Well Hello and welcome back .... we are all incredibly refreshed and motivated after our summer break and we gathered at the Barn on Saturday February 14th to begin another year of providing comfort through our quilts to as many in need of them as we can in the months ahead.
We welcomed some new stitchers to our ranks on Saturday and they fitted in beautifully with our regulars. Present were new members Jenny, Alison and Glenis, who joined our regulars Val, Pauline, Deborah, Win, Christine, Julie, Yvonne, Carol, Maxine, Joy, Jan, Alice, Jenny, Tracy, Emily, Annette (and her friend Kaye) .... as well as Gaynor and myself. Quite the full house ... but, like the loaves and fishes, we always seem to be able to accommodate all who arrive, and Saturday was no exception :)
We were blessed in the period since I last blogged .... with many gifted donations of fabric and quilt tops from our supporters and it gives me an immense amount of pleasure to be able to acknowledge their kindness and creativity here ...
Firstly ... from Alices friend Maria .... some amazing 'Cathedral Windows' (I think they are called) ...
As well as a 'work in progress' which we will have fun in finishing off .... so many possibilities here!!
...... and more completed squares .... and fabric to work with. Many thanks Maria ... :)
Now .... from a new contributor ... Julia Oswald .... who had done amazing quilt tops, and is modest :)
Isn't Julias use of colour just incredible .... these are just brilliant!!
Also gifted to us, from Julias friend Bernice, was this completed quilt ... a real stunner!!
Next, from Sandra Brazier in Nhulunbuy ..... we have three beautiful tops complete with backing :) Thank you so much Sandra for making our quilting so much easier .... backings are always welcome :)
And from Julia Ozolins in Yarragon .... another regular contributor ....
Just beautiful Julia ...... love your choice of fabrics :)
Next .... from Linda Johnson, we received a lovely parcel of retro themed fabrics, some pieced blocks some wool, and MORE fabric. thank you SO much Linda :)
Isn't this fabric scrumptious?
Again, many thanks Linda ..... we really appreciate your generous heart,
Next .... from our mother/daughter team in North Ryde .... Sylvia and Edith .... two beautiful completed quilts ....
Thank you both Sylvia and Edith .... your quilts are an absolute joy to behold :)
And from the Grain Shed Church in Swan Hill ..... more quilt tops ... thank you so very much Leanne and team ... so lovely to receive your parcel :)
Two sets of three matching cot size quilt tops .... these will go to China and will bless the New Hope Foundation there I think ....
And a lovely large quilt top with some lovely print fabric piecings .... please convey our appreciation to your Craft group Leanne :)
Two of our newest Members .... Glenys (seated) and Jenny (wielding the iron) ... they were soon feeling quite at home :)
Alison, Val, Yvonne, Julie and Glenys ... all busy in the stitching corner :)
Alison and Val ....
Jenny ...... as you can see we had quite a full house on Saturday :)
Alice, Carol and Emily ....
Win and Tracy .....
And now more 'quiltpics' .... our own Show and Tell section, where we share what our members created for us during our Christmas 'break'. Firstly from our Jan ... tops destined for the Haifa Homes in Israel when quilted.
Next .... from our Win .... this lovely fresh blue with green accent ..... who said 'blue and green should not be seen?' I think the two colours can work brilliantly together :) Here's the proof!!
From Pauline .... a quilt made and gifted to us from her friend Christine ... many thanks :)
From Gaynor ... a pair of complementary quilt tops ....
..... and a Scottie dog :)
And finally from our Joy ......
Lovely quilt tops Joy ..... and we now are working on another charity ..... this time in Lesotho, which we are now sending our fabric 'hugs' to. These tops you created may well end up on the other side of the globe!! Details follow next .....
https://jewelsofhope.wordpress.com/partners/
We look forward to sharing pictures of the children in Lesotho with our quilts when we can :)
Now all the 'Show and Tell' helped this scribe work up an appetite ..... so we all agreed to break for lunch. Given that it is summer the Theme was salads and we had a lovely spread arranged for our mid-session break. Julie got into the swing of things by reminding us that it was Valentines day :)
Scrumdiddlyumptious :)
And before it all vanished .... there was 'dessert' :)
A refreshing cuppa for Maxine and Carol ..... before everyone resumed stitching :)
Our three 'Newbies' .... Jenny, Alison and Glenys :)
Joy and Christine ..... doing something 'creative' with a couple of quilt tops by the look of things :)
Deborah ..... stitching up a storm :)
One more announcement .... we will be having a table at the upcoming Monbulk Quilt Fair on March 14th at the Monbulk Living and learning Centre on the corner of Main Street and Moores Road Monbulk between 9.30 and 3 pm. Look forward to seeing you there. Should be fun!! We have been involved in previous years and it has proven to be a great way to get our quilt Ministry 'out there' so that folk are aware of just how much we have been privileged to be able to do. We also will have some quilts for sale there as part of our fundraising for supplies :)
Now another 'ad' .... this time for a great display of creative works at the nearby Mont De lancey Historic Home in Wandin. This exhibition runs for a month and should be quite interesting. Great way to spend a few hours methinks :)
And that .... readers .... just about winds up this months Blogpost. Our first for the year and as they say 'plenty more where THAT came from :) It just remains for me to let you know when our next gathering will be ... which is March 14th, the lunch 'Theme' will be Barbeque ... BYO meat and desserts. I realise that thyis is the same day as the aforementioned Monbulk Quilt Fair .... but gaynor assures me that we will be able to multitask so that we have a presence at both places at the same time. We quilters are awesome at multitasking :)
And finally to post 'Links' to all our supporters as well as those we have been blessed to be connected with through our Quilts for Orphans project. Till next Post ...
Blessings,
Susan
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:
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
http://www.austchamshanghai.com/about-us/csr/mifan-mama.aspx
And also our latest Project .... for the Holocaust Survivors in Israel.
http://au.icej.org/
Our Projects for 2015:
http://www.thebabesproject.com.au/
http://elishacare.blogspot.com.au/
http://rangescc.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/elisha-care/
https://jewelsofhope.wordpress.com/partners/
Comments