Well hello again ... and I am pleased to share with you once more news from our little quilting group.
We gathered again at The Shed .. our temporary home which has been such a blessing to us ... on Saturday the 8th of September. Ready and 'champing at the bit' for a day of busyness and shared companionship were Yvonne, Isobel. Win, Sandi, Christine, Jenny, Annette, Sinling, Alice, Sheryl. Deborah, Julie, Val, Joanne, Mel and myself. It was a surprisingly mild day after some of the chilly weather we had been having over recent weeks and an absolute pleasure to get to work with sun streaming through the Shed windows upon us as we machine and hand sewed our quilts..
Now before I get on with pics of the day I will firstly share an email message I received from our Joy who has such a heart for the babes in China that we have been stitching for ,, and who also are blessed by the handiwork of the Montrose Church of Christ knitters. She recently despatched some of our quilts and the knitted items we had been gifted by the Montrose ladies and here is her news as to their journey to China.
Hi Susan,
Yippee!!
I boxed the quilts this morning with the little knitted jackets and they
are now on their way to the precious babies in the Happiness Building.
Wow !! What a thrill the lady who opens the boxes will get.
The quilts are so colourful and I had the feeling of them all being made
with love, it seemed to come from the quilts, don't know if you understand
what I'm trying to explain but I know the quilts will bless every child who
receives one.
The ladies that participated in making them should be so proud for what
they've done and Yvonne for all the skilled stitching. Well
done......great achievement every one.
Hugs
Joy
ps. thought you may like to add the news above to your next blog
And .... a few days later ... another email from Joy. What a speedy delivery service I think you'll agree. And how excited will the recipients be when they open the parcel :)
Hi Susan,
I'm happy to report three large boxes of gorgeous cot quilts were delivered
to China on 29th Aug. that's really good as I sent them on 23rd, only six
days to get there.
Cheers
Joy
Isn't that just wonderful? And many blessings to our Joy for facilitating their despatch for us. She's an absolute gem :)
Now .. as our blessings go out into the world, we ourselves were utterly blessed by the generous hearts of the Montrose/Kilsyth CWA ladies who gifted us not one, but TWO beautiful sewing machines .. and not one ... but TWO overlockers for our continued stitching use. How amazingly kind are they? Mel and I travelled to their 'home' last Tuesday evening to take delivery of these machines and cannot thank them enough for their generosity. They had learnt about us from their member Cheryl ... whose son had been the recipient of one of our heavy quilts via the Different Journeys ASD Group a month or so back. So many thanks to Cheryl for thinking of us ... and thanks also to Jackie and the CWA ladies in Kilsyth/Montrose. Bless your beautiful hearts. Pictures are below from the night Mel and I collected the machines. I might add that we were only expecting one of each ... so to be blessed with four machines in total was totally unexpected and incredibly appreciated. Thanks again so very much ladies.
And now .... the machines are part of QFO at the Shed ... where they will be indeed well used and loved.
Jenny, Win and Sandi with our gifted Pfaff machine ... and it purrs like a kitten. An awesome machine.
Aren't they just stunning? These will be put to amazingly good use ladies and will create so many quilts for our recipients ... you are wonderful :)
We were also blessed during the last weeks with donations of fabric from Margaretta who did a little destashing in response to our 'heads up' for our upcoming Festival of Quilts and contacted us via our Facebook site. Many thanks Margaretta ... we look forward to incorporating your gifted fabric into quilt tops very soon.
We were also blessed with a wonderful quilt kit, complete with ALL the necessary fabric ... from Marilyn who until recently owned and operated the Patchwork Teahouse in beautiful Warburton. Thank you SO much Marilyn for this wonderful project ... we do look forward to creating it as a joint effort with our ladies.
Now, as our Sandi was in the picture above with our donated machines ... I note that she had been busy creating over the last few weeks and here are the results of her diligence ... she is so precise with her piecings and has a great eye for fabric matching.
Now our Joanne had also been extremely busy .. and more than a little clever with her creations too. Firstly she created this pretty quilt top ...
Then .... with the scraps left over .. she cunningly created another quilt top ... isn't it gorgeous?
Sweet eh?
Annette had been doing a little vintage 'curating' since we last gathered and brought these little bits of sewing ephemera along to show us. Do any of our readers remember these?
Aren't they just delightful?
Meanwhile .. Jenny showed us the results of the Star blocks we had all pieced as a group effort a month or two back .. most satisfying to see how well they all came together :)
And two more rather eyecatching quilt tops ... the black sashing really makes this one 'pop'.
Then Annette took the floor and filled us in on a recent trip she and Isobel made on behalf of QFO to the local Beacon Hills Primary School. The children in years 2 - 4 had created nine quilts .. two of which they are gifting to Quilts of Valour and the remaining seven they will be gifting to QFO ... how wonderful :) They are currently holding an exhibition at their school until September 21st and we will collect the quilts they are blessing us with after that. How wonderful is that? I will hopefully soon be able to upload pictures taken during that visit to share with you, if not in this Blogpost .. in a special update very soon :).
After we had stitched for a little while longer we had a break for 'tasty comestibles' which included some freshly baked Brownies from our Joanne .. and delicious they both looked and smelt too ..
And then .... back to work ... creating :)
And that wraps up Saturdays gathering ... but not before we discussed our upcoming Festival of Quilts ... the planning of which is going full steam ahead for the event at beautiful Mont De Lancey in Wandin in November. I suggest those wishing to take advantage of the special Mystery Workshop (light lunch included in the cost) being run by the talented duo of Jennifer Knol and Janna Taylor make your bookings quickly as spaces are limited and catering numbers will have to be locked in. Booking details on the flyer and our website. Promises to be a great event. And not forgetting the Trunk Show hosted by Janet O'Dell which includes a delicious Devonshire Tea at Monty's Tea Room. Organise a group of friends ... it will be a marvellous way to enjoy our Festival amid the ambiance of this iconic venue.
So there you have it ... and now I must hit the 'publish' button and release this Blogpost into cyberspace for your reading enjoyment ... till next time :)
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
Comments