WWQs and Thank You Messages

I was just thinking the other day that it was time I reminded you, especially for the new Friends, that it is good to occasionally sew a WWQ.  That stands for Wounded Warrior Quilt.  And then I got this message on Facebook and I don't think I need to say any more..........

Hi, I recently came across "Aussie Hero Quilts" after a friend posted about it on Facebook.  I think it is great what you are doing for our service men and women.

Two and a half years ago, my husband was very seriously wounded in Afghanistan, he spent time in an American military hospital in Germany where he received a beautiful quilt by "Soldier's Angel's". On return to Australia, after being in a coma for a few weeks, he then spent 20 months in hospital. This quilt was definitely much appreciated, it was comforting to my husband that a lady in America made these with love for a soldier. It was also a great talking point at the hospital among visitors, nurses, staff and my husband.  I have had a look at your blog and see that you do quilts for the Aussie wounded in Kandahar, they will love that. I did not know of an Australian organisation doing this also.

One thing that we did notice is the quilt my husband received was sized for a bed, he quite often used it with his wheelchair, we found that in the summer months it was way to big and hot because it was folded over many times.  He found it comfortable to cover up, because of his injuries. I think for my husband a smaller size quilt would have been perfect.

My husband is now home and attends a hospital outpatient rehabilitation program three times a week. He still uses his wheelchair although is not confined to it.

I just thought I'd let you know, that what "Aussie Hero Quilts" are doing is great.  I would love to help when I have the time, although at the moment I am a full-time carer for my husband, so am quite busy.

It was very generous of this lovely wife to write to me but even more generous that she gave, unasked, permission for me to publish this.  No stories I could tell you would bring home the meaning of the WWQs more than this I think.  

For the newbies, WWQs are the same size as our normal Aussie Hero Quilts.  No I am not going to change the size. The Quilts of Valor Quilts and similar are actually very different from ours - they are shorter but also wider - more of a tradional single bed size.   I think our size is pretty versatile - perfect for the intended uses in the field but also versatile enough for use by someone in a wheel chair.  I have also offered to send one to this couple so that the husband can road test it and give feed back if they are interested.

If you feel like making a WWQ please feel free.  There are no special requirements other than the quilt needs to be as Aussie as possible.  An Aussie flag panel, the southern cross, the words Australia - all make a perfect WWQ.  Here are some I have in waiting - 

  

I do have others on my books but I chose a selection to give you an idea of the variety of designs.

Okay, time for some thank you messages.

Recently I sent a batch of laundry bags over to a girl in Afghanistan.  She needed one as she had been using a green grocery bag and it had come off second best in a fight with a dryer!  So I filled the box with ones for her to hand around.

Good news! the other four laundry bags went in a flash. Is there any chance I could pretty please get another box of five sent over? Apparently we are all laundry bag deprvied here :)

That request has been upped to eight plus a quilt please - I told you, and her, that the laundry bags were popular.  Anyone who just wants to sew laundry bags, I have plenty of takers.

Then this lovely email came from the chaplain on HMAS ANZAC

Dear Jan-Maree, Julie Ann, Sue, Aileen, Lyn, Karen, Linda, Melissa,

My sailors will be contacting you by email or snail-mail individually (and here in the Middle East we mean "snail"), to thank you for the fantastic laundry bags and pillow cases we received by helicopter last week (and for quilts that are on the way).

Your kindness really boosts the morale of our people and they smile for a long while despite the dangers of the area and being away from civilisation and family and friends for so long in arduous conditions. It is a real treat to receive a gift like the ones you provide.

The way the sailors show off their bags and cases - and for those who will receive quilts too I am sure - I know they will be treasured for years to come and take on a very valued meaning for them. We can't thank you enough.

With much appreciation, God Bless you, 

And now for some of the thank you messages from the sailors themselves.  The first three for Sue and Aileen who work as a team.

I was lucky enough to receive one of your laundry bags, it is awesome. I live in a cabin with 5 other junior officers and it has definitely brightened it up a bit (it also looks like it may have a soviet union star on it which was good for a laugh). We received your packages via a vertical replenishment with our Seahawk helicopter from a US Navy supply ship.

Thankyou very much,

Good morning

My name is XXXXXX and I'm currently serving on HMAS Anzac and I've just had the honour of choosing your laundry bag to use. I can tell you its a vast improvement on the mesh bag that I had before and certainly looks the part hanging from my locker.
I'm very humbled that you have taken time out of your day to make the laundry bags for us up here. Its very nice to know that people back home do care a great deal about the job we are doing up here and are prepared to take a few minutes out of their day to make our lives up here just a little bit better. So please take this email as a very heartfelt thank you, its very much appreciated.

Cheers

thanks heaps for the laundry bag!! I'm on of the Aviators on board and my laundry bag has blue sky with clouds, very cool and much appreciated for thinking of us!!! 

