Hello and welcome to our followers. This month we come to you from a different place. Since leaving our Barn home late last year when Gaynor and Reg relocated ... we have effectively become 'orphans' ourselves for a while. But not to worry ... nothing will stop us from creating our fabric 'hugs'. We will proceed regardless ;)
This months gathering was held in a generously gifted school staffroom for the day and I might say we had one of the very busiest and most productive of times possible. We even attracted four new QFO Members which boosted our attendance to 25 happy stitchers. How awesome!!
We enjoyed the company of our regulars Joy, Isobel, Maxine, Noelle, Yvonne, Julie, Sheryl, Christine, Pauline, Sandi, Win, Val, Carol, Val, Sinling, Alison, Deborah, Alice, Jo, our CEO Annette, myself ... and welcomed new friends Cobie and daughter Julie, as well as Stephanie and Libby. What a marvellous showing for our first sewing day for the year .... incredible :)
Now, before I give you a rundown of the day ... I will give warmest thanks for the donations that we received since last I blogged. Firstly, from the generous heart of Vanessa Coulthard ... a huge bag of cotton batting pieces which will come in INCREDIBLY handy for our fundraising items (bowl cosies, wall hangings, table runners etc) Thank you so very much Vanessa ... the ladies were most impressed and your gifting to us will well and truly be put to good use.
Now we have also received a large amount of fabric from local designer 'Melly and Me' and Joy has been busy putting some of it together as quilt tops.And such lovely fabric it is too ... I look forward to sharing more of the items we will be creating from this generous blessing in the months ahead. Here are three created tops .. with more to follow.
We also had fabric gifted to us from Christines friend Loretta ... this will make up into vibrant quilt backings I'm thinking ....
And from Christines friend Jenny ... some wonderful quilt blocks which will soon be made into quilts ... stunning fabric too :) Sixteen of these blocks.
And a further sixteen of these Log Cabin blocks ... also from Christines friend Jenny ...
We were also gifted, from the generous heart of our newest member Cobie .. two wonderful boxes of stitched goodies and quilt projects for our use. Just incredible Cobie and thank you (and daughter Julie) so very much for your kindness.
How very gorgeous eh?
Aren't these just delightful ... and SO much work put into them. Bless you Cobie ... and the quilt blocks below, all in individual packets and labelled .. we really look forward to seeing it all put together by our ladies during the year. It's incredibly beautiful :)
Later in the day we were visited by Nellie Sutherland and Lynne Spencer from charity quilting group 'Made with Love' quilts .... who gifted us an amazing number of completed quilts and quilt tops, as well as more of Nellies beautifully handmade cards .. for our fundraising during the year. Many thanks ladies ... you are an absolute blessing to us and it was wonderful hearing about how many quilts your own group has gifted to those in need over the years. Aren't quilters an awesome special breed?
And, as a small aside, as our donations come in .. so do they go out .. and I am happy to say that we were asked if we could provide some fabrics suitable for craft within the Prison Ministry Network. I had been contacted last week by another lady with a generous gifting to QFO of a largish amount of woollen fabric in plain colours, very sturdy stuff. And after consultation with the CEO of Prison Ministry, Diane Spicer and her Craft coordinator Lyn Stephens ... I am able to 'pay it forward' with this donation for their craft project for the ladies that they work with in the system :) So, many thanks to the lady who contacted me with this fabric .. it will soon be made into craft items :)
Now ... back to the start of Saturdays gathering .. and Annette took the floor to welcome our new stitchers and to fill us in on the projects that will be worked on in the immediate future ...
We will be creating bean bags for an Indonesian outreach program and soon the back room was abuzz with the hum of sewing machines as our team got to work.
Deborah explaining the piecing of the beanbags ... all seams double stitched for extra durability using heavy duty machine needles. Quite a job indeed.
Whilst Yvonne explains the 'fine tuning' required with the stitching in order for her to successfully fit the bases of the bags.
A little while later Deborah 'took the floor' to fill us in on our next fundraising venue .. which will take place on March 3rd at the Monbulk Living and Learning Centre in Moores Road Monbulk. This is the place for the Annual Monbulk Quilt Fair, hosted by Mrs Martins Quilt Shop and we have participated here annually for several years now. We will have a table with stitched items and some quilts for sale too ... further details when I get the official flyer :)
And, the very next day, on March 4th there will be an Event at beautiful and historic Mont De Lancey .. when they celebrate their 25th Birthday as an acclaimed tourist venue .. QFO won't have a stall there, but invite those looking for a great day out to pack a rug and a picnic lunch as there will be plenty to see and do there.
We also have details to follow on an Event also there in June when there will be a dedicated happening titled 'We've got you covered' ... I will give you more details as they come to hand. Annette (above) gave us some of the details on the June event and I look forward to telling you all when I have it to hand. In the interim .... here is a snippet from the Mont De Lancey Newsletter :)
https://www.montdelancey.org.au/
A short break for refreshments ... our Saturday quilting days are now 'BYO lunch' days, but the generous heart of our quilters still shines through with shared biscuits and munchies miraculously appearing on the bench top .. :)
And soon stitching resumed. Plenty of quilts to have the bindings finished off by hand .. and more than enough willing hands to do so :)
Christine and Pauline in discussion ... with new member Libby busily stitching on the right.
Absolute hive of activity ...
With some familiar faces .. Carol, Maxine and Alice hand sewing.. and new member Julie busy at her sewing machine :)
And that, I think, just about wraps it up for this first of our monthly gatherings. I look forward to 'filling in the blanks' on our upcoming Events for you as I get them and will reblog at the earliest opportunity with that information. Many thanks to all our followers and supporters for your encouragement and giftings of fabrics to us. It is incredibly appreciated and enables us to create more much needed quilts for those in need both local and global.
We meet again to stitch on March 10th .. quite possibly at the same venue as this Saturday just passed .... and I will be letting our stitchers know via email if there is any change to this. And many thanks to the school for kindly allowing us the use of their space for our stitching .... it was a lovely and cosy spot to gather and worked extremely well in accommodating our group ... :)
Till next Blog, blessings to all,
Susan
And ... our usual Links follow for your information. Don't forget to check us out on the Web ... it boosts our visibility and 'ranking' and also visit our Facebook Page if you are a social media addict (like yours truly)
Co-ordinator: Annette Stone .... phone (03) 9737 9511
email: [email protected]
Blogger: Susan Hamilton .....phone (03)9737 1825
email: [email protected]
Our postal address (for donations) is P.O Box 398 Monbulk Victoria 3793
And .... we are www.quiltsforphans.org
On 'social media' aka Facebook find us at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsForOrphans/
Check out the following Links:
http://www.facebook.com/Chelseaonesock .... for delightful retro fabric childrens clothing
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
www.jewelsofhope.org ... the project we stitch for in Lesotho Southern Africa
http://www.thebabesproject.com.au/
http://elishacare.blogspot.com.au/
http://rangescc.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/elisha-care/
The Matombo Village Project vimeo.com/217129149
www.ujamaachildren.com
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