Quilts For Orphans

More 'quilted' children ... aren't they beautiful?

Sharing some pictures which I just received today from Jill Malcolm and Rachel ... these are the children from Tamil Nadu who have just received some of our quilts ... I know that you will be as thrilled as I am to see the smiles on their faces. Makes our efforts soooo worthwhile ... each quilt stitched with love and received with pleasure .....

 

From Melbourne to India with love .....

 

 

 

Don't the smiles on their faces just make you want to set to and start stitching away into the night to create more quilts??? The obvious pleasure that we are giving with our quilts make all our efforts worthwhile.

Thank you to each and every person who contributed in some way, whether by donating fabric, by machine stitching the quilt tops to handfinishing the bindings ... every single thing that you did to make the smiles on the faces of these children is so very much appreciated.

And, don't forget, you can come along to our next Working Bee on March 14th ... and help create more quilts so that we can duplicate these smiling faces in another Childrens Home in the not too distant future.

Look forward to being able to add more pictures like these ones soon...

blessings to all,

Susan

Here came the Brides ..... (to be ..... ) to our fabulous wedding dress fundraiser.

Well here I am again ... reporting on our wonderful day at our wedding dress sale on February 21st.

 

This was the day we gathered at Weddings by the Lake in Kilsyth, a new and beautiful reception venue, to display and offer for sale the 50 splendid new wedding gowns that we recently had donated to us by one of our newest, most generous, quilting recruits, Yvonne. We cannot begin to thank Yvonne enough for her generosity of spirit ... this truly was the most wonderful of gestures.

We also must thank Kaye, who owns Weddings by the Lake, for allowing us to be a part of her Open Day. Her venue is just beautiful and well worth checking out for any prospective bride wanting somewhere special for her big day.

 

Now it took a little while to unpack these lovely creations, but we were all done and dusted by the 11 am opening of the wedding 'expo' and took our place along with a myriad of wedding photographers, caterers and wedding cake makers (who had the most delicious samples I am told ... I exercised considerable restraint, and it WASN'T easy!!) ...

 

Simply had to include a picture of this cake .. as an Essendon supporter, it got my vote hands down!

 

 

 

We had a pretty successful day and were able to send half a dozen future brides away with the dress of their dreams .. and at the same time raise $4000 for our Quilting for Orphans project. This will help with our fundraising quest to get that much needed workshed for our quilters. Of course this also means that we STILL have 44 dresses available for sale at never to be repeated bargain prices. So .... if you know of a bride-to-be still searching for her perfect dress ... get her to contact Rachel on 97567375 or [email protected] to arrange a viewing. These remaining dresses are in sizes 10 thru to 18 ... so we have everyone covered, figuratively speaking :)

 

We also had our stall set up to showcase some of our 'For sale' quilts and other handmade items, in order to generate further funds for our project.

 

Jenny and Joy taking a well earned breather after a day of helping brides to be into ...(and out of) their wedding dresses. Well done ladies .... you were splendid!! 

Also a round of applause to Lesley, who did a terrific job of spacing out the 'appointments to try-on' ... and Jenni who ran herself ragged doing an equally brilliant job of organising the displaying of the dresses, together with Rachel, Gaynor and Yvonne. Finally .... keeping us sustained on the day were Gaynor and Rachels troupe of stunning sandwich makers extraordinaire and Philomena and her yummy Poffertje van who came along for the day and cooked up a storm ... as well as adding to the festive atmosphere of the day!

So, all in all, a pretty terrific day ..... and now we get back to the business of our Working Bees folks! Don't forget that the next one is on March 14th at Gaynors. The day starts at 9.30 am ... runs till 4.30 ... and the lunch theme (why does it always get back to food ... Rachel ??) ... will be sandwiches and cake. Bring it on!!

Look forward to seeing you there ... and equally look forward to writing up our next get-together in my next Blog entry. Am sure we will have a ball!!