What follows are some of the messages that I receive when they first hear they have made the list for a quilt.

 When the Chaplain informed me of your group, I felt honoured that people back home were giving up their time in order to make these quilts. I do greatly appreciate yourself and your quilt group taking the time and being so generous in offering these beautiful items to myself and other members of Ships Company while on operation. Perhaps there is something I can do from this end for you being so generous.

I've been lucky enough to be selected to receive one of the quilts your organisation is kindly producing for us up here in the Middle East.  I'm currently on my third deployment to the Middle East having been in the Navy for 12 of my 33 years. 

I'm very humbled that you have taken time out of your day to make the quilts for us up here. Its very nice to know that people back home do care a great deal about the job we are doing up here and are prepared to take a few minutes out of their day to make our lives up here just a little bit better. So please take this email as a very heartfelt thankou to you and your quilters, its very much appreciated. 

The Chaplain has recently advised me that I have been fortunate enough to be in a position to receive one of your fine Aussie Hero Quilts.  have been serving in the Royal Australian Navy for 32 years now, having joined at 16 years of age.I have served in a variety of ships and Submarines throughout my Naval career, most of which are now dive wrecks or scrap metal, and continue to enjoy the lifestyle, the job but most importantly the people I work with and get to meet from around the world.  I am certainly impressed and humbled that people back in Australia would spend their own time doing something for people they do not even know and look forward to being introduced to one of your quilters.

I feel honoured to be given this opportunity, to receive a gift like this from a fellow Aussie. It will always be a reminder to me and my family of my operational service. 

I have been in the Navy for 15 years and this is my fifth deployment to the Gulf.  I am extremely excited to get one of these quilts

   

I was as keen as mustard to put my hand up to possibly receive one of these great quilts.  I unfortunately missed out during the random draw we held earlier this year to allocate quilts to owners so I was excited when the Padre told us we still may have a chance to get one!  My wife gave birth to our second child (first son)  shortly before we left Australia and I thought that the quilt would look tip-top on his cot.  Many thanks from the ship's company on ANZAC for the pillow cases and laundry bags received thus far and they have become a source of great pride to their new owners. 
Isn't it nice to know how enthusiastic everyone is about what we are doing.  I know not everyone reads the Facebook page but we get quite few comments there too from spouses, parents, friends of serving members saying how much they appreciate what we do too.  Nice to know isn't it.
This next thank you is special - this lovely wife requested a quilt for her husband and Caroline sent off a lovely one which became one of only three that I know of that did ever make it to its new owner!  So, I arranged for another one to be sent off by Kaye.  Today I heard it arrived!
: -)

And we have a winner! At last, one of your spectacular quilts has made it to the other side of the world & into the arms of my husband in Afghanistan.

Thank you so much for organising this quilt to be sent. He loves it- he was definitely surprised! I asked if he could please send me a picture.  He wanted to include some scenery and managed get the mountains as back drop (note helmet) which is a better view than barbed wire & connex containers.

Please pass on our appreciation to the quilt maker- their care & hard work is appreciated and has made us both so happy :-)

My parents are helping care for our children this week so I can rest. There is only 2- 4 weeks now until baby #3 arrives & keeping everything crossed hoping hubby can get back on leave in time :-)

I have to admit I was beginning to worry about this quilt all over again! So glad it got there.

Just  a reminder as it is something different from the norm this month.  
PLEASE REMEMBER - 
ALL BOM BLOCKS ARE TO BE SENT TO NAOMI THIS MONTH - HER ADDRESS IS HERE.

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

Aussie Hero All Sorts!

I am always tempted to call these sorts of posts Licorice Posts - as in All Sorts but I am not sure that my sense of humour will be universally understood.  

First up - Bigpond is struggling for some reason and my email are not downloading well.  I have checked and it is not a Jan-Maree problem but a Bigpond problem so if it takes me a while to reply to your emails you will know why.  Most of you will know that I tend to reply fairly promptly so you may have to wait just a bit longer this time- contact me via phone or  facebook if it is urgent!  

Gotta Love Telstra - NOT!!!

And talking of annoying glitches - apparently a few people stopped receiving their copy of the blog posts via email on or around the 23rd of August.  I know of three ladies in SA and one in Brisbane, who have had this happen.  If anyone else has experienced the same problem can you please let me know- email, comment or facebook message.  The Tech -Guru is trying to work out what is going on - I am thinking a blogger problem as I didn't do anything - HONEST! 

 I wouldn't know how!

Now a quick word on WWQs.  If you are making one and are planning to send it off from your home when the call comes, please be aware that you need to have a vacuum pack bag at the ready.  These quilts are held on site in Afghanistan and it is a very dusty place.  Obviously they are being given to injured personnel so must remain clean and dust free until handed to their new owner.  That is why they need to be sent and will then be stored in a vacuum sealed bag. 

