Quilts For Orphans

Special Post from our CEO .... for those who follow our QFO 'journey' ...

Just a short and sweet Blogpost to share from our CEO the very latest in the Quilts for
Orphans story. So without further ado here are the words from Annette Stone.

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At our March Gathering Day, Quilts for Orphans held a 'General Meeting'. This
followed our recent incorporation as a 'not for profit association'. Incorporation
provides some legal protection and accountability. But we'll still operate as we
always have - a group making 'fabric hugs' for those in need!

Our AGM will be held at the September Gathering Day. The 'Committee' will have four
general members in addition to the executive (President, Vice President, Secretary,
Treasurer) and that the 'interim Committee' will operate until the AGM.
 We continue to welcome everyone to our group. No Membership or Joining fees will be
charged. Membership applications are available from 

secretary@quiltsfororphans.org<mailto:secretary@quiltsfororphans.org


There is no pressure to become a Member - we welcome everyone, members and
supporters, who want to help in our endeavour to help those whose lives are
brightened by our quilts.

Annette Stone
Quilts for Orphans.

March 27th 2019

And ... in between our sewing days ... we still connect and receive :)

Quick short but very sweet Blogpost ... following our Deborahs most recent 'outreach' on behalf of QFO at the Kallista Market. She was gifted a rather nice amount of 'destashed' fabric from Joan Reid ... thank you so very much Joan. Your kindness is much appreciated and the fabric is just wonderful.

I look forward to seeing this lovely stash incorporated into quilts for those in need .. watch this space to see your gifting to us being repurposed into quilt tops by our willing stitchers at The Shed in the very near future.

Till next Blogpost,

Blessings

Susan 

 

The March Blog ..... Part Two ... our sewing day at The Shed :)

Aaaaand ... here we are again ... with news from our stitching day on March 9th at The Shed.

Present on the day we had Sheryl, Yvonne, Jenny, Julianne, Annette, Val, Pauline, Carol, Maxine,Mel, Alice, new members Rose and Denise, Sandi, Julie, Libby, Christine, Stephanie, Joanne, yours truly .. and another new member (but very experienced quilter) Doreen. So we had a beautifully full and extremely busy Shed. And lots to Show and Tell before we got down to stitching up a storm :)

Firstly a lovely completed quilt gifted to us by Elaine who attends Evelyn Village Craft.

Lovely work Elaine and this will most surely bless a child at one of the organisations we will be partnering with in 2019. We have some new contacts which I will share with you all later on in this Blogpost ... places across the globe to gift our work to.

Next, from Heather Lownds we have two delightful cot quilt tops ... with extra fabric too :)

Ooops .. am mortified that I didn't get someone to hold them up for the photo, so very sorry Heather. Will try and rectify after they have been quilted .. we had SUCH a busy day on Saturday. I needed a cup of tea, a Bex and a jolly good lie down by the time we finished.

From Emma Covey we received an extremely generous donation of fabrics which we look forward into cutting and piecing into our quilts ... thank you so very much Emma. Your kindness will help us create fabric hugs for children far and wide.

We were totally blown away to have this 'UFO' donated to us very recently from the folk at the Seville 'Fiddle Rug' Group ... Sheryl had a lot of fun attaching the few pieces that made up the whole and we look forward to seeing it completed before long. Utterly knocks my socks off to think that so much work can go into a piece and then be gifted away to us. So very generous :)

Sheryl also completed the 'I Spy' quilt top recently gifted to us .. she's been a busy lady ;)

From the Hill Stitchers @ Emerald Hills a wonderful donation of tops, blocks, fabric destashings and strips. More than enough to keep our hands incredibly well occupied in the weeks ahead. Thank you so very, very much :)

From Janet Hill we have this delightful knitted owl ... which will be gifted away with a quilt .. and four lovely themed quilt tops. Beautiful fabric and I can't wait to see them quilted. Thank you so very much Janet .. as always, we are most touched by the generous hearts of those who support our ministry with their handiwork.