Also, before I forget ... Rachel and Gaynor still have absolutely scads of fabric for sale ... remember our last fabulous fabric donation? Well .... it's still there, a mountain of wonderful fabric available cheap, cheap, cheap!! Contact Gaynor on 9756 7950 if you are interested in obtaining some of her stash of mock suede/mock croc and any number of other types of furnishing fabric.... plenty there folks!! All  monies raised from the sale of this fabric will go right back into providing further funding for our much needed shed ... so support us folks, it's all for such a worthwhile cause!

Till next time, blessings to all who are supporting us ... we appreciate every bit of kindness and generosity that comes our way ... as do the children in the Homes in India that we are working toward providing our quilts for.

Cheers all....

Susan

The Wedding Dress Flyer folks ..... put this date in your diary :)

Ok Folks ... a late breaking message from Rachel with this wonderful colour flyer for our wedding dress sale day ... make sure that you come along ... the venue is wonderful, the dresses spectacular .... and we look forward to sharing the occasion with you :)

'Grand Sale, Grand Sale, Grand Sale' .. calling all prospective brides !!!!

Special announcement Folks ... pass the word!!!

On Saturday February 21st 2009 we have been invited to participate in a special event which will help raise funds for our Quilts for Orphans project.

Recently, through the kindness of one of our newest recruits Yvonne, we were given 50 beautiful wedding dresses ... all brand new .. all absolutely exquisite ... and ours to sell with the profits coming right back at us. How amazingly generous .... and how wonderful to be able to not only use the sale to raise funds, but to have the opportunity to help some prospective brides find the dress of their dreams at the same time.

This event will be held at the Grand Opening of a new and delightful wedding venue in Kilsyth called 'Weddings by the Lake'. Melways reference 51 F12.

Website is www.weddingsbythelake.com.au

The address is: 11 Tereddan Drive Kilsyth South. Phone 9761 9791 or Fax 9728 1356

The times for viewing not only the dresses, but the beautiful venue itself, which is available for hire for wedding receptions, will be between 11 a.m and 4 p.m. Free admission.

Please let any future brides to be that you may know about this wonderful opportunity .... I have seen the dresses and can vouch for their beauty and quality ... you will not be disappointed!!

 

Blessings ... and warm thanks both to Yvonne and to 'Weddings by the Lake' for this wonderful act of generosity which will help us to do so much more for our orphans in India,

 

Susan

Nothing will deter a determined batch of quilters ... not even a heatwave!

Well Hello again fans of this Blog ... and welcome to 2009!! This is attempt #2 for todays entry ... somehow cyberspace gobbled up 3 hours of Blogging last night and reduced me to a quivering heap. But ... not to be stopped ... I am back with a vengeance. So here goes with my report on our first Working Bee for the year ... and what conditions we laboured under!! Temperatures that were off the scale since record keeping began ... 46.4 degrees ... a power failure that tested our mettle as the airconditioning at Gaynors subsequently snuffed it for the duration ... but we soldiered on, like the dedicated bunch that we are ... and here are the results ...

Who would imagine that Jenni and Joy are enduring a record breaking heatwave ... and never once lost their trademark smiles ... way to go ladies!!!

 

Pauline has very kindly created for us a personalised QFO name tag each ... many thanks ... and Tracy was one of the first to collect hers yesterday ...

 

Tracy, from being a 'Newbie' quilter last year, has surpassed herself and blew us away yesterday with the brilliant quilt that she created over the break. Her use of colour was stunning and this quilt will surely brighten the life of the child who receives it. Sorry to say, however, that the cute sandals will NOT be accompanying the quilt to India :(

 

We welcomed Lois as a new recruit to our group .... hope you enjoyed your day Lois and we look forward to seeing you in March when we have our next Working Bee. At the end of this Blog I will be updating our meeting dates, we have altered them somewhat, so make sure you have a pen and paper handy to note the changes folks :)

 

Yvonne, who joined us toward the end of last year, has been teaching grand daughter Amber how to sew .. and this is the amazing result. Amber is just 12 years old .. and this is her first quilt, which she has kindly given to us for the children in India. Well done Amber  ... this is just beautiful!!

