More Happy Mail

I received a wonderful parcel in the mail yesterday from Sue in Queensland.  This is the third parcel from Sue and this time Aussie Heroes received a gorgeous quilt - Love the tea towel and the colours!!!

And two lots of backing - Sue found both of these at an Op Shop!  How come I never have such luck!!!

I really like the brown check- it doesn't show up in the photo but it is a really warm colour and the blue is a kind of brushed cotton so it is going to be really cozy on the back of a quilt!

And finally Sue included 5 fabulous 9 patch blocks.  The yellow in these is going to really brighten up our 9 patch quilt and I love that retro looking blue!

Other exciting news is that I had an enquiry email from another quilt group yesterday!  That makes two.  I won't give details till they actually confirm they are going to jump on board but it will be pretty exciting if they do!  Mind you, I get excited whenever a newbie joins us.  The more the merrier!

I am wondering if any Sydney sewers would be interested in getting together for a sewing day?  We could have a laundry bag sewing day or a day when you just bring whatever Aussie Heroes sewing you are working on and enjoy some company (and probably good food) while you sew!  Give me a shout if you are interested and also let me know which days would suit you best and I will see what I can organize!

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

One month to go

One month to go till the pre ANZAC DAY mailing date of 15 March to 15 April.  If you haven't already started then it is time to get stitching if you want to have something ready to send off.  

Please, if you are planning to send direct rather than to me first, could you take a picture of whatever you make and send it to me so that I can share it on the blog and on the facebook page.  If you can't do that can you please at least let me know what quantities you are sending as I would really like to keep track of how much is going.  Information like that will help in future discussions with the Department of Defence.

How do you like our BOM quilts so far.  All the blocks in this one came from Sue and I am going to add plain squares in the middle.

These ones are some of mine, combined with another couple from Sue and some from Louise.  A few more in the mail and there will be enough for a second quilt.  If you are still to make yours remember we are steering away from anything pink and anything flowery.  

I think they both look great!  I am kind of leaning towards nine patch blocks quilts at the moment and loving them for their traditional appeal.

I have also been told that there are more nine patch blocks in the mail - really looking forward to seeing what arrives.  More quilts and laundry bags are promised too.  You girls are amazing!  I am so impressed!  I am beginning to think that we have a few Aussie Heroes over here as well!

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

Nevermind a happy meal - I would rather have Happy Mail!

I received a big box today and was dying to see what was in it!  I pulled out the three quilts first and lay them out of the floor to drink in all the colours and then I had to go away and sort the kids out.  Look what I found when I came back.  Snickers has a gorgeous leather chair and ottoman to snuggle on, a perfectly good sofa, even, in a weak moment, a number of actual DOG beds!  But, as a true quilters dog, any time a quilt happens to be on the floor that is her bed of choice!

Cute huh!  Such a madam!  Really!!!

So, now without the help of Snickers, let me show you the quilts.  

These were all made by the wonderful Tarnyia.   

One,

Two,

Three!

And as if that isn't enough she included all this binding and the lollies!

Thanks so much Tarnyia!!!

I have been asking around and a friend of mine who works for the Dept of Defence was finally able to tell me that. although it fluctuates a little with comings and goings, in general we have a ratio of 80% guys to 20% gals serving in Afghanistan at any one time.  So might I suggest that if you are making multiple quilts it would be good to try and keep to the same ratio - 4 quilts for guys to every girly quilt.

And as you know I launched Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags) on facebook last night and so far we have a respectable 30 followers and a number of them are completely new to Aussie Heroes!  Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

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

Happy Valentine's Day

Send some love a soldier's way - 

Make him  quilt - 

OK, maybe not a heart quilt!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!

Aussie Heroes in now on Facebook

Just trying to get out there and get more exposure - ooh that sounds a bit rude but hopefully you know what I mean.

All sorts of bits and pieces to share with you today.

Maria did another post on her blog about AHQ  - check it out here

A new follower called Khristina did a post on her blog as well - you can see it here

And another new follower, Naomi also did a post - look here too.

I received some more BOM 9 patch blocks today.  These ones are from Louise in WA.  I think they are great.  Is anyone else doing any?  Deadline for posting them is February 29th so that is just over two weeks to go.  I am already thinking about what the BOM will be for next month!

I have been thinking about getting Aussie Heroes a facebook page but just hadn't got around to it - well now I have done it.  Not sure where it will lead but finding more people can't be bad.  If you are into facebook and want to find it look here.

I am trying to work out how to put tabs across the top of the blog page so that people can click on them to find out how to make a quilt or a laundry bag.  Does anyone know how to do that?  Let me know if you do please.  All help gratefully received.

I don't think I will be getting too much sewing done in the next day or so - lots of taxi driving to do with the kids and also lots of admin.  I am trying to make the blog better organised so that new visitors can easily find out what they can do to help etc.  Hope you old salts that have been around with us since way back in the beginning (all of 6 weeks ago) can bear with me!

