QOTW 22 March

The tally so far-

 20 quilts this week and 28 laundry bags.

280 quilts and 650 laundry bags for 2013

1281 quilts and 2015 laundry bags in total.

Woo Hoo  - finally notched up 2000 laundry bags!

These first three quilts were made by Annette, Lynn V and Carol Mc.  Annette and Carol both live in QLD.  Carol is Annette's friend and mentor and together they are making the quilt tops using a stash of donated fabrics.  Lynn is one of Annette's sisters and she has a longarm quilting business in VIC and Lynn quilted two of the quilts and donated the third!  Don't you wish you had a sister with a long arm quilting business and a friend with a stash of donated fabrics.  Lucky Annette!

Now talk about a coincidence.  I gave Annette a name to send a quilt to - let's call her A.  After she had posted A's quilt Annette sent me the following messages - 

I found out that A is the sister of a girlfriend of mine..   how amazing is that.  I didn't say who I was posting too, the friend said she had requested a quilt for her sister and wouldn't it be funny if she ended up with one of mine…   I asked her her sisters name.  There can't be that many A's over there…  or heading over there very soon….    lol..

Fran W

Joan

These next two quilt tops were made by Kylie, sent to Diane for quilting and then bound by Kylie.

Leanne Mac is back with four awesome quilts.

Leone is a new AH Friend and debuted with this awesome quilt.

Rita M is back with another footy themed quilt

Su completed this striking quilt and laundry bag.

More laundry bags from Sue N 

Another combined effort - top by Louise, quilted by Nancy, bound by Sharon and Southen Cross added by yours truly!

Melissa and the the Do Your Block for a Cause page completed this quilt top and it was ably quilted by Diane, bound by Angela and sent on its way. 

Liz J

Michele

Rita M

Rita C 

Linda

Fran T has outdone herself with a reversible quilt - Hawthorn on one side  

and the Manly Sea Eagles on the other!

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

Grati-Tuesday

Have a happy read!

Dear Jenny,

Thank you so much for the quilt and laundry bag, they are great! I love the blue ocean theme, they have a calm relaxing feel to them.

It's really nice of you to be participating in a program like this. Ship life can be quite monotonous & boring sometimes, so to receive a gift like this is a real moral booster :)

I've been in the Navy for about two years now and enjoying every new experience that comes my way, especially this deployment on HMAS Toowoomba.

Thank you again for the awesome gift and you can never go wrong with Tim Tam's :)

Hi Jan-Maree,

I just wanted to see if you could pass on my thanks to Gale C and Jennifer D who made my quilt. (Done this morning) They left a note in the box for me, but with no email address etc.    I really appreciate their hard work, and all the other members of Aussie Hero Quilts who look after us deployed ADF personnel. Please all of you keep up the awesome work.

Hi Kylie!

  I'm so sorry this took so long to send! Right after I received your quilt I had to pack up my whole room and relocate and then I couldn't find the letter you had sent with the quilt. I got a bit upset with myself because I wanted to say thank you so much for the amount of effort you put in making something so beautiful for someone you have never even met..And even putting my initials on the laundry bag

;-) Anyway after thinking all was lost, I was making my bed and placed the quilt on top, then noticed that there was a "made by" on the label on the back with your name and email address. Yep I'm an idiot haha, don't know why I didn't look there first!

Thank you again so much for the quilt, I appreciate it more than you know :-)

Kindest regards,

Hi Liz J,

I just wanted to write a quick email to thank you for the laundry bag and lollies. The laundry bag is far better, and bigger than the issue one we get, and I love the Australian National Flag on the rear. The lollies will be devoured over the next few days.
Thank you once again for the laundry bag, and the lollies. We deployed ADF members appreciate all the support from you all back home in Australia.

Hi Jan,

I received your quilt today, and I think it's fantastic!  I also got your laundry bag, which was a welcome surprise.  Thank you very much for the time and effort you've obviously put into doing this for me, and the Parramatta Eels colour scheme works a treat!

The feedback from the people who have received quilts and laundry bags has been great, and the laundry on board definitely has a bit more colour to it now that everyone's proudly sporting their new laundry bags.  

