa

Nancy

Stephanie

Marie

And to finish off some thank you messages - 

Dear Pauline
I would just like to say thank you so much for the quilt, laundry bag and the goodies. It is so nice for someone like your self to go out of their way to make gifts for us it really puts a smile on our dials to know that there are people at home thinking of us during our deployment.   I would like to say to your son Nicholas that I hope the surgery went well and that the recovery be quick and as free of problems as possible.  i hope this letter finds you all safe and well.
Cheers    

Dear Pauline and all the other wonderful ladies part of Aussie Hero Quilts,

Sorry for the late email to let you know I have received my quilt and laundry bag.

I would like to thank you all so much for all your generosity it is really appreciated and a great morale boost for myself and all the other guys and girls that received them! 

I received a card from one of you girls but am unsure of who it was from as it wasn't signed with a name at the bottom so I am unsure who to thank.

Pauline thankyou for your letter and I hope your son is on his way to full recovery after his operation let him know I wish him all the best.

 Thank you to hellokitty for the wonderful quilt and I think the laundry bag! They are amazing I cannot thank you enough. 

 If you could reply to me and let me know who made what I would be grateful and able to thank   you personally.

 Thanks again so much,

 Kind regards,

Dear Keryn, 

I am the proud owner of a beautiful quilt that was handmade by you. 

What gives me a great sense of pride is people like yourself and your family who take time out of their lives to do thoughtful, generous acts of kinds to help aid others. Your gift was very humbling and i am deeply grateful to forever be able to have this quilt and remember the happiness and kindness it was given to me in. 

I am very lucky over here to have a small extended family which made Christmas easier and memorable. I was fortunate to be able to stay up late on Christmas eve and Skype with my family and watch the kids open their presents. 

I hope your Christmas with your family was as enjoyable and memorable as mine. 

The work you and all the other ladies do as part of Quilts for Heroes is magical. These acts of kindness are the foundation of the Australian way and they make me proud to be doing what I do for Australians like yourself. 

I am very humbled by your gift and proud of you guys back home. 

Kindest Regards, 

Hi Keryn 
I am writing this email to thank you for taking the time to make and send me a quilt. It has already come in handy a few times with the temperature dropping and a can't thank you enough for this. Thank you again for quilt and I wish you all the best in the New Year. It is good to know that there are people back home thinking of us. Regards,

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