Quilts For Orphans

Spring was in the air .... as we gathered at the Hall on September 14th 2024.

We had a lovely ... almost full ... Hall on Saturday the 14th as we settled in to create another of our 'Fabric Hugs for the Yarra Ranges' Project that Libby and Annette co-ordinated. The 'theme' this month being 'Bloomin' Wonderful'.

The quilts being created will be displayed at Mont De Lancey in November .. and then will be gifted to organisations in the Shire of Yarra Ranges ...  who will distribute them to those in need. 

Present to help us in our stitching efforts on Saturday were: Carmen, Sheryl, Sandi, Cheryl, Margaret, Libby, Christine, Yvonne, Annette, Deborah, Gabby, Joy, Ann, Pauline, Elaine and yours truly.

We also welcomed our AGM Guest Speaker Marion Stott from the Mooroolbark History Group who arrived with her husband Lloyd. 

Annette brought along some beautiful potted tulips as part of the 'theme' for the month .... and they got a thorough drenching on our outside ramp during the day as the skies gave us a jolly good deluge mid afternoon. Thankfully our roof held up against the onslaught ;)

The workspace started filling fast.

A hive of activity indeed.

Ann ... one  of our newest Members ... trimming blocks for the latest quilt.

Libby getting the laptop set up for the Zoom component of the AGM.

Stitching is hungry work, and we had a splendid array of shared 'tasty comestibles' to fuel our attendees at morning tea :)

Yvonne, Carmen, Elaine and Margaret refuelling :)

All intently listening as the AGM commences ... 

Zoom seemed to be working just nicely :)

With feedback from the organisations we have been able to 'bless' during the year with our quilts.

AGM in 'full swing' ... with the election process seeing Libby as our new President (and Secretary) whilst Annette did a nifty segue into the role of Vice President. So it is safe to say that QFO continues to be in good hands during the year ahead'.

Next we heard from our Guest Speaker Marion Stott ... who has an extensive background in volunteering within the community .... covering organisations such as the CWA (started by her ancestor) and how it influenced her life of service to others with Nursing Mothers Association, Montessori, Gymbaroo etc. She is also the recent recipient of an OAM which she kindly brought along to show us. We also heard of her family history and her interest in ancestry/genealogy. 

Lloyd Stott, Marion Stott with Annette and Libby.

Marions OAM :) Which, for her, was a highlight during our period of Lockdowns. 

Marion then read a couple of excerpts from a publication relating to the Mooroolbark War Memorials .. with reference to those who volunteered and gave their all in past conflicts. All most interesting.

Marion was then treated to a tour of the Hall ... with special attention being paid to our Gammill quilting machine.

Gabby demonstrating an 'oopsy' piecing faux pas :) Easily enough fixed ... right?

Sheryl, Libby and Gabby with three of the completed quilts for the SYR project ... and aren't they just so colourful? And a group effort by all the QFO stitchers. Can't wait to see what else we create for this gifting.

Some of the sweet smaller cot quilts we have been gifted by off-site stitchers for our 'Lifes Little Treasures' outreach. The '100' is a nod to the milestone 100 days these very premature babies have reached since their early birthing. 

A rather stunning tote bag created by our Sandi .. using some really neat sewing themed fabric ... for part of our upcoming fundraising efforts.

Sandi is also a dab hand at beautifully pieced table runners .... I think for a lot of our followers Christmas gifts should be well sorted by years end ... right? See you at our upcoming 'Events'.

A progress shot of our themed quilt top blocks so far ... looking good.

A rare moment in time. Yours truly wielding an iron. Screenshot it if you must for 'posterity'. its not likely to happen again.

How good is this idea folks? Forget the twiddly little plastic water containers that come with your iron. Dig out an unused teapot and use it for your iron refills. Simple and most effective. I believe this was an idea of Annettes ... neat eh?

A mid afternoon 'visitor' cruised by the Hall ... think he was waiting to be invited in to do some 'pinning' for us on our quilts.

And soon it was time to start packing up .... 

Placement yet to be fine-tuned ... but you get the idea.

Now before I finalise this months Blog ... I'll add some pics I received from Libby during the week ... of giftings and talks that she and Annette have attended in recent weeks.

Donna from Cottage by the Sea ... collecting some quilts, crochet/knitted blankets and Beanies. And another gifting for Lifes Little Treasures.

Libby and Annette recently visited Kirkbrae Community Group to share our QFO story. And as part of their talk Annette shared stories of that quintessential early Australian 'quilt' ... the Wagga.. Some of the ladies in the group could remember a family member creating a Wagga many years ago and they had some fascinating stories to tell also.

https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/nwm/collection/waggaproject/documents/item/8d997d870d9447b.aspx 

And now a big Thank You to some of our 'in house' .. and offsite .. quilters who have generously stitched and gifted for us .... BIG thanks to Trudi, The Lorne Quilters, Margaret, Sandi, Elaine, Christine, Lauretta and Susan for the wonderful items they have made for us.

A warm thank you to each and every stitcher who spent time and energy creating for us ... your selflessness is truly appreciated. You are all just wonderful and help keep the wheels of gifting our fabric 'hugs' turning throughout the year. Bless you all.