It was interesting to hear some of your background, and I won't hold it against you that you were an ex Admin Officer.  (cheeky sod!  LOL)

I wish you all the best in your future endeavors  and would like to extend my gratitude to you and your quilters for the selfless work you guys put in to make our lives that little bit better while we're away from our friends and family.

Regards

A little while ago Angela emailed me with the following picture of a completed laundry bag. Now her email came just after I received a request from a wife for a quilt and laundry bag  for her husband whose surname made this laundry bag somewhat appropriate.  What can I say, it really appealed to my sense of humour so back I went to Angela with the postal address that just seemed too good for this fishy laundry bag.  And ever since it went in the mail Angela, his wife and I have all been waiting for the laundry bag to arrived.  What would his reaction be?

Well you can read for yourself.

Dear Angela,

I recently received the Laundry Bag you sent to me. I wanted to thank for putting together something so distinct and well crafted. Your tailored fish theme has been commented on by many and I can safely say that while I may lose a sock or two I shall never lose the bag. The bag has also significantly brightened our room which is otherwise tan throughout. Again thank you so much for putting your time and resources into making an ordinary item attractive and soon sentimental (at least for me).

Warm regards,

Looks like we made the right decision.  Next I am working on an appropriate quilt and laundry bag for an Apple Mac/Ipod lover!  You will just have to wait and see. 

:-)

We have lots of new Aussie Hero Friends following along with us and sewing with us now so as things come up or occur to me I will publish little reminders that I think most of you know but newbies might not be aware of.  

Without doubt from the feedback I get everyone enjoys reading the thank you messages on the blog.  Some of the recipients include me in their emails but not all so please don't forget to share your thank you messages.  Don't forget I always remove all the personal information, place names and anything that I think might identify the sender.  If I think the thank you message is particularly heartfelt or sensitive I always write to the sender and ask for permission to publish an approved excerpt of their message.  I always assure them that they need not fee obligated to say yes - that is why I check first, but without exception everyone I have asked has come back and said please go ahead which I really appreciate.  Most of them have gone on to say again how much they appreciate what we are doing and that they are more than happy to share their words to encourage others.

Having said that, please remember that we will not hear from everyone we send to.  Usually, the ones that we do hear from are those who have found us themselves and have contacted me and made a request for themselves (and sometimes others).  The fact that they have been able to contact me themselves says something about their access to communications facilities.  

There are also those whose families or friends have submitted requests for them.  Sometimes the person who has submitted the request contacts me and lets me know the parcel has arrived, sometimes the member then contacts me or the quilter/sewer to say thank you.  It all depends on the facilities available.  

I also receive requests from various Points of Contact I have collected along the way.  Every time there is a change over I have to establish new points of contact though this is getting easier as word of what we do spreads and we become more widely known.

If a Point of Contact passes me the name and details of someone who would like a quilt, particularly people who are not at one of the main bases or who are not based with Aussies but with other foreign forces, the chances are that we may not hear back from those people.

There are all sorts of reasons for that.  Some people cannot contact gmail accounts.  Some people have trouble with Bigpond.  Lots of the junior guys do not have their own laptops, many of them are not sitting at desks but are out and about, frequently "outside the wire" and have little free time when they are back inside.  Many of the mums, wives and loved ones do not hear regularly from over there.  Often there is just little spare time and their first priority is to contact their loved ones.  

There are a myriad of reasons why we might not hear back from a quilt or a laundry bag that we have sent.  We know, without a doubt, from all the recurring messages that come through all the different thank you messages, that what we are doing is appreciated.  
By sharing the thank you messages we do receive we are encouraging those that have sent parcels off and have not heard back.

Finally, I try to follow up every quilt we send off to see if it has arrived.  This is just a quick email - 
"Hi there, just checking to see if your quilt/laundry bag has arrived.  Hoping to hear it is there safe and sound."

.   If I hear from you that a parcel has been received then I don't need to send a follow up email which I try to do with every quilt if I have someone I can contact.  I allow plenty of time for parcels to arrive before I send a follow up.  If no reply after two or three weeks I will send one more reply.  If no reply to that second email I assume the parcels have arrived and move on.  Once again there are a myriad of reasons why my follow up emails might go unanswered and that is just the way it is.  