 

Another new 'recruit' is Robyn who came yesterday, she was only able to stay till just after lunch, as she had a wedding to attend early afternoon and we appreciate so much that she was able to spend time with us. Hope she enjoyed herself!! After the welcome from Pauline we set her to work cutting out appliques for the next batch of quilts we will be making .... many thanks Robyn :)

 

We also welcomed Isobel to our group yesterday .... we met her for the first time at our Christmas Breakup in December ...  before she knew it she had been sent home that night with a small parcel of fabric with instructions to turn it into a cot quilt for our Judgement Day  (that'll teach her to accept dinner invitations from friends eh?). Yesterday, after being welcomed by Jenni and Rachel, Isobel was lucky enough to land the job of removing sticky labels from donated fabric swatches ... a tough job, but someone had to do it ... sorry Isobel *wink*

 

One of the lovely bonuses that comes from our Working Bees, I think, is the friendships that have sprung up among some of us who had never met before. There is nothing more pleasurable than sharing chats  whilst creating our quilts for the kids in India ... time passes pleasantly, tips are exchanged and I'm sure we all look forward to our get togethers ... I know I do!!

Here we have Lesley and Inge and Tracy and Janagi enjoying time together whilst stitching ... wouldn't swap moments like these for housework or similar pursuits, would we ladies ... no competition there I imagine!!

 

Now ... as well as the friendly chats yesterday... we also had a friendly 'competition' ... and showed our talents with the quilts that were produced during the Christmas break for our Cot Quilt Judgement day .... here are the magnificent entries, all worthy of winning ... all crafted with love ...

 

 

 

It was a difficult task, choosing a winner, and we all cast our votes thinking that every quilt was worthy of First place .. but in the end Lesleys zoo applique quilt won by a 'whisker' .. congratulations Lesley!!

  

An Encouragement award was given to Isobel ... remember she got her parcel of fabric at the Christmas breakup ... well her very first quilt was just wonderful, as you can see ... a lovely rose printed fabric, made up just beautifully. Now doesn't that award more than make up for getting the job of 'sticky label remover' at our Working Bee yesterday Isobel?

 

It was back to stitching for a while before lunch ... gotta make the ladies work you know *wink*, here is Bernie hard at work finishing off a quilt binding, while Pauline never stopped stitching either ... both real troupers!! Thanks ladies .. you are awesome!

 

Now for lunch ... and thank goodness it was salad ... with a power failure mid morning it would have been 'curtains' for anything that required heating ... and we have to take care of our willing quilters, don't we?

 

Just a little more measuring and cutting from Jenni, watched by Isobel, Joy, Tracy and Janagi, before we folded up our efforts for the day ...

 

And that winds up the first Working bee for 2009 ... now folk, get out your pens and paper as I give you the re-jigged dates for our get togethers this year. We have decided to return, for the most part, to the 'second Saturday of the month' format, as we were in danger of losing some of our longest serving quilters ... so the revised dates are as follow:

March 14th .......... Sandwiches and cake

April 4th ............... Quiche and salad

May 9th ................. Take Out lunch .. Bring $5

June 13th ............. Sandwiches and cake. Soup providers will be notified.

July 11th ................ (we snuck this extra one in) Indian themed lunch ... yummy!!

August 8th ............. Casserole and cake

September 12th .... take Out lunch .. Bring $5

October 10th ........ Bakers Choice .. you bring whatever you like ... surprise us :)

November 14th ...... BBQ and salad ... BYO meat.

December 12th ,,, 6pm Christmas breakup .. details to be advised.

And don't forget folks ... we have been in receipt, as mentioned in my last Blog ... of an awesome amount of fabric of many types, mock suedes, vinyls, velours were donated to us. the pictures on the last Blog barely do it justice, believe me!! Rachel is advising that this fabric is to be sold at an incredibly cheap rate, with all monies raised being ploughed back into COM projects. So if you would like to help support us, contact Rachel on [email protected] or phone Gaynor on 9756 7950.

