Quilts For Orphans

'Those who sleep under a quilt ... sleep under a blanket of Love' .....

Here I am ... back again with the 'round up' of news from last weekends Quilt Fair at the Barn. And I thought I would title this Blog entry with a quote shared with us by one of our quilters Julie... I think it encapsulates our little groups efforts quite succinctly ..... don't you?

Gaynor tells me that, despite the inclement weather, we raised enough funds last weekend to ensure a supply of batting/wadding and other needs for the next year ... good news indeed!! We sold 6 quilts and many of our Christmas stitcheries, quite a lot of our buttons and the event generated a lot of interest in our efforts. We may even have recruited a few more helpers ..... as interest in what we do for the children in orphanages across the world was quite high :)

We must thank Michael Koelwyn for his generous donation toward a roll of batting for our quilts .... thank you SO very much Michael ... anyone who quilts will know that the wadding that is sandwiched between a quilt is pretty much THE most costly part of a quilt, so a donation such as this was most welcome!!

And whilst I am on the subject of Thanks ... I will thank Rosa and Wendy who kindly donated 15 quilt tops which I will photograph for the February blog after Yvonne has custom quilted them over the Christmas break. I will also photograph for that edition of the Blog the lovely pieced quilt top and pillowcase stitched for us by Bridget. Its always a delight to receive donated quilt tops and we appreciate so much the efforts of all who do these for us ...

More thanks are also in order .... as the lovely Glenda Wilbert blessed us again with more fabrics from her culling of her quilting 'stash' .... as pictured below. Thanks heaps Glenda ... the ladies were delighted by your generosity :)

 

 

Isn't fabric scrumptious???

Next donation, received with pleasure, was from Norma from Boronia who kindly donated a swag of fabric during the week, after hearing about our Quilt Fair on the radio station Magic 1278, during their Community Calendar updates.

 

Gaynor also received a lovely donation of quilts from Sylvia and Edith in North Ryde NSW. They have kindly stitched for us before and it is a delight to receive their handiwork .... see below ... beautiful!

 

Lovely work .... thank you so much Sylvia and Edith ..... these quilts are simply delightful!!

We spent a good part of the morning packing up the remnants of the previous weekends Quilt Fair and with the help of Sandi, Yvonne, Jan, Julie, Pauline and the two Vals and Carol ... order was soon restored to our workspace ..

Once we had packed away from the Quilt Fair... it left us with time to plan more stitching ... and here we have Jan and Sandi conferring over colours and patterns for more quilts ....

While Yvonne and both Vals plot a quilt top layout from precut squares we had just 'laying around' :)

This should come together quite nicely ... a case of 'several sets of eyes' overseeing the best layout ...

And that rounds off this little mini-blog. We meet up again on December 14th for our Christmas lunch ... details of which I posted in the Blog entry last week, but will repeat here anyway. It will be a catered spitroast festive lunch .... several roasted meats, a wide selection of salads and choice of 4 desserts. Cost is $16 per head and please let Gaynor know how many will be attending BEFORE the day. Should be absolutely lovely and husbands are welcome to accompany our quilters. We 'may' need a few extra chairs ... so if you are able to bring along a seat ... it won't go astray :)

We will be discussing the dates for next years Quilting Days at the Christmas lunch .... as well as lunch themes ... which will then appear in the Blog entry I write following our Christmas breakup ...

Ooops ... almost forgot .... a shameless plug' ... but I will be interviewed on Yarra Valley FM next Sunday evening, helping to spread the word of Quilts for Orphans ... so if you are able to get reception ... tune in to 99.1 on your radio :)

 Till next Blog .... I will leave you with another 'quote' from Julie ... and look forward to sharing with you again next month .... blessings all ...

A Prayer for the Needle: 

Dear God, Either open the hole ... or shrink this thread.

Amen.

 

Susan

 

 

Whilst the weather may not have played 'fair' .... our November Fair went quite well.

Well Hello there .... 'tis me .... reporting on the weekends Annual QFO Quilt Fair weekend .... held at our Barn in Monbulk. The weather was less than spectacular on Saturday .... pretty steady drizzle with one or two moments of watery sunshine, but that didn't deter the brave souls who ventured out to see what we had to show everyone.

So .... without further ado I will pop up the pics of the Saturday I attended ... and I am assured that Sunday was equally successful. 

The garden directly outside our Barn ..... in a brief moment of sunshine ...

See ..... sunshine :)

Outside on the verandah there was plenty to see .... and buy ....

Just some of the Warwick furnishing fabric we have on offer ....

... and here's the rest ..... anyone need to recover a chair ... or create a beanbag? 

'Nick nack paddywack .... buy your dog a bed' .....

.... or a coat ....

We soon had customers .... brave souls who didn't let a spot of rain deter them ...

We even catered for the munchkins ... with our beautiful fingerpuppets ... but now we head indoors ...

Where there were plenty of fat quarters on offer ......

.... as well as quilts, cushions, buttons of all shapes and sizes .. and more ... PLENTY more :)

Here is a small selection of the needlework 'Gallery' created for their own homes by our quilters ...

This beauty was created by our Joy and is a memory piece of her family heritage .... just inspiring!!!

