Aussie Heroes 101 is coming!

Okay! I am pretty much having the night off posting tonight - I know- shocking right?  But I am turning the tables and setting you all some homework.

With all the new Friends and Followers to Aussie Heroes I think it is time for a refresher course so that everyone is up to speed on how Aussie Heroes works and what we do.

In the next week I will go back to basics and explain all about 

Who gets quilts and laundry bags

How we send them,

Twice yearly mailing,

Quilts in waiting,

Wounded Warrior Quilts (WWQs)

The Volunteer List

Laundry Bag specs,

Quilt Specs,

Packing instructions and inclusions

Now all of you will need to pay attention - so get yourselves a coffee, hot chocolate, cup of tea but leave the wine till later.  There may be a few changes where things have been altered as we have improved or learned things along the way.

So, here is where your homework comes in.

If you are a new follower and have a question- now is a great time to leave a comment and let me know what you want to know about. 

If you are an oldie (but a goodies) please leave a suggestion if you think there is something I should cover.

There is no such thing as a dumb question or a silly idea.  (ooo I sounds like a teacher - scary!) If you are thinking about something there is a good chance that someone else is too!

And just because I think we need some pictures to brighten things up around here are are a few shots of some of our earlier quilts that you might not have seen!

Love the simplicity of this with only three lovely batik fabrics!

 This was made from BOM blocks from February!  Got me hooked on nine patches these quilts!

 Another quilt from BOMs.  I have been waiting to hear from the recipient of this one- sadly no news but we have to be patient about that as we just don't know what their conditions are like and they work so hard.

 I am thinking one of our new Facebook followers received this one and I am hoping they will recognize it and say so!  

 This is an early one

 Love those string blocks!

 Still love the colours in this one!

 And this one!

 More nine patches!!!

 A disappearing nine patch for someone I knew loves horses - so rare that we know anything about our recipients!

Till next time.................think about your homework and happy stitching!

A fabulous donation and Gail's blocks

Aren't we lucky!!!

One of the lovely ladies from Turramurra quilters, Claire, has a friend, Sylvia, who used to own a quilt shop in Crookwell called "Aunty Lou's"  but she had to close it down several years ago.  Sylvia still had some fabric and decided she would never use a pile of Homespun fabrics she offered to donate them to various charities.  Sylvia asked Claire and several of our other friends if they knew of any charities that might be interested......Claire told her that Aussie Heroes would be interested for sure and look what she sent!

First the homespuns - a great selection of colours for Aussie Quilts

 Then a great check, a stripe and fabulous print  that really says Aussie outback to me!

 And finally these great Aussie Prints.  I remember seeing these when they were in the stores.  I bought a little but not as much as I should have bought in retrospect.  These are really great for adding to Aussie fabrics and Aussie colours fo making a great Aussie flavoured quilt!  

and just quietly, I love the blue.  

Each of these are still on the bolt and some of the bolts are quite full!  Thanks so much Sylvia!  These fabrics will be great!!!


I met a new Aussie Hero Friend today!

Her name is Gail and she made these two  these lovely quilts
   
 She came by to drop in a few lovely BOM blocks for May.  There are so many AHFs out there that are too far away to meet so it is so nice to actually meet another lady from time to time. 
 I think it is the people in Aussie Heroes that make it so nice to be involved in.

I love Gail's blocks and they will tone in beautifully with the ones I already have.  I can't wait till they are all in to see what the resultant quilts look like!


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

Belvedere and so much more!

I am sure you remember that I made a special quilt and laundry bag for a very special turtle, Belvedere..... 

I think I showed you the "TU's" quilt

but I didn't show you his laundry bag as I didn't want him to see it

I only ever showed you snippets of Belvedere's little A3 sized quilt

and I never even told you about his laundry bag as I didn't want to spoil the surprise!

How lucky I had that turtle fabric!

The package has arrived safe and here is the response:

I got your package on Tuesday!  It was so awesome!  The quilts and laundry bags are amazing!  The whole company loved Belvedere's one!  I'll be sure to send you a big thank you and a photo with Belvedere and his quilt and bag.

PS. He loved his turtle food!  and I can't express how much I loved the Tim Tams!

Thank you so much for all your hard work.  It is greatly appreciated.  I will keep my quilt forever and it will remind me of my trip and how there are those back home that do really care

I really enjoyed making Belvedere's quilt as I knew it would cheer more than just one person. Good to know he likes it - LOL!




Now check out this wonderful story!

 I logged on yesterday afternoon after being at quilt group today and found a message on Facebook from a new follower. She asked if she could buy a quilt to send to her hubby while he is overseas.   I told her that I would be happy to arrange to send him one and she said that would be fantastic.   She emailed me his address and I nearly fell over! 

Would you believe that I had already heard from the hubby! He had requested a quilt earlier in the month and it was already on its way!

And even more, the lovely lady who made it lives in the same city they do and there is a history of military service in both families!  I call that a match made in heaven!!

Just love those stories!

And just before I go - I received another fabric donation today, this time from Fabric Traders.  Unfortunately I have no idea which Fabric Traders it comes from as there was no information on the envelope and no note included but it is certainly appreciated.

I can see a couple of great female laundry bags coming from this, can't you?

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

May BOMs

I received 6 more BOM blocks today from Sharina.  Sorry the photo is a bit dark - the lighting wasn't great.

