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. 

QOTW 24 Aug

Hi all!  Hope you have all had a good week.  I certainly have!  Lots of lovely quilts heading off again this week and some lovely happy photos to share.  I have received a few blocks in for the Diddams Family quilts and on Sunday night I will post them in their groups - i.e. all the ones for Hens in one pic and all the ones for Ellie Lou in another.  That way anyone who is not sure of the colours can see how things are progressing and it might make it easier to choose your fabrics if you are having troubles.

I know for a fact that the first of our HMAS ANZAC quilts will be heading the post next week.  I am not sure how many are ready to go, but I know of at least two.  There are also some laundry bags currently being made for them too.

And now for the main event

The Quilts of the Week!

Liz of red kangaroo fame got three quilts off in the mail this week, each with a laundry bag.

You might remember that a mother posted a message from her son on our Facebook page.  He wanted to say thank you for his quilt and said how it had cheered him up when he was feeling a little down and how his room mates had been amazed by his parcel.  Well those room mates are getting quilts too.  This one will go to one of them.

Liz

I do love these stars!

And I can't believe that I actually have scraps of this same skate boarding fabric which I just think is too cool!

Good old Disappearing Nine Patch Pattern. It always looks great!

I can show those last two sets of initials as these people have NO idea that a quilt is on its way.

This quilt was pieced by Judith from BOM blocks and quilted by Karen D.  Such a cozy looking quilt.

Kylie made this laundry bag which accompanied a quilt a while ago.  In case you are wondering I don't show laundry bags with initials on them until they have been received or unless I am sure the recipient will not twig that it is for them.

 Jill sent this one off, complete with matching pillowcase - her 17 year old daughter, Siobhan, is a cutting machine and had quilt kits all cut out and ready for Mum to sew when she got home from a business trip.
And as if that isn't enough Siobhan is halfway though making a quilt herself for a lucky young army fellow!  

This great quilt by Michelle is another of the "room mates" quilts....

with a laundry bag as well.  The third is not far behind.

I showed you this quilt earlier.  This is the one that Rachael sent to her hubby but it gets another showing in the QOTW.

This gorgeous quilt was made by Sue S - just love scrap quilts!

Chris from SA calls this her “ Bargello on steroids” & I can cut & make the top in 3 hours - Hmm perhaps we need a tutorial on this one!

Pam M sent this one off.  You might remember that her RAAF son asked her to make quilts for his deployed friends - four were needed so this was a "spare" for us!  YAY!

Maria sent me the quilt top for this one, Caroline and I layered and pinned it and Judith quilted and bound it.  A real joint effort.

This is Judy's first AHQ

and her first laundry bag!  More laundry bags are following along behind too.

And now for the other main event -

Heroes and their Quilts!

This quilt is one of my quilts.
YAY!

Kelly and Carol combined to make this one.

Naomi created this one .....

and was particularly pleased with this block and so she should be - how appropriate!

And I can now tell you that this young man has just been home for leave, and has come back an engaged man!  AWWW!!! Congrats to the happy couple!

This great photo was posted on Facebook on Wednesday night   
love that happy smile and the comment below!

All I can say is thank you!  My Fiance and I are planning babies for next year after we marry in December and I know what our baby's first blanket will be :)

And from his gorgeous fiance....

That looks awesome!  I love it!  Thank you to all the women who made it for you! 


And the lovely quilt that Canberra Quilters made, arrived to a rapturous response - 

My quilt arrived today! YAY! It is absolutely fabulous! Thank you so much! 


And a couple of thank you messages 

for Caroline and the Nine Patches for laundry bags they made

I have just received my fantastic laundry bag that you made for me, it is even better than I imagined the colour is fantastic. Our rooms are all light tan and white so colour is wonderful.    Thank you so much for your wonderful gift and all the time you put into making these bags for deployed members, it is very much appreciated. 

Just wanted to say thank you very much for the laundry bag that I received today. I appreciate it very much and it is going to be so much nicer to use than the one that I have been issued.   Hope the weather in Australia isn't to cold. It is very hot over here.

Thanks again.

Love it!  :-)


Update
478 quilts and 390 laundry bags!

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