QOTW 29 March

If you are fortunate enough to be with your nearest and dearest this Easter Holiday then may your weekend be safe and happy and full of joy.  Please spare a thought for our wonderful Heroes and their families that cannot be together, and that includes not just those serving overseas, but the many around Australia who are posted away from their families as well.

To those of you in Afghanistan, Dubai, South Sudan, Egypt and anywhere else that our quilts and laundry bags find you serving Australia, thank you for doing what you do so well so that we may celebrate Easter, or not celebrate it, as our own individual preference dictates.  
You make us proud!

The tally so far-

 17 quilts this week and 49 laundry bags.

297 quilts and 671 laundry bags for 2013

1314 quilts and 2036 laundry bags in total.

The first picture isn't of a Quilt of the Week yet.  Earlier this week I received an email from Miah who is a ten year old student from South Australia.  Miah wrote to me to tell me that after reading the article in the Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, she decided that she wants to make a quilt for Aussie Heroes as a community service project  for school.  As soon as she got the quilt specifics from me Miah sat down and drew up her design.  It is going to be one lucky recipient who receives her original Ayre Rock design and I reckon we have some serious competition ladies with young designers like Miah coming up with such creative designs!  Stay tuned!  I have asked Miah and her mother to keep me posted and to take plenty of photos so that I can feature her in an upcoming post.

Happy stitching Miah!

And now on with Quilts of the Week.

Caroline

This was a joint effort.  Pauline made all these blocks and sent them in.  They were put together at a sewing day and Caroline then quilted and completed the quilt.  The end result is an AWESOME quilt heading off to an Essendon fan.  Hope he likes it.

Bev and Jeff

Carole S (VIC)

Cath

Deb B

Outback Debra

and the back - and yes, this is going to a Navy fellow.

Dorothy sent in these blocks and they were sent on to Jeann who created this gorgeous quilt

Another joint effort.   The blocks were made by Kylie, they were then handed to Gail who pieced the top and then the quilt was sent to Angela who quilted and bound it and sent if off.  We really do make a good team ladies!

Judith M

This quilt top came from Nancy, it was quilted by Stephanie and Southern Cross added by me.

Joan

Judith R

Margaret

Julie Ann

Liz

Louise (front)

(And back, or the other way round - can't decide!)

The next two are BOM quilts.  That is Block of the Month quilts for the uninitiated.  The blocks were put together by Louise, then the tops were passed on to Stephanie who quilted and bound them.

Stephanie wasn't content to quilt, she also made this entire awesome quilt.

If you are on the roads this weekend, please stay safe!

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

Happy Mail Part 2

First up a lovely thank you message for Melissa from HMAS ANZAC

Dear Melissa & family,

My name is XXXXX and I am a Lieutenant in the Navy. I would like to express my sincere thanks for the beautiful quilt you made, which I received in December - just in time for Christmas! 

Additionally, thank you for the accompanying note with the quilt. I am honoured to be the first recipient of what I am sure will be many more quilts (judging by the excellent quality). The quilts were very sought after on board and I want to pass on how grateful I and the crew are for all the hard work that goes into making them, it really is very much appreciated. I noted that your daughter helped you to make my quilt and as I too have a daughter (6 yrs), I felt a special connection. Many people have commented on how lovely my quilt is and it was great to be able to share that it was your first ever quilt, made with the help of your family and co-worker.

I thought you may enjoy a photo, which I had taken in front of our helo.  

Thanks again for making such a wonderful memento for me of my time on board HMAS Anzac in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) and I will treasure it forever.

Yours Aye

And a few more

Hi Stephanie,

Would just like to say a big thank you for the fantastic laundry bag you made for me. I have to say it really is wonderful and the design is really great. Again, thank you so much! It was quite the unexpected surprise to receive it as it was obviously unexpected. As you can imagine, everyone here looks forward to receiving mail from home and any package received always increases morale, regardless of who its from.

Anyway, again, thank you for the lovely laundry bag you sent for me. Its people like you who give up their time for us here that keep our hearts warm, our morale up and our minds focused. And for all that, to us, you are all true heroes!

Hi Stephanie,

I just wanted to send a quick email to let you know I received your parcel today. The laundry bag is fantastic and I will be putting it to use straight away. Not surprisingly, the M&Ms were consumed on sight by those I work with. 

Thank you and regards,

Hey Judy and Dickie,

 Thank you for the blanket and bag, it is very much appreciated and will cop a fair bit of use!    It's a bit fresh but no where near as cold as I was imagining (touch wood it stays that way).   Hope you all had a awesome Xmas and New Years, thank you again for the blanket and bag.

Liz,

 The quilt you sent could not be more amazing and could not have come at a better time.

 You are right in terms of weather, it is getting very cold here. They are predicting snow

 here tomorrow.  Morning temperatures have been minus 2 to minus 5 degrees. Kabul was minus 16' just last week.  The soldiers, sailors and airmen are so appreciative of the efforts of yourself and those that contribute to quilts for "Aussie Heroes".

Might I add, so am I. 

The following also refers to a quilt that Liz sent.

Hi All

You sent a quilt to my daughter who is serving in the Middle East. I just can’t tell you how thrilled she is and how supported she feels by your magnificent work. Thank you all so much.  I’m not up to quilting but I’ll be working on some laundry bags for you.

Cheers

And now for some of the Happy Mail that didn't make it into last night's post!

First up some gorgeous 80's crazy blocks from Claire!  I think we have enough now and unless somebody else badly wants to have the fun of putting this together I will get on to it as soon as I get back from driving my son to Boarding School next week.  Should any extra blocks turn up I will do something fun with them for the back!

Jodie - a grateful Mum of one of our recipients has put this quilt top together for us and I will be adding a few words to it to suit one of our special requests.  Thanks Jodie, you have given me a great base to build on.

These laundry bags are Jodie's work too.

Kiwi Karen took this home and sewed it together after the Penrith Sewing Day and it has arrived back in the mail.  I am trying to decide if it needs a kangaroo or not.

Judith M dropped in yesterday with the motherload.  First these great BOM blocks

Then two quilts with backings and battings to be quilted.

And some great laundry bags.

I am sending this one to 7RAR.

Miriam sent over this gorgeous quilt top and it has been beautifully quilted by Paul and Paula.  I have decided to put it aside as a Wounded Warrior Quilt which it seems perfect for.

Pieced from Blocks of the month and quilted by Paul and Paula

Just had to show you the backing fabric which was donated by Judith and was just perfect for this gorgeous cheery quilt

These were made by Michelle on her embroidery machine and sent to me for a special recipient on HMAS TOOWOOMBA.  I actually grabbed some of these this morning and added them to some BOM blocks and before I knew it I had a quilt top ready to go to the quilter today!  YAY.  And I have some of the nautical pics leftover for another nautical quilt!

Michelle also made this for another special recipient on HMAS TOOWOOMBA

I don't think I always need to reply to the comments on the blog but I do if I think there is a need or if I think the author would appreciate the comment.  Sometimes though I can't reply to them even if I want to because the person who has left the comment is a "no reply blogger".  That means that although your comment is emailed to me I cannot reply as your email address is not shown - instead it says "no reply blogger".  Now if you don't want me to reply that is fine but if you want me to be able to answer you here is what you need to do.

In blogger.com click on dashboard.

Select Edit Profile

Check the box for "Show my Email Address."

Save the changes and Bob's your Uncle you are no longer a no reply blogger.

So, for TheDill and Carole, if you would like me to reply to your comments, and I would love to, all you need to do is either email me (friendsofAHQ@gmail.com) or change your status so that you are no longer a no reply blogger and leave me another comment.

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