Lots Of Arrivals.

Dianne Daly is a very prolific creator and she's sent 1 quilt,  4 pair of knitted booties,  1 crocheted blanket,  7 bibs and 61 soap pouches.

Dianne also made 32 pencil cases with pencils supplied by Diane's mum,  4 cute skirts, 3 pair of shorts and 9 bucket hats all made from donated obsolete uniforms from Ambulance Victoria. 

Kaye Hardman has been busy sewing and has made 6 Santa Sacks, 11 tote bags and 19 drawstring bags. 

Lesley Lowe and the Kyvalley Quilters have sent another large bag of donations including 38 drawstring bags,  10 Santa Sacks,  20 knitted beanies, 15 knitted toys, 8 knitted cardigans,  1 teddy bear, 1 quilt,  3 crocheted squares knitted a baby blanket and wrap, a scarf, and some clothes.

Joy Walton very generously donated $100 towards costs as well as 7 pair of knitted booties,  6 beanies,  a soft toy and some clothes.

Bev Close and a retirement village in Torquay very generously donated $400 towards costs.

Many thanks for your generous donations and support everyone. 

Hugs, Jan Mac xx 

 

Many Thanks Monday Quilters

Barbara Black and the Monday Quilters are very generous supporters and they've donated another 66 beautiful quilts.  Barbara and her friend,  Rhonda,  delivered them last week and there will be lots of people who will soon be wrapped in a warm hug. This is the first 26 that I have photographed. Many thanks for your generous support ladies.

 Hugs, Jan Mac xx 

Catching Up With Donations.

More lovely donations have arrived last week and I am still catching up with recording and photographing them. Mary-anne Goss from SA has sent a lovely quilt top as well as 18 pair of knitted booties for newborns. 

Delys Rogers from WA has sent 2 large parcels containing 3 beautifully crocheted blankets as well as 12 teddies.

Annie Tielen from Victoria has donated 4 beautifully knitted SB blankets,  1 crocheted blanket,  2 scarves, 1 head warmer, 1 beanie and a matching beanie and booties set for a baby.

Karen Barrett from Qld has sent a huge box containing 4 beautiful QS quilt tops with backs and binding, 19 Santa Sacks and 66 soap pouches.

Thank you all so much for your generous donations everyone. 

Hugs, Jan Mac xx 

 

Delivery Update

 It's been a busy time with sorting, packing and delivering donations and I am sorry that I am late in acknowledging the donations that have arrived since the end of last week, but it's good to have made the deliveries now that the cold weather is here.

On the weekend we drove up to visit Lesley Lowe and Kaye Clarke in Kyabram to deliver quilts for Rochester. The car and camper was packed to capacity and we delivered 73 quilts as well as some hand knits, 7 crocheted blankets and some beautifully knitted teddy bears donated by Waverley Patchworkers. We forgot to take photos but Kaye loaded up all the quilts and had a list of people she will be visiting this week to hand out the quilts. It was a very busy weekend catching up with family and friends as well as a great opportunity to deliver the donations.

Today Big Group Hug sent a van to pick up 16 boxes of donations. We gave them 38 crocheted blankets (most are SB size), 4 quilts, 100 beanies, 18 scarves, 150 drawstring bags, 90 soap pouches, 15 burp cloths, 5 hand knits, 60 pair of newborn socks, new pyjamas and track suits, 13 tote bags, 80 beanies for newborns, stationery, toiletries and 6 woollen vests from obsolete Ambulance Victoria uniforms.

Lots of people are going to be warm now thanks to all of you and your generous donations.

I'm going to be away on a quilting retreat for a few days so I may not be able to acknowledge all of the new donations until I return but they are all very much appreciated. Of course I will be finishing off more donated UFOs and quilt tops while I'm away so I will have more to share soon.

Many thanks for your ongoing support everyone.