From the Montrose CFA Quilt Show a lovely gifting to us from Sydney Hammond, pictured below..

Sydney Hammond donated her aunts quilts to QFO’s at the end of the day

And, gifted to us by a fellow stitcher we met at the recent Monbulk Quilt Show .. some absolutely delightful quilt tops and a table topper .. pictured below .. how incredibly kind. Thank you so very much :)

Those who attended the Makers Marathon at Mont De Lancey last year .. as part of our Festival of Quilts .. will be pleased to see how the handiwork of the Marathon ended up. As shown here below by Christine and Sheryl. Stunning isn't it? 

Now a peek preview of a piece that will be completed and on display at the Wandin CWA Quilt Display 'Ein Plein Air' in April. Details of this Event are further down the page.

In accordance with the French 'theme' of the day Sandi pieced together this rather delightful quilt top using fabric recently gifted to us in a major destash from my friend Janet. Gorgeous retro style and will look magnificent when completed. Well done Sandi :)

Next Annette took to the floor and filled us in on planned 2019 QFO quilt giftings and the connections which we will be pursuing in the year ahead. 

So far we will be looking at once more getting quilts to India via Keith and Helen Greenwood whose work in that country through COM was the catalyst for the very creation of QFO nearly a decade ago.

Another contact has been made .. also in India .. with Ambassadors for the  Leprosy Mission in that country, Joe and Maria Bast. We look forward to being able to fulfill the needs in these areas through the good graces of these wonderful people. Follow their story at https://www.leprosymission.org.au

We are also looking at gifting some of our smaller quilts to local Aged Care Facilities for use as knee rugs for their elderly residents. It's great to be able to combine both the local AND the global when it comes to sharing out our fabric 'hugs'. 

And a further renewal of 'partnership' will be taking place when we respond to a request made toward the end of last year from the wonderful folk at the Prison Network Ministry. You may recall we created for them a year or so back and the work that they do is absolutely heartwarming. Their 'mission statement' refers to the work that they do as .... 'Supporting Women, Inspiring Change, Restoring Lives' .. and they do it brilliantly. 

We have also had a request from South Africa for our quilts (details yet to be confirmed).. so it will be an absolute privilege to be able to share with you during the year on the results of well and truly meeting each and every one of these mentioned needs for our fabric 'hugs'. So very exciting :)

And ... a tad belatedly .. but I totally lost sight of the fact that with the original report on the quilts we handed over at Billanook last year, the framed picture of the students from the previous trip to the Thai/Burma border wasn't too clear.

So I made a point of properly snapping the lovely framed picture that they gave us back then. Better? This shows the students on the trip that they take annually .. with the quilts we gifted them for distribution .. and the children who will sleep under them now :)

Now for a few 'happy snaps' of the ladies at work at The Shed on Saturday ..

Libby, Rose, Denise, Julie, Alice, Julianne, Carol and Maxine .. all busily stitching bindings on our quilts. Our hand stitching corner is always a hub of activity and conviviality :)

Yvonne ... our hardworking custom quilter ...

                                                            .... and Pauline one of our founding members

When she's not the Queen of colour matching and piecing .. Sandi wields a mean iron ;)

Jenny ... training the next generation of quilters ;)

And ... the next thing you know .. they're flying 'solo'. They grow up so quick ;)

Val .. busily machine attaching binding to one of our quilts .. after which it goes to the hand stitching corner for finishing off.

A recent quilt top 'discovery' .. needing a slight trim at the cutting table and some borders methinks ..