Also, as you see in our pictures, Gaynors home is rapidly disappearing under a veritable mountain of quilting fabric and we still are in increasingly desperate need of a shed .. to store both the fabric, workbenches for our stitchers and space for our beloved quilting machine 'Big Beastie'. We are blessed by the generosity of benefactors such as Sue from Lang Lang who gave us the quilting machine ... this was an amazing act of kindness, but we need to be able to house it properly ... and we need to be able to give Gaynor and Reg back their home. So pass the word, support us in whatever way you can .... this project, so dear to Gaynor and Rachels hearts, deserves all the assistance it can. You are all more than welcome to come to our Working Bees to see for yourselves what we are achieving for the kids in India... Gaynors home is always capable of finding room for an extra pair of willing hands ... and when we get a shed to work in it will be even easier to accommodate you all :)

So before the cybermeanies swallow up this blog again ... I am 'outta here' folks .... look forward to reporting more wonderful news of our group in my next posting. In the meantime, blessings in abundance to all who are participating in our project ... the kids in the Homes in India are so grateful for all that we can do for them ... and without your help it would not be possible, so thank you all ...

 

till next posting,

 

Susan

The 'Stash' to end all 'Stashes' ... .we are indeed blessed!!

Where do I begin with this update? Perhaps the phone call from Gaynor last week, that told me of an amazing donation to our quilt project, would be a good place to start.

The phone call was to let me know that an AMAZING amount of fabric was ours if we were able to arrange collection .... and when I say 'amazing' ... perhaps you had better be sitting down before you read on ... !!

Roughly ONE THOUSAND bolts of fabric ... various types and various size bolts ... for us to put to whatever use we could find for our QFO mission. A great deal of this fabric is of upholstery quality, suitable for floor cushions, bean bags, carryalls ... the uses will only be limited by our imagination. Any items we make from this type of fabric can be sold and the funds raised will be directed toward the building funds for new childrens Homes in India. A lot of the fabric  will be suitable for the backing of quilts, more can be used for quilt tops. Smaller pieces can be probably sold off through our Treasure Corner Opportunity shop, thereby generating even more funds for the Homes in India.

When I now show you the portion of stash that we were able to transport this weekend ... and there will be more to collect next weekend ...  you will agree that we have been blessed indeed!

 

This picture was taken today ... the fabric shown here is roughly the final third to be collected ... we couldn't fit it all in today.. this we will get next weekend. More than twice this much has already been removed ... wait till you see the FINAL photos!! 

 

Here we have Jenni, Rachel and Reg loading  the ute .... already several loads had been done earlier in the day.

 

Everything but the kitchen sink!! And we had also filled a couple of 4WDs for our final trip of the day!

 

NOw folks ... this was what had already been unloaded onto Gaynors porch YESTERDAY ... todays load was yet to be unpacked! 

 

And awaaaay we go!! So much to do ... and willing hands to help us do it!!

 

But wait .... there's MORE!!! And we hadn't even tackled the ute yet!!

 

Phew, the end is in sight .... are we there yet?? 

 

Yesssssss!! The final rolls from todays batch ... and we get to do it all again next weekend!!Woohoo!! 

 

Jenni doing some final 'housekeeping' before we call it quits for the day ... think she's earned a rest, don't you?

 

Somewhere behind this 'insulation' wall of fabric stash ... is Gaynors house. And I think this picture demonstrates again why we are hoping that we will soon have a shed of our very own for storage ... so keep your fingers (and all of your toes) crossed that we will have our prayers answered and we can give Gaynor and Reg back ... if not their entire house, at the very least their porch :)

So next weekend, Saturday February 7th,we will be repeating the process again ... as well as hosting our first Working bee for the year. To be held at Gaynors ... whose house is now easily recognisable I think you will agree, by the interesting use of fabric as an exterior feature wall. Not sure if this 'cutting edge' architectural trend will catch on ... but you have to agree it's 'noice, different and unewsual' to say the very least!! We start the day at 9.30 a.m, finishing at 4.30 p.m ... though we don't place pressure on you to stay all day, we hope you enjoy yourself enough to want to :)

So look forward to reporting back to you after next Saturday .. also our 'Cot Quilt Judgement Day' ... will be a great day, some new faces will be joining us apparently and we anticipate another wonderful session of sewing and sorting with a lovely lunch in the middle of it all.

Till then, blessings to all ..

Susan