These are the ones that I use and I buy them from Bunnings.  The Small Size would probably suffice but I have never been able to locate them so I am not even sure if they make them.  The medium size will do the job just as well.

 

I usually place the quilt, a laundry bag and a postcard in the bag in the box before I set the vacuum to work.  I think it makes it easier to know when you have vacuumed enough.  You don't need to get as much air out as you can - just enough to seal the bag and be able to close the box.

Cat sent in this message and a picture of her rolled quilt, before she filled the box with more treats!

I sent the crazy star quilt in the mail today. I found that folding the quilt to the width of the box and then rolling it up made fitting it in the box really easy and left plenty of room for some treats! 

A lovely thank you came in last night from this fellow for a quilt that I posted off - the top was made by Heather T and it was quilted and completed by Carol, both Turramurra Quilters.

The combination of a slow mail system and me being away for a while meant that I only received the quilt and laundry bag last week.

Can you please give Heather T and the Turramurra Quilters my heartfelt thanks for an absolutely wonderful gift.

They have brightened up my otherwise bleak and bare quarters, as you can see from the photos. 

Once again, I would like to pass on my sincerest thanks to your wonderful group for providing the men and women over here a small piece of Australia to brighten their days.

We have lots of great talent working with us here at Aussie Heroes and all of them are very humble.

One of our members has quietly published another pattern in the latest Quilter's Companion Magazine and I would never have known if Liz had not tipped me off.

This is the work of Christine C from Queensland - You will have to buy the magazine to learn more about her  and her pattern but I will share a few pictures of the magazine.

You can also check out Christine's blog here

We also have some gorgeous young talent among us too 

You may remember me referring to Angela of the Chatting Chooks.  
Well, meet her daughter, Amy!

She is in Year 10 and when she wrote to me to ask if she could make some laundry bags for those on HMAS ANZAC she said in part -

I think what you do for these soldiers is great and something from home, which I am sure they miss when over there fighting, so thank you.

What a little gem!  Well I like to encourage new sewers so of course I said she could sew for us and I asked her mum for some photos of her sewing to share!

Once she had finished the first one, according to her Mum she said "these are easy”!  She whipped up a second then asked Mum if she had any more fabric? What a question to ask a quilter.

Angela I think we will be making another 2-3 over the following week/weekend. 

For those of you not on Facebook you will not be aware that we have had a huge growth in numbers in the last 24 hours - we have gone from less than 500 likers to 522 as I write this at 230pm and loads of lovely encouraging and supportive comments.   If I get time........I will try and  copy some of the comments on to the blog for you but that means re-typing all of them so that might take me some time unless  someone has time to do that for me and email me then I can put it up on Thursday.   (As at 8.30pm Central Aus time the info requested by Jan-Maree has now been sent)

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

Aussie Hero Quilts 101 Pt 4

Welcome to Aussie Heroes 101 Part 4.  There are a few topics tonight - Special Requests, The Volunteer List, Quilts in Waiting and  WWQs.


Special Requests.  

This is what we call it when a serving member or their family find us and request a quilt or a laundry bag.  We love these requests as it means that we usually have some sort of personal contact with the recipient and/or their family.  That is something that usually doesn't happen when we send our quilts off with the care packages that go through the April and Christmas mailing.

The Volunteer List

In order to meet the demands of the Special Requests I have a list of volunteers who are happy to put a quilt together at short notice.   There are currently 14 ladies on this list.  When I receive a request I forward the info, minus identifying details, to the 14 ladies on the Volunteer List.  Whoever feels they can fit the request in with their own commitments gets back to me with an offer to complete the requested quilt.  


I work on a six week plan.  I allow two, maximum three weeks to get the quilt completed and in the mail and then another two or three weeks for the quilt to actually travel to its destination via snail mail.  


Generally, when I put out a call for a volunteer I get more takers than I need and I usually operate on a first "in best dressed rule".  Having said that though, if I know someone is really keen and has missed out on a couple of opportunities then they might get first option the third time.  Also, if I know of a quilt that is well under way which I think might be suitable for the request I might email the quilter and ask if they are interested in completing it in time to fill the request.

I can always use more volunteers so if this idea appeals to you please leave me a comment or send me an email.  You don't need to put your hand up each time a request comes through - only whenever it fits in with your commitments.

Quilts in Waiting
Maybe I need a better name for this one but as yet I haven't come up with one.  If you have completed a quilt, or even have it at flimsy or quilt top stage, it would be great if you could email me a picture so that I can file it away in the Quilts in Waiting File.


Here is a quilt top that Kylie is working on and has let me know about.  