If I do hear back then so do you.  If I hear, Got my quilt thanks and I love it - then that is what I will pass on to you.  If a mum/wife tells me the quilt has arrived I will let you know with any extra information that I receive.  

So, that is how it works.  Hope that is clear as mud for you. If not feel free to email me or PM me if you have any questions.

Sorry for the shortage of photos this post.

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

Happy Mail 6 March

There has been lots of lovely mail arriving this week.   I am really enjoying the last of the February BOM blocks as they arrive.  I think these are going to make some awesome quilts.  

First up these blocks from Janine

Liz J

Dorothy

Lynn has been sewing in overdrive again and sent in these six quilt tops.

Gail made this quilt top from blocks that Kylie sent down and it has now gone off to Angela in QLD for quilting!

Last but not least a lovely thank you for Rita M

Thank you for the lovely quilt and laundry bag. I have just opened the parcel as I have just returned from being in country for the past two months. You have done a marvelous job, I'm speechless. I was speaking with Jan Marie before I left to go in country and mentioned how great a job all you guys do. I'm the postie over here and I get to see first hand the looks on the troops faces when they receive their quilts and laundry bags. I can honestly say that you all have a positive effect on us over here and we do appreciate everything you are all doing. 

Just received a few more goodies in the mail but they will have to wait till tomorrow night as I have to rush out and buy some fusible webbing to put more patches on laundry bags!

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

Quilts of the Week 1 March

The tally so far-

 31 quilts this week and 77 laundry bags.

234 quilts and 522 laundry bags for 2013

1235 quilts and 1887 laundry bags in total

Another great week everyone! Some fabulous quilts and laundry bags heading off.  Before the parade of lovelies for this week a couple of quilt announcements.

Just a few notices before the show and tell.

I am still looking for people to quilt for us.  I receive a large number of quilt tops each week and it would be great if I could share the load of quilting among a few more quilters, preferably in Sydney as it is too expensive to pay the cost of postage plus batting for too many quilts.  If you know of any quilters in Sydney either let me know or ask them if they would be interested in getting involved in a good cause.  Bear in mind though that most quilters already donate their efforts to one cause or another so go gently.

The Penrith Sewing Day is coming up again.  Sunday 17th 

March at Penrith Patchwork.  10am to 2pm.  BYO lunch, 

snacks and sewing machine.  Coffee mug not a bad idea 

either.  I will provide all materials for the laundry bags we will

be sewing.

And now to view the goodies.

Angela

There is a tutorial for this awesome star - you can find it here?

Carol

This little fellow was particularly impressed with this quilt.

Caroline

 Cheryl

 Christine C (WA)

Dasha

 DeEmEss

This is Donna's signature and she is a newbie to AHQ but a very welcome one don't you think?

Donna 

( this is the same Donna who has been with us for a while hence the need to use DeEmEss for our newbie)

 Evelyn

 Janie

Jan-Maree (that would be me)

Judy C

 Jenny and Gale, two AHQ newbies, surprised me with three quilts!

 Karen B

 Linda

Liz j

 Kaye completed the second quilt made by the children of the Bethany Catholic School in Werribee.

 Liz B

You have to read the fine print on this one!

 Liz

Maddy

 Tess (NSW)

 Pauline

 Miriam created this quilt top and I have just sent it off to a chaplain who is going to deliver it to a fellow who was seriously wounded and missed out on one of our Wounded Warrior Quilts because of the route he took to come home.  Our precious wounded heroes need looking after in particular so I am so glad to have found out about him.

 Gayl L is new to us and created this gorgeous quilt.

 Stephanie

Just had to show you the pigs in this quilt - gone to a 7RAR fellow of course

The next bunch are all quilted by Nancy from tops either pieced by her and her helpers or donated to her.

And as they say in the movies

That's all folks!

till next week anyway!

except for a quick lovely thank you for a quilt that Nancy sent off.

My husband received a lovely quilt yesterday. Thank you so very much! He said it was 

such an incredible gesture and he loves it. He took a photo but hasn't sent it to me yet 

but I will forward it once he does. Thank you again for your incredible support for our

 soldiers in Afghanistan

New Block of the Month coming up on Sunday!  

We will be doing something a little different!

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