Show and Tell

Quilt Ladder

My mother in law, Ann, and her partner, Neil, are visiting from the UK and Neil very kindly made me this beautiful quilt ladder.  As you can see, it holds a fair few quilts and is going to look spectacular in my bedroom...if I ever finish any quilts to go on it that is!  Neil also repaired my sewing table and is looking for his next job.  I suggested quilting but he didn't seem very keen.

Big Effort by One person

It is very remiss of me to have missed this person's name twice now at Show and Tell. As mentioned in a previous post our group makes small quilts for Sunshine Hospital. Evelyn has made a huge amount. At one show and tell she had at least 19 that night alone. This goes a long way to meeting the needs of the hospital. Congratulations

Saturday Sit and Sew

Today a group got together with the plan to start making the tea cup pincushions. We had been collecting cups and saucers for a few weeks. It seemed an onerous task but proved to be fun and enjoyable. At no time did we think we would achieve the number of pincushions we needed but thought at least half would be a good start. We made approx. 120. Can you believe it! The designs were fun and all unique. We lined them up excitedly and kept counting. We all got faster but by 3.15 we had run out of stream. We still have a few left to do and more cups are welcome as we have a use for them. A big thank you to the ladies involved today what a gigantic effort.

Third report on March 7th meeting!

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We have had a few new members join us on Tuesday night and/or the Saturday sit 'n'sew sessions.  It is always lovely to see some new faces and be inspired by their fresh ideas. Welcome to Maree, Kate and Maryvonne!

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Members of our group are often looking for ways to contribute to our community and several opportunities were discussed at our meeting. 
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Boomerang bags

10 million plastic bags are used daily in Australia and we know where most of them end up in land fill and the ocean. The plan is to make bags which people use and then return to a shop phasing out plastic bags. There has been great community interest and many are getting on board. There will be production lines of people making these bags. They are simple square bags with a handle but will have a logo stitched on the front. You use them then return them to another shop or same shop using the initiative. A Sunbury resident has taken up the challenge so we hope to get more information soon.

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Aussie Heroes Quilts and Laundry Bags

photo from the BLOG  

aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com

Many of you will know of this initiative to make quilts or laundry bags to send to our service men and women overseas to show our gratitude for their service. It is to show we care about the people not the politics. There are certain sizes and colours requested so if you plan to make one you will need to look at the blog.

Recently Ann McW and her daughter Laura received this Facebook message from a Sunbury service man-

Ann and Laura, I am originally from Sunbury and received a quilt and LB while deployed. It would be lovely if some people from my home town could help out Aussie Hero's. It is such a special gift for deployed troops. Thanks in advance.

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Our group is currently busy  supporting  the Quilt-In which takes place in June. We will then have more time for  initiatives such as this.  Members  can obviously contribute as individuals at any time. 

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Make sure you click on the various heading tabs at the top of our BLOG to 

check out new information contained under these.

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That's all for March 7th!  That was a marathon! Thank goodness for the excellent minute taking!

More about our march 7th meeting

A while ago Heather P celebrated a special 'O'  birthday so it was time to present her with some beautiful fat quarters and also a good reason to have some yummy treats!  Congratulations Heather!

Heather was presented with a very full box of  delightful fabrics.  What will she make?

On the night Heather also shared some new projects -

This robot quilt is for a grandson who is yet to arrive!

Gail has produced an amazing shirt quilt using her new Janome  sewing machine.  Most effective!

Gail and Judy A worked together to finish Joy's Globetrotter quilt.  it will be donated to Joy's family after it is quilted.

And Evelyn continues to produce her lovely little baby quilts.

Last of all we were able to check out Sheila's William Morris inspired quilt completed. It is machine appliquéd and is a Michelle Hill design.

More information to come in another post. Keep looking!

SO much to report

Our meeting on 7th March was a very busy one with lots of reporting and learning taking place.  Our special guests from the Sunshine Hospital gave a presentation about the Perinatal Loss Program.



The information has been very well described by our president, Sheila, so I give you her words-

"Tonight is a very different meeting both uplifting and distressing. We had Judy Patterson and Jo Redman from Sunshine Hospital attend to speak to us about their work. It was uplifting to find so many dedicated people who attend to the needs of families at such a distressing time. The work and dedication of these ladies was very touching. They understood the need and were doing their utmost to provide support. In the past this was never available.  It was exciting to see the amount of volunteers on board who supply so much. Our contribution of small quilts was appreciated with a certificate. They showed examples of other items  they use and I am sure many of us are inspired to make some of them.

Their need remains great with approximately 1% of pregnancies having an unsuccessful outcome. For Sunshine this equates to approximately 80-100 per year. Some of us were touched deeply with what we saw and heard and I reiterate that for those who need it support is still available. In our day it wasn't there so please it is never too late or the wrong time to ask for help. Judy herself would take a call at the hospital and there are other great organisations available such as SANDS www.sands.org.au"

Our group has made many small quilts for this program but we were also introduced to other elements that are made by volunteers and staff as well as various components of the program including helpful literature for families, counselling and follow up.  These babies are special and families are given a memory box which includes items such as foot and hand prints and photos.  The following photos can give you some idea of these components.

a bear for the baby and one for the family

Some of the garments are incredibly small.

a memory box

Lyn has instructions for these small hats.

This special night has made us more aware of how important our support is and has given us other ways to assist with small garments, and knitted items.  We certainly know how important our little quilts are.  

More posts on our meeting will come later!!