Here they are all together!  Don't they look great.  I also received an email today from Teresa from America  letting me know that she put nine May BOMs in the mail so that will probably give me enough for two quilts.  Can't wait to put them together.  I think they are going to look great.

If anyone else is planning to send some May BOMs can you please let me know so I can work out if we need more.

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

Egypt and more

Time now for an update on what is happening with Egypt.

As you know there are 25 Aussies serving in Afghanistan and we are progressively sending quilts and laundry bags over to them.  There have been a few questions from AH Friends as to whether we should send laundry bags to Egypt so I checked with my contact there and her response was "I use my laundry bag all the time" so that seems like a pretty good answer to me.

And you will be pleased to know that I had a quick email from my point of contact over there letting me know that some of the quilts arrived.  Here is some of what she said.

Morning Jan-Maree, yes we got mail about 20 mins after I’d sent your email, C's quilt was in the mail along with 3 others ( all boy ones I believe) Thankyou letters to follow, the three still in my office were from Erica L of Vic and 2 from Susan S from SA. Actually one from Susan has just been opened and oh my it’s beautiful. I am going to have to learn how to quilt.


This is the quilt that Marilyn made for her daughter-in-law, the C mentioned above!  She has already emailed to tell her she loves it!

I am guessing here but I am thinking this is Erika's quilt which has arrived

 And this

 And this are Sue's!

And just before I go here is something I found today when I was trying (in vain) to catch up on the blogs I follow.

One of our Aussie Hero Friends, Pip, has been working on a quilt for Aussie Heroes using the latest BOM - 

Check out her blog.

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

Letters for Egypt and more

First up - exciting news!  Last night a website called Your Defence found us and "liked" us on Facebook - and then new followers for Aussie Heroes started rolling in.  We went from 102 followers to 150 as I write this.  Excellent!  Hopefully some of them can sew but if not they are mostly wives of serving men and it is great for them to know that we support them.

Second on the list - a correction!  I left out an S in the label I posted last night!  Gasp!  I have gone back and corrected the text now but here is the correct version again as well!

This is an

AUSSIE HERO QUILT

made for an

Aussie Hero

Serving  Overseas

with gratitude for your service.

2012

aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au

djlmball@bigpond.net.au

Now, letter for Egypt...

In previous posts I told you that there are a few people in Egypt who have received NO MAIL in the three months since the my contact has been there.  I want to do something about that and from many of the emails and comments I have received so do many of you.  Here is what we are going to do.

We can't just send extra care parcels over marked "give to those who don't get mail" etc so my plan is that we send some letters.  Once the letters are received they can be distributed as the Post Mistress (for wont of a better term) sees fit.  If the recipient write or emails back, then you can go ahead and send them a package.

You just need to write a simple letter.  Tell them a bit about yourself - my name is, I am married with 17 kids, I live in  Whoopty Whoop etc etc.  Just tell them the ordinary every day stuff.  You can let them know that you are happy to write back again if they like.  Supply your email address and/postal address - whatever you are comfortable with.  Send the letters to me - we now have a brand new shiny PO Box.

Aussie Hero Quilts,

PO Box 248

Cherrybrook,  NSW, 2126

I will wait till I get a few and will send a bundle of letters off all together.  You may use the PO Box as your return address if you like and I will forward any incoming mail to you unopened if you tell them to address it to your name, C/- Aussie Hero Quilts and then the rest of the address.

I hope that is clear as mud!  Not sure how successful we will be - some of these guys just won't ask for anything but this is he best I can come up with at this stage.

If you are interested in writing a letter, please leave a comment or send me an email so that I can judge how many letters to expect.

On a different subject.....

I received a couple of donations today.   Firstly, as a result of a mega emailing campaign by Sue I received 9m of this great striped fabric from Jane at www.bebebold.com.  Thanks so much Jane!  We will put it to good use!

I also received a parcel of orphan blocks today too - including some really great stars.

These came from Karen B 

 Also included in her bundle of blocks were these four BOM blocks!  

 Thanks so much Karen.

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

New Label

Hi all.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend.  My thoughts keep drifting to some of the servicemen I know who had made it home this weekend and others who I know are heading home in the near future.  Of course that means that they have been replaced by new members whose families are just beginning to adjust to them being away.  It makes me so glad that we are doing something positive.  Don't underestimate the value of what we do to the families back here.

Knowing that someone else is sending a message of support and a gift of love, as what else is a quilt but a hug made from stitches and love, means a lot to those back home.  It means that they are not the only ones who value their loved one's contribution!

Seeing as we are now sending quilts to members in Egypt as well as in Afghanistan and also Dubai (they also come under Operation Slipper) I have decided it is time to officially change the label text to the following:

This is an

AUSSIE HERO QUILT

 made for an

Aussie Hero

serving OVERSEAS

with gratitude for your service.

2013

aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au

friendsofAHQ@gmail.com

I thought it was also worth reminding you to add a little note with your quilt or even a letter.  Tell them a little about yourself.  Include your address and/or your email address.  And please share if you receive any thank you mail - it is good for everyone to know that messages are coming back.

Now check out this gorgeous quilt by Liz, as if you couldn't tell with her trade mark kangaroos.  I have to say Liz that I am getting a lot of comments about those red roos!  They really look fabulous!  Liz had also done a laundry bag but I am not showing it here as I don't want to give away who the quilt is for in case the impending recipient sees it.  I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Love these stars and don't they just glow against the black background!

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