Happy Mail 7 November

Hi again,  how are you going with Novembers' BOM?  Hopefully it's not too hard.....remember, scrappy is just as good as structured/colour matched!

Not much for me to share with you today.....although I did get two more envelopes of October BOM's.  First up were these lovelies from Julie H, Victoria

(JM, the circle centres are the great fabric I was telling you about)  Psst everyone, wanna know something funny, I was telling Jan-Maree on the phone, that I'd received some blocks from a Julie something or other, and whilst I went to find the envelope to say exactly who it was, Jan-Maree was rattling off names, and I kept saying nope, don't think so, then when I found the envelope and read the name, she laughed as Julie is her sister in law lol.  Thanks for the blocks Julie...they're great.

Next up, I had another lot arrive yesterday, all the way from Rosemount in QLD...thanks Janine C for them, they're also great.  Love the Aussie ones especially....very patriotic.

Unless anyone still has some to send, I think these will be the last of Octobers blocks that I'll be sharing with you....hopefully next week, I'll have a few of Novembers to share with you....and very soon after that, I aim to start churning out quilt tops/quilts with all the gorgeous blocks you've all sent in.

Don't forget, they are to be sent to me:

Aussie Hero Quilts
Attn: Naomi Vela
1 Obst St
Berri SA 5343
Australia


Until next time....hoooo roooo

Take care and stay safe
Hugs
Naomi

Now over to Jan-Maree, take it away boss!

Two lovely Wounded Warrior Quilts arrived in the mail today from Vicky M.  One has been quilted with  gum blossoms and gum leaves and the other is quilted with goannas.  Very cool! 

Miriam from WA sent over this gorgeous quilt top.  It is a little wide but I can easily take a little off the sides and add to the bottom and it will be perfect.   It is going to look gorgeous when it is quilted up and I have the perfect backing for it too.

A couple of great thank you messages came in too.

Good Afternoon Kaye,

Hope you had a win on the Melbourne Cup? 

Anyway it is with great pleasure that I advised that my Quilt, Laundry Bag and a couple of little goodies arrived yesterday. 

I would like to thank you and Jan-Maree for the effort that you all make to do these items for the people deployed they are very much appreciated, especially because I have five girls and one guy working for me who have never deployed and will be away from home for Xmas. 

I was skyping my daughters last night and they thought the quilt was lovely in the way of the different aussie animals but they got a bigger kick when I showed them the laundry bag with "XXX" on it. 

Once again I would like to say thank you. 

I hope you both have a good Xmas

One for Jill

Thank you very much for the quilt and laundry bag.  I LOVE THEM!!!  It is very hard being out here away from my little girl and husband but we are now on our downhill slide and looking forward to the day we set sail home.  Again, thank you, you put a smile on my face.  Keep up your great support.

One for me

Just a quick thank-you for the quilt I received last wk. Have been flat out and finally found the time to sit down and write this email. (Did find just enough time to watch the Melbourne Cup) I had "Dunaden" in the sweeps and thought it was a sure thing. However, better luck next year!! Nothing better than getting mail out here.  Its a long way from anywhere and is usually surprising exciting when things do turn up, if they do. Am very happy with the quilt and seems like a lot of time and effort was put into it. I will be writing an email to Louise (the quilter) after this.

 Have been using the quilt instead of the donna I brought with me because of the heat. It is just the right thickness. No funny weather up here - Same weather day in day out - Hot!!I Also appears that it never, ever rains up here!! Would be super happy for a little snow, however I neglected to bring my snowboard. I believe there is a photo of a few of us with our quilts in the next addition of "lone pine" the ships newsletter, so hopefully that will be sent your way by the padre. I'm the one on the end with the ridiculous beard. Copped a bit of heat from the boys saying i looked like a "homeless dude" with my quilt however that was 100% my beards fault and nothing to do with the quilt!!

Tarissa also received a thank you  for one of her laundry bags.

I'd like to personally thank you and Cale for the lovely washing bag you both made for me. The car design reminded me of my little boy who is also nearly four. He loves cars as well and well it brought a big smile to my face. I'd like to thank you for that. Sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming out here and it is nice to know that there are people back home who care about what we do. Enough so that they send gifts without thought for themselves. Your kind gesture is one that I will never forget.