And on that note I will wind this up and get it out into cyberspace for your reading enjoyment. And get myself back into the sewing room here to churn out a few 'bits'n'bobs' myself for the cause ;)

Till next Blogpost ..

Many blessings,

Susan

Contact us via our Website : www.quiltsfororphans.org 

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.quiltsfororphans.org 

On 'social media'  aka Facebook find us at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsForOrphans/

Check out the following Links:

http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit

https://lifeslittletreasures.org.au

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

http://heavenlytrimmings.com

http://www.changetheone.org which provides ongoing relief, care and assistance to people and communities in remote areas of Vietnam and Papua New Guinea.

And before we knew it ... August was here .... and we were 'going bananas' at the Hall.

Well here we are again Folks ... and isn't the year just whizzing by?

We gathered at the Hall on Saturday August 10th for a day of stitching with a 'theme'. We were creating a QAYG quilt which will be part of a 'gifting' of 50 quilts from QFO to organisations in the Shire of Yarra Ranges. These will be given in turn to folk in need. As a 'back story' .. if you've seen our QFO Newsletter ... we  were recently blessed to be in receipt of a Grant from the Shire ... which was applied for by QFO/Libby and which will help meet some of the costs we incur as part of our Mission to provide fabric 'hugs' for those requiring comfort. So a very grateful Thank You to the SYR for their generosity. These quilts will be on display at Mont De Lancey in November ... before being gifted to the various organisations for delivery to those in need.

Thus with this project in mind ...  on Saturday we met with a 'theme' of 'Gone Bananas' .. and which saw us having a Makers Marathon creating a quilt with a cheery yellow colour theme. Helping us to create this quilt we welcomed our stitchers Annette, Sandi, Libby, Christine, Margaret, Sheryl, Yvonne, Cheryl, Lauretta, Kathy and Elaine.

As you can see ... Annette created an appropriate 'welcome' at the door for those attending ;)

Part of the colour palette of fabric strips we were using.

Lauretta busily stitching away ...

Christine and Margaret equally well occupied ... I think that Christine was busily finishing off last months QAYG project.

Sheryl also hard at work ... :) And in the background at the right .. you can start to see the QAYG in progress.

Annette at the ironing 'station' ... keeping us well supplied with fabric strips.

Yvonne having a breather ... it was approaching lunchtime I believe and she'd earnt some downtime :)

And ditto for Sandi ...

We were also able to share some recent donations ... this one came to us from the FernTree Gully Volunteer Quilters.who passed them onto us via Karen Martin at Mrs Martins Quilts. Thank you so very much for your kindness.

Not too sure of the 'history' of this one .. but the applique is magnificent I think you'll agree.

We also received some lovely stitched blessings from our own Members Elaine, Marg, Sandi and Christine. These items will be part of our fundraising sales when we have our upcoming presence at 'Fairs Fair' at the Truth and Liberation Church in Bayswater on October 19th  ... and we will also be at Mont De Lancey between November 2nd and 10th.

Isn't this fabric so much fun?

Another block begins :)

Taking shape almost as we watch it ..

And 'some I prepared earlier' ... for the Tuesday stitchers :) You're very welcome :)

A veritable hive of activity ..

Giftings getting ready to be despatched ... Its beyond wonderful to be able to report that we have recently gifted:

10 lap quilts to Palliative Care

90 cot quilts to the Queen Elizabeth Centre

26 lap quilts to Kirkbrae Aged Care

18 quilts to Cottage by the Sea

3 single and 12 Cot quilts to the Philippines 'Change the One'

The gifting we sent to Kirkbrae this week with Cheryl. Thanks muchly for doing delivery duty Cheryl :)

And our shelves are looking beautifully almost 'bare' ... a goodly sign that we have blessed more and more organisations with our fabric hugs :)

So good to know that as blessings have been received ... they have also been despatched. Oh what a feeling eh?

And ... Saturdays project has almost magically come together. Doesn't it look SO cheerful?

Libby and Annette tell me that quilts have recently been gifted to Palliative care and Oz Comfort Quilts. We are also making more pillowcases for Heavenly Trimmings .... an organisation established in 2015 which benefits children living with chronic illness. See their website at https://heavenlytrimmings.com 

Libby and Annette will be speaking soon at the Berwick Church of Christ Seniors Group .... letting them know all about QFO and what we have been doing since we began waaaay back in 2007. They will also soon be part of a Lilydale Rotary and the Order of Australia Association Outer Eastern Region broadcast which will be airing on Youtube in the not too distant future, speaking about our organisation and what we do. A queue for their autographs as media superstars can form behind me *wink*

And I think, dear Reader, that just about wraps up the Blog for August ... think I covered pretty much everything I was tasked with. And if I haven't ... well I can always add another Blogpost ... right? 

Till then,

Many blessings

Susan

Contact us via our Website : www.quiltsfororphans.org 

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.quiltsfororphans.org 

On 'social media'  aka Facebook find us at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsForOrphans/

Check out the following Links:

http://kayleenwest.com.au .... for Art with a positive spirit

https://lifeslittletreasures.org.au

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

http://heavenlytrimmings.com

http://www.changetheone.org which provides ongoing relief, care and assistance to people and communities in remote areas of Vietnam and Papua New Guinea.