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

Quilt Specifics

A few things have happened in recent days to encourage a lot of new people to be viewing the blog so I thought I better write a few posts including all the details on how to help etc. 

First up -

 Quilt Specifications

1.                The soldiers quilts are made and sized specifically to fit into a Bx2 sized post box so that you can post them for free – anything posted to the soldiers in Afghanistan under 2kg is free!   For that reason Aussie Hero Quilts are sized to be the width of the fabric so about 42” and about 66” or 1.8m long.

2.                You can make them any pattern or design that you like depending the amount of time you have available to you.  The original Aussie Hero Quilts look like the attached picture – very basic – very scrappy and you can’t see it in this picture but we even used scrappy binding.

3.                We sorted through our stashes and selected anything that wasn’t flowery or pink. You can make feminine quilts but there are many more guys than girls over there so we send mostly masculine quilts.  Not a lot of time was spent planning the quilts – once again you can spend as much time as you have but I suggest you use a good mix of patterns and plains and novelty fabrics for interest.

4.                Cut lots of 6 ½“ strips.  They can be the full width of the fabric but they don’t need to be and it is better if you have a mix of short ones and long ones mixed in as that makes the quilts more interesting. 

5.                Sew all the 6 1/2“ wide strips of fabric together into one long strip. Cut that down into 42” lengths and 11 of those made up the quilt tops. Quick and simple – utilitarian but I still think they looked cool and the guys that have received them so far loved them.  

6.                Next layer and quilt. Please use cotton batting - Afghanistan varies from being really hot in summer to freezing (or below freezing in winter -25C) so cotton is the most versatile and breathable batting.  Also I think consistency across all the Aussie Hero quilts is important.  

7.                Once again you can quilt as much as you want but for speed we did a simple stitch in the ditch on each seam and that was all. 

8.                Binding is sewn on by machine or hand depending on time available.  I cut my normal binding about 2 1/2 “ but for these quilts, if machining both sides, to make it easier to manage I cut 2 ¾”.  If sewing both sides by machine then sew on the back first, fold over to the front and use a zig zag stitch or if you like a straight stitch – whatever you are comfortable with.

9.                After much consideration I have created a standard label as follows:

This is an

AUSSIE HERO QUILT

 made for an

Aussie Hero

in Afghanistan

with gratitude for your service.

2012

aussieheroquilt.blogspot.com

djlmball@bigpond.net.au

I would appreciate it if the wording remains but feel free to add in who the quilt was made by etc.  I would like all the Aussie Hero Quilts to be easily identifiable as such so that they become recognizable and widely known as we grow.  The more our quilts are recognized the more Aussie Heroes will be taken seriously and supported by the Department of Defence.  My labels have been printed on Printable Fabric from http://www.printablefabric.com.au but you can hand write yours if preferred.

 This is one of our first quilts in Afghanistan.

 Here is the first feminine quilt we sent.  We had to make 24 masculine quilts and 1 feminine quilt so I sent her a quilt that I had made but hadn't given away yet.  Being the only girl in her group we wanted to spoilt her a bit.

 We originally send to one Warrant officer and his 14 team mates and sent him extra quilts he could pass on to others as well.  This soldier received one of those extra quilts and was nice enough to go to quite some effort to send me a picture that I was allowed to post on the blog.  Lots of the guys and girls over there have protected identity so cannot be identified in the media in any way.

Quilts can be sent to me if you like but it is probably more cost effective if you post them direct.  I will begin publishing the address I have been given a week before you can use it.  You can only mail to this address twice  a year for a month each time.  If you post direct I would really appreciate a photo of the quilt as I am trying to encourage others as well as keep a record of how many quilts are sent.  The first mailing dates are 15 March to 15 April to get things there in time for Easter - hopefully!

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

I spy a laundry bag or two

I can finally show you a few more photos.  I received these at the beginning of the month but I never assume that just because I have received the pictures I am allowed to publish them.  I always ask first and because the guys and gals are working so hard over there it can take a while to get a response.  In the first two pics you can see the laundry bag that I made for our first female soldier.  She is the one who sent me these pics.

 In this picture you can see another of the laundry bags that we made with NM on it.  You can see how they stand out from all those while mesh ones.

 And this is our female soldier's bed with her quilt on it.  You can see it is a bunk bed and the shelf unit you can see hangs on the bottom of the bunk above.  

The following is a snippet of her latest email just so that you get an idea of the current conditions - 


"Yep we have no electricity or hot water and limited laundry facilities. We get electricity for work but not in accommodation so it gets really cold at night time. We can only shower at certain times I had a shower yesterday int eh dark as they had alreayd turned the electricity off and luckily there was still some hot water left so it was interesting lol." 


Man!  Am I glad that we sent them quilts before Christmas!

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