Here are some of the workers on Day 1 of our weekend ... Maxine and Val ....

Yvonne, Joy and Carol ....

And a selection of what was on offer for sale as part of our fundraising efforts ....

And to keep everyone energised for 'quilt perusal' .... we offered refreshments ...

And that just about rounds up the Quilt Fair part of this months Blog ... but before I go ... a few updates and Thank You mentions are in order .... Firstly ... from Shining Star in China .... to the Quilters ...

How lovely is this ^ .... it's always pleasing to hear that our fabric 'Hugs' have reached the children :)

And now a Thank You from US .... to folk who have 'gifted' us fabric and quilt tops ... 

Gifted to us from Glenda Wilbert .... how generous is this!!! But wait ... there's more ...

... and some wadding too .... brilliant .... thank you SO very much Glenda ... this makes us all smile :) We continue to be overwhelmed by the kindness of folk when they hear about our project ... so kind.

.... and from Norma Rose .... a lovely almost finished quilt top ... complete with toning backing fabric. This will quilt up beautifully ... my camera didn't do the fabric justice unfortunately, but I'll take another pic when it is all completed. The colours are just scrumptious!!!

And that just about completes this months writing .... BUT for our Quilters ... Ladies, we meet up again NEXT Saturday (the 16th of November) for an extra get together, as we need to put the Barn back to rights after the Fair, as well as finish off any end of year stitching before we close up for Christmas. So any who can pop in to help pack away and tidy, with a bit of stitching thrown in for good measure .... we look forward to seeing you then. It will be a BYO lunch (as this is an impromptu gathering) .... but feel free to double check with Gaynor in case I misheard :)

And our FINAL gathering for the year will be our Christmas Lunch on December 14th. Gaynor has enlisted a Spit Roast caterer, we will have a choice of 3 meats, baked potato in foil, an array of salads and choice of desserts ... all for $16 Per Head. Pay on the day (or beforehand to Gaynor if you like) ... but she will need numbers confirmed before the day. We even get out of having to do the dishes aftewards ... how good is THAT!!!!

Now our usual Links .... 

Our contact details are as follow:

Gaynor Peterson ... phone (03)9756 7950

email ... [email protected]

Susan Hamilton .....phone (03)9737 1825

email: [email protected]

Our postal address (for donations) is  P.O Box 398 Monbulk Victoria 3793

Check out the following Links:

www.com.org.au/ .... our very own Christian Outreach Ministry in Mount Evelyn.

And don't forget that you can support COM and the children in the COM Homes in India by making donations to them via details on their website. I believe they may also have a range of products which can be 'gifted' to the Homes on your behalf and which would make a wonderful 'reverse' Christmas gift later on this year. For your efforts COM will provide you with Thank You certification .... you can purchase mattresses for the children, school supplies, chickens which will enable the families to have a source of income from the eggs produced ... apparently you can even purchase a GOAT!! How incredible to be able to give a family on the other side of the world the independence that owning a milk producing goat would provide. Give it some thought and contact COM now to set in place plans for Christmas 2013, it will be here sooner than you can imagine !!!

Now on to the rest of our Links .....

http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit

http://mellyandme.typepad.com .... creative clothing etc for children

 http://mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com/  ...whose customer blessed us with awesome fabric

We also stitch for the following Childrens Homes ....

http://www.butterflych.org/.... for news about the Butterfly Palliative Care hospice in China

And their very own Blog ... which is beautifully written and contains inspirational stories on the children in their care. See the Link below:

http://butterflyhospice.blogspot.com.au/

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a59784e7a45314d6a673d0d0a&sb=1

www.freetobekids.org/- .... the rescue organisation that frees children from slavery and exploitation

www.hopefosterhome.com ... the babies we are creating crib quilts for in China ...

www.zoehopeproject.blogspot.com  .... giving hope to children in Zambia.

http://english.chinaconcern.org/  ... more children in China that we have stitched for ...

http://www.lolachildrensfund.org/ .... in Ethiopia

http://www.fikelela.org.za/orphan.asp .... the Fikelala AIDS Project in Capetown

http://mifanmama.com/Shining_Star_2.html the Home for vision impaired children in Shanghai

Our Link to Treasure Corner Opshop in Wray Crescent Mount Evelyn .... the brainchild of Helen Greenwood so many years ago, the start of the support for COM Homes in India is listed below. Well worth a visit for the many bargains available, proceeds from the sales go toward the Childrens Homes in India ... 26 so far have been built through funds raised by this shop, an amazing achievement indeed.

http://opshop.org/review/810

And finally ... our very own Website ... courtesy of the very gifted Fiona Peterson :)

 http://www.quiltsfororphans.org

Till next time I put fingers to keyboard and Blog ...

Blessings to all ...

Susan

PS: Before I sign off .... MUST thank profusely Magic 1278 for giving us publicity via their Community Calendar, Yarra Valley FM Radio for doing likewise ... and the extremely helpful Joy Carrick at the Mount Evelyn Community Website .... and any others who helped get news of our Quilt Fair 'out there' for us. Apologies if I have overlooked anyone ... feel free to cyberslap me .... but be warned I have a head start and good running shoes ;)