Well here we are again ... edging closer to the years end ... and getting even closer to our inaugural FESTIVAL OF QUILTS ... which will take place in November at beautiful Mont De Lancey in Wandin.
But before I get to that .. I will share the news from our stitching day at The Shed on August 11th when a brave bunch of ladies braved the incredibly cold weather and gathered to sew. Present on the day were Val, Win, Jenny, Deborah, Isobel, Joanne, Pauline, Carol, Maxine, Julie, Alice, Joy, Emily and yours truly.
Thanks again to Kim and Joanne for their hospitality. Each month we note the steady progress on their renovations. Christine and Jenny have had a working day or two as well and quite a bit of tidying of our supplies which will facilitate an effective working space in our 'on loan' accommodation..
Kim has done a wonderful job of installing great lighting upgrades within his workspace which has made our stitching days just wonderful. Thank you so very much Kim ... we appreciate your efforts immensely.
The ladies arriving at The Shed ... ready for a day of piecing and assembling quilt tops :)
Jenny took the reins at this gathering, in lieu of our leader Annette who was unfortunately indisposed. She had plenty of notes to share with us .. snippets of which I share below via an email we had received from Annette during the week. This outlines just a few of the places that we are asked to bless with our fabric 'hugs'. So you can see just where we are able to direct our quilting efforts in response to requests.
Billanook College has requested quilts for their Anubaan Muang Papu Village project. You will recall that we have partnered with Billanook for several years now and each year a group of students from the college travel to the Mae Hong Son area as part of the 'service' component of their curriculum, taking our quilts with them for distribution.
Excerpts from a letter from Billanook College, Director of Learning, Matthew Wood
Anubaan Muang Papu Village is located on the outskirts of Mae Hong Son. The
villagers are from the “Red Karen” Hill Tribes and are refugees from Burma. There
are approximately 400-500 people living in the village, relying on farming and
agriculture to provide an income. The people are nearly all Buddhist with a small
number being Christian. Most of the villagers only had education available until
Grade 6, and have had to work from an early age and the average income is very low.
The school lacks many things for students and has just basic facilities such as the
classrooms, toilets and equipment for their education.
The project includes
- Building a new playground
- Building a new toilet block
- Building a sink for drinking, brushing teeth and cleaning
While further funds we have raised will contribute towards:
- New sports uniforms and equipment for the entire school
- New books for the Library and Reading Corner
- Cushions, Quilts and Sleeping Pads for each student
We (QFO) are pleased to be partnering with Billanook by contributing our handiwork to encourage and comfort this remote peoples group. We look forward to meeting Matthew and students for a handover of the cargo.
And .... in another part of the world we are going to be gifting quilts to China .... details below.
Joy is collating a collection of 50 cot size Quilts for China Homes, an orphanage in China .
30 completed 10 in progress and more in the planning. This is a special interest and
passion of Joy. Together with her, we eagerly put our hands to the task, to send a
message of love and hope to these vulnerable children.
Donation of sewing machine and overlocker :)
This message came through to us very recently and I'm overjoyed to share it with you. Please keep the wonderful CWA in your thoughts for the awesome part they play within our local community. And their kind and generous hearts for others.
Hello,
I represent Kilsyth/Montrose Country Women's Association and we have heard about
your organization through one of our members, Cheryl.
Cheryl was lucky enough to win one of your beautiful quilts at a 'Different Journeys' event. She was talking to a lady named Susan who told Cheryl about the wonderful work that your organization does.
Our branch has a Berlina sewing machine and a Babylock Eclipse overlocker which we no longer
use and we were wondering if they could be of any use to your organization as we would love to
donate them to a worthy cause.
Thanking you,
Jackie Cameron
Secretary,
Kilsyth/Montrose CWA
And so, as blessings go out .. we find that we are on the receiving end of a wonderful gifting from the local CWA ladies in Kilsyth/Montrose. How incredibly awesome and so very much appreciated. Thank you so very, very much ladies. We are overwhelmed by your kindness. These machines will be an absolute blessing to us in our work and we are thrilled to bits (and just a tad speechless)
Now for a bit of Show and Tell ... as well as the unwrapping of a parcel of quilt tops from one of our off-site supporters. Firstly, a pretty quilt top finished off by our Pauline.
Then a parcel of quilt tops and fabric from Sandra Brazier, who has been stitching offsite for us for some years now and we thank her so very much for this lovely parcel of goodies. Bless your heart Sandra.
How cute is this fabric eh?
Lovely work Sandra . these are just delightful ...
So many pretty colours and fabrics in this top .. just delightful :)
Now we also had finished off some piecing projects that Jenny organised for us earlier in the year. Regular readers might recall our 'Licorice Allsorts' piecing ... where we worked in both light colours and darker colours to create two rather wonderful collaborative efforts where everyone in our group contributed.
The 'lighter toned' option above ... and the darker fabrics used below. How jazzy do these look eh?
Emily, Win and Val ... busily stitching.
Win using the magnificent vintage Husqvarna that was recently gifted to us. It purrs like a kitten :)
The handsewing corner ... with Pauline, Alice Maxine and Carol.
Christine .. always smiling :)
Deborah ... preparing fabric for aprons. And also looking more than a tad happy ...
Joy and Pauline ...
Pattern designer Jenny ... slicing and dicing fabric.
Julie and Alice ... handstitching quilt bindings.
Win, taking a break from stitching .. to read Grace a story :)
Emma, Mum Joanne and Jenny ...
A restorative cuppa, most welcome on a chill winter day .. though the sun did peek through from time to time, just to tease us ;)
Jenny put on her 'teacher' hat and had a willing student in Joanne and Kims daughter Emma.
Emmas sister, Grace, wanted to get involved too. You are never too young to get involved with QFO :)
Kim and Joanne .. our wonderful hosts who have shared their workspace with us this year, bless them.
Both the sisters .. hard at work ...
Happily hand stitching bindings on quilts .... whilst others were assembling an earlier project by Jenny.
Our Jenny gave us all a tutorial on this pattern a month or two ago .. and we all were 'gifted' a block to cut out and assemble. This month all the pieces 'came together' .. and here is the result. What an amazing and satisfying team effort eh?
After Emma had mastered the art of cutting .. she moved on to overlocking .. this lass will go far :)
And that pretty much wraps up August .. except to remind you all again of our upcoming awesome QFO Event .. our 'Festival of Quilts' in November.
Flyers have been printed and are being distributed even as I type this. Social media is being alerted and so is our Website .... under the capable hand of our Mel who has taken on the website management with enthusiasm. Do wander over and check it out, spread the word among your friends .. and sort through your stash if you've a mind to get involved in this upcoming extravaganza.
Our Festival of Quilts is taking the place of our previous annual two day Quilt Fair each November which was our major fundraiser and publicity for our group .. and which enabled us to raise money for batting and supplies so that we could continue creating our quilts for distribution to those in need both local and global. When we moved from the Barn late in 2017 we obviously had to rethink our QFO fundraising plans 'going forward' as the saying goes. We hope and trust that this new event at beautiful Mont De Lancey in Wandin ... over a longer time frame will generate much interest in our little group. As you will see we are hosting a couple of workshops as well as a quilt top 'Challenge' and we trust that this will be the first of many such annual QFO Festival of Quilts to pop in your calendar each year. Looking forward to a great 8 days at this Festival and much fun meeting you all.
An
And that just about wraps up the Blog for this month .. hope that you enjoyed reading it and are keen to get involved further with us. I look forward to sharing more as it comes to hand and thank each and every one of you for your awesome support of QFO.
Many blessings,
Susan
Co-ordinator: Annette Stone .... phone 0407 648 618
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