By way of explanation Tarissa wrote-

I made this laundry bag out of black and white chequered material and my four year old saw me making it. He told me that he thought it needed some "decorations" for the name patch on the front and thought it needed "a speedy racing lightening bolt, like Lightening McQueen" and so he helped me draw it and "helped" sew it on (sitting on my lap). I wrote some of this on the card that went in the laundry bag (along with some lollies and a coffee sachet!). It was so nice to know that it went to someone who drew some meaning and comfort from it :) It was a special bag that was fun to make with my little boy! (I've attached a pic, it's the bag on the front right)

Till next time............keep spreading the word.

QOTW 12 October

622 Quilts 687 Laundry Bags to date!

Grab a cuppa, grab a snack, and get comfy!

I managed to finish a quilt for a change with the help of Carol (Turramurra Twin fame) who quilted it for me and Del who hand stitched the binding and Narelle who donated all the green strips in the chinese coin panels.

Obviously this is for a garden lover.

Deborah sent the first three of these quilts off a couple of weeks ago and I missed putting them on the blog.  Thank goodness she reminded me.  Please don't hesitate to job my memory if you  have sent a quilt off and haven't seen it on the blog.

More of Deborah's made it in the mail  this week.

Julie Ann dispatched this great brick quilt and 

a double sided laundry bag.

 Back and Front

 Karen B sent off another batch of laundry bags.

We had a request to send a laundry bag to a fellow who is in a position where he rarely sees Aussie Care Packages.  He spied his mate's Eagles Laundry Bag and naturally asked his mate to hand it over.  Again, naturally, his mate said "no way" but being a good mate, he asked very politely if Marg would make one more.  Well, let me tell you - MARG is a CLASS 1 softie but this is the VERY LAST, THE FINAL, THE NEVER TO BE MADE AGAIN  Eagles laundry bag.  

As this fellow is so isolated and obviously in need of a little Aussie love Liz also sent him a quilt.  I think this one will go down a treat!

 Liz is about to head off on a driving holiday for several weeks and reckons she hasn't got time for a holiday from Aussie Heroes but I know she will come back ready to sew! In the mean time she has managed to squeeze one more quilt into her schedule and sent this one and the coordinating laundry bag off as well.

Liz had to force herself to stop sewing quilts in order to get ready for the trip but she had managed to sew some laundry bags and this one went off this week as well.

Melissa  also made some laundry bags this week.  These ones are for the Navy but I have to laugh!  Army and Navy people often refer to the RAAFies as "Crabs"!  There are various reasons why, none of them polite.  These bags are destined for Navy personnel luckily!

  Stephanie had been busy scrap busting!

Gail has also been working with scraps - just love scrap quilts!

Jennifer B has just completed her first Aussie Hero Quilt and laundry bag.  It is not hard to tell that she is a professional quilter!  Gorgeous!

 Tarissa and the ladies from the RAAF Williamtown Craft Group have made a batch of laundry bags to send off.

Jacqui has completed a lovely quilt and I really like the different coloured sashing!  I am going to have to try and remember to do that myself!

Deb B made this gorgeous bright quilt - the colours just seem to say Aussie Outback to me.

She has teamed it with a fabulous laundry bag too but I can't show it to you as the recipient might guess it is for him and we don;t want to spoil the surprise.  Some I know aren't watching - others I am not so sure!

Joanne has also completed her first couple of Aussie Hero quilts, complete with coordinating laundry bags.  Isn't it great to see first timers joining in!

Carolynne D sent off this laundry bag and quilt a couple of weeks ago when I was away for a few days and somehow it slipped though the net so here they are tonight.  
Thankfully Carolynne reminded me about them!

Hillary has also been busy and this week she has boosted our numbers by a whopping six quilts and laundry bags!  WOW!
I have to say that I have a thing for pink and green so this quilt is my favourite from Hilary's selection.  In fact when I joined the RAAF I packed a pink and green floral doona cover into my suitcase (this was before I had discovered quilts) to brighten my room.

Nancy is bringing up the rear in tonight's post with 13 quilts!  These are some that she and her band of workers in WA have put together and also some tops that I have sent her for completion.  Forgive me if I don't give credit to those who made the tops - it is too hard for me to keep track of all of them - feel free to email me if you see your work and I will edit the post.

WOWO!!!  What a huge number of quilts and laundry bags!  And all of them different and striking in their own ways.

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