And here is the gorgeous May BOM quilt that Pip made and which I mentioned last night.

These are both in my Quilts in Waiting File and may go off in response to a special request or they may wait until the Christmas mailing.

If you have a top or a completed quilt how about letting me know.  

And finally we come to some very special quilts, ones that we hope we will never need to use but which will serve a very important purpose if needed.

Wounded Warrior Quilts (WWQs)

We have been asked to provide three quilts that can be held in the hospital in Kandahar to be given to any wounded soldiers who transit through there on their way to hospital in Germany.  Unfortunately our first three quilts arrived in Kandahar one hour after our last three soldiers were flown to Germany.  At least we know that three quilts are in situ now should they be needed.


These are the three quilts that are currently on standby in Kandahar.  

This one by Liz

This one by Wendy 

Finally this one a quilt top by Claire - this photo was sent to us by one of the chaplains. 

Preferably they should be Australian in flavour as they will accompany the soldier to Germany and a bit of familiar Aussie-ness would hopefully be comforting to them.  


They need to be sent in plastic bags that can be vacuum sealed as the Chaplain said the dust gets into everything and we don't want the quilts dusty and dirty before they are even handed to their recipient.  


I also try to keep three quilts ready in Australia so that they can replace any that are used as soon as we get word of their need.  The quilts will be sent direct to the Chaplain who passes them on to the hospital for storage.  


These two, the first by Liz

 and the second by Linda, are currently in my WWQ in Waiting File.

If you want to go ahead and make one please let me know.  I know of a couple of WWQs that are either completed (please send photos) or are under construction and once I get photos of them I file them in the WWQ in Waiting file until needed. I have had a number of people offer to make WWQs but have not had word that many of them have been completed.  If you have one underway, can you please let me know.  We will not be restricted to posting these quilts only during the April and November mailing dates obviously.


And here is another option - if you don't have time to sew a while WWQ or quilt top but still want to be part of making such a special quilt - here is an easier option.
 Send me an 8 inch block (7 1/2" with seam allowance makes it ") in Aussie fabric or red white and blue and I will combine them into WWQs.
Here are six completed by Teresa from America which I received just yesterday.   Does anyone else feel like making some?  Just let me know!

I think that is enough to digest for now - class dismissed!

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

SSDs. WWQs and BOMs.

Have I got you thinking?  

Okay first things first.  

SSDs

Sydney Sewing Days.

Beginning on Wednesday the 4th of April there will be sewing days for those in Sydney at my home.  Some of us have been doing this regularly since the beginning of the year but now I have a few new ladies who want to join in so I thought I might as well see if anyone else is interested in joining in the fun.  We start around 10am and sew till anywhere from 1pm to 3pm.  You are welcome to come for the whole time or just for a couple of hours.  We will meet once a fortnight and you can come every fortnight or just when you have time.  BYO  lunch and a small plate towards morning tea wouldn't go astray either.  You can bring your machine or not.  that is up to you.  I have two machines here and there will always be something for you to do that doesn't require a machine - pinning, ironing, cutting and so on.  If you are interested in coming just leave a comment - make sure I have your email address - and I will email you my address.

Now dates - the next two sewing dates will be on Wednesdays - the 4th of April and the 18th of April.  After that, starting on the 30th of April, the Sydney Sewing Days will be on Mondays.  

Hope some of you can make it.  

Next bit of business - 

WWQs.   

Wounded Warrior Quilts.  

Unlike our other quilts, these special quilts should preferably be made out of Australian material OR be particularly Aussie in nature.  Some of our gorgeous teatowels would be great for this.  The thing that needs to be realised is that we can't forecast when these quilts will be needed and storage space in the hospital is limited so we have been asked for only TWO or THREE quilts in the first instance.  Of course I am sending THREE and already THREE lovely ladies have committed to making them.  Those quilts can go to Afghanistan direct from the ladies that make them.  Additionally I hope to have at least two or three on hand here.  I am also happy for others to make some and hold on to them and i will call out for them whenever the need arises.  Does that suit everyone?    If you do decide to make a WWQ you might like to let me know and I will try and keep a record of how many are hiding around the country so that we don't end up with too many.     I would be happy to keep replacement WWQs here but that would require a postal fee.....

If anyone has a better suggestion for keeping this pary organised feel free to leave a comment.

And finally,

BOMs

Hurry and send in your March Pinwheel BOMs if you are making some.  Let me know if you are planning on sending some by leaving a comment so that I know to wait for you.  

The April BOM will be released tomorrow but I am not giving you any hints (ha ha) but get your reds and blues ready AND PLEASE MAKE SURE THOSE REDS ESPECIALLY are COLOURFAST.

I would hate to have the reds RUN!

I am planning on making use of some of the Aussie Flag panels and making a quilt ready for a WWQ.

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

:-)