Sheryl, Sandi & Libby. Our day is almost over & it looks like Sandi is making her getaway ;)

Your turn will come Sheryl ... be patient ;)

Rose and Libby at the cutting table ... their day is not yet over :)

I asked Denise, one of our newest members to 'work the camera baby' .. and this was the result. See .. we have fun here at QFO in the Shed .. serious fun ;)

And whilst I'm more often behind the lens .. this time I teamed up with Sheryl and Libby at the cutting table below :)

We also welcomed to QFO this month Doreen .. a teacher and quilter with several decades of quilting behind her and thus a wealth of experience to share with us. Here are several pictures taken on Saturday ... with Doreen sharing just a few of the many quilts she has stitched. We look forward to her valued input as we continue making our fabric hugs.

Doreen, Joanne and Annette ... and below Doreen shows the many quilts that she has completed over the years .... an impressive gallery indeed.

Brilliant piecing and a magnificent 'body of work' Doreen. Looking forward immensely to your input to QFO.

                   ......................                   STOP PRESS               ...............................

Wanallock and Wandin CWA are hosting a Quilts for Orphans Exhibition. With Quilt sales.

Where: 48 Hunter Rd, Wandin North

When: April 27th ... 9.30 am till 4 pm Refreshments: Devonshire teas & scones

Enquiries: Annette Stone Mob: 0407 648 618

Quilts for Orphans started when one woman, following a battle with cancer, sought to reach out to those in need. Now, quilts are sent worldwide.

Exhibition sales are a means of raising money to purchase batting and supplies to make quilts for those in need, here and abroad.

Quilts for Orphans now includes many ladies who gather to enjoy the camaraderie & friendship of sewing fabric hugs for this cause.

Quilts will be displayed en plein air (outside) ...with Devonshire teas to be enjoyed.

Celebrate Autumn, bring your family & friends, enjoy the company of quilters & country women.

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And folks ... that just about winds up this edition of the QFO Blog .. absolute pleasure to be able to share with you our plans for our quilt giftings during the coming year, and I look forward to seeing and sharing pictures of our quilts wrapped around those at the receiving end :) 

So, till next Blogpost, a warm Thank You to those offsite stitchers who have blessed us with their donated tops for our ministry and their destashings also. Without your generosity we would not be able hand out our fabric 'hugs' to those in need both local and global. And Thank You to those who come out each month to the Shed to share in our journey and our friendship.

Many blessings all,

Susan

CEO Co-ordinator: Annette Stone  .... phone 0407 648 618 

email: silauran@netspace.net.au

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

email: shamilton@aanet.com.au

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. Chelsea has blessed us with her destashing of fabric.

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 have also stitched 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

Time Marches on ... and so does our Blog ... Parts 1 of 2 ... we've been busy.

Well here we go again .. all the news that is fit to Blog ... and we have been busy, busy, busy. 
First part of this months blogging will focus on the trip that some of our members made to
beautiful Ivanhoe recently. Invited by the Ryder Cheshire Victorian Homes Foundation to
participate in their 'Quilts in the Garden' fundraiser, we were more than happy to take this
opportunity to support them as well as share with their visitors a little of what QFO is all
about. Ryder Cheshire has 94 beds at their facility in Ivanhoe .. which caters for those who
come to Australia for medical treatment. They also support a facility in Timor-Leste.

Annette soon secured a spot in the shade ... it was an extremely hot day but as you can see
she was more than well protected from the blistering heat.
   
           
Here we have Annette our QFO CEO with Carole McLennan from Maggie Robertson Design.
 
And with our very own QFO stitcher Alice Peet who has been sewing with us since we began.
Behind them are the QFO quilts which we brought to display. We were happy to be able to
bless the Ryder Cheshire Foundation with seven of our QFO quilts for their fundraising and
distribution to their facility in Timor.
 
Peter from Ryder-Cheshire presents the winning quilt created by Carole ... stunning isnt it?
 
And here we have two of the visitors on the day .. resting with a background of quilts behind 
them. 
All in all a lovely days and another connection made between QFO and recipients of our work.

And that concludes Part 1 of the March Blog ... and on to Part 2 ... where I tell you all about
our quilting day at The Shed on Saturday March 9th.

Susan