Hugs, Jan Mac xx

Major Announcement

 I'm very grateful for all of your generous donations and support everyone but have found that I'm getting so many donations of soft toys, toiletries, household items etc that I have very little time to sew, the pile of quilts tops which need quilting is growing higher, and my home is overflowing with piles of donations. Therefore I will now focus on only our handmade items so that I have more time for quilting the tops as I am getting more requests for quilts.

Instead of sending other items to me please send them directly to the organisations either by delivery or post. You can fit up to 5kg of items in a prepaid postal bag for under $20 and the organisations also may have drop off locations near you in Melbourne.

I will still accept hand made items such as quilts, quilt tops, orphan blocks, fabric, knitted/crocheted blankets, handknits, knitting yarn, drawstring bags, Santa Sacks, soap pouches, knitted teddies, as well as gently used teddy bears which we can dress in custom made knitted jumpers.

However please don't send toiletries, books, stationery, household linen, second hand clothes, soft toys, puzzles etc . Instead please send them direct to either Backpacks 4 Vic Kids at 26 Remount Way, Cranbourne West, Vic 3977 or to Big Group Hug at 5/19 Enterprise Drive, Bundoora, Vic 3083. Big Group Hug have requested no toys at the moment.

I will still accept gently used teddy bears as we have some lovely knitters who love making their special jumpers but please don't send the very big ones as they can't be fitted into the Backpacks. I also won't be able to accept Christmas gifts for people in need as I just don't have the storage capacity required.

We've grown so much as a group and have donated much needed items to many different organisations but we need to focus on just our handmade items now so that I can reclaim our space at home and give me time to finish quilts rather than constantly sorting and packing boxes of second hand items. I hope that I haven't offended anyone and that you understand that while all the donations are appreciated I'm now getting overwhelmed by my lack of storage and time.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Hugs, Jan Mac xx

Today's Deliveries.

Today I  visited Backpacks 4 Vic Kids to deliver a car load of items. We donated 100 teddies in custom made jumpers,  10 quilts, 25 hand knits,  25 beanies, 4 baby's blankets,  54 drawstring bags,  237 soap pouches, 20 pair of booties, 1 large backpack, toiletries,  stationery, a large bag of soft toys, and baby wraps.

We also delivered 48 items from Uniforms 4 Kids Victoria,  consisting of 4 baby's bibs,18 pencil cases, 8 pair of shorts, 3 skirts,  1 dress, 1 baby care bag, 12 bucket hats and 1 shirt.

The organisation was very surprised to see the  lovely creations made from obsolete uniforms from Ambulance Victoria and lots of children in need will soon have some basic necessities to  brighten their lives.

Many thanks for your generous support. 

Hugs, Jan Mac xx 

 

Lots To Tell.

Lots of donations have arrived again this week, starting with an incredible 43 pair of socks for newborns beautifully knitted by Marg Coulthard. 

I've been busy sorting,  counting and packing donations for delivery as well as finishing the next 5 donated quilt tops  and making Santa Sacks,  drawstring bags and soap pouches. 

Vicki Anceschi has very generously donated 80 soap pouches,  27 Santa Sacks,  3 quilt tops with backing , 15 drawstring bags and 2 lovely quilts. 

Jill Khong has been very busy knitting custom made jumpers for 45 teddies donations by members as well as some she's purchased. 

Cheryl Lowe from NSW has donated the fabulous quilt for our flood quilt drive for Rochester and it will be very much appreciated. 

Cathy Bruton and the Inverloch Chatty Crafters have been busy sewing and have donated the beautiful hexagon quilt,  11 quilt tops and backing, 2 crocheted blankets,  5 tote bags, 27 soap pouches, 14 drawstring bags,  2 cute skirts, 4 pair of pyjamas,  6 pair of pyjama pants, 11 pair of track pants and 6 lovely windcheaters.

 Many thanks everyone for your generous donations and ongoing support. 

Hugs, Jan Mac xx