More Parcels Unpacked

I received a huge box of QAYG blocks from Penny Berens and her quilting group, the Annapolis Valley Quilt Guild and in a week they managed to make 126 blocks. They are lovely and will make some beautiful quilts.
Cathy Bruton (Vic) sent a set of 35 QAYG blocks as well as binding and they are lovely bright fabrics and will be loved by a child or teen. I also received 2 large parcels from Jan Stokes (SA) and she sent lot of wool and fabric. In fact one was the largest ball of wool I've ever seen so some serious knitting and crocheting will be taking place to get it made up and donated.
Irene Carter from the UK sent 21 QAYG blocks and they are really lovely and in a range of colours. I can't wait to get to work with all the new blocks that have arrived this week so keep an eye out for finished quilts on my other blog and you may be able to spot some of your blocks.
I also received 9 QAYG blocks from Cheryl Tobin (Vic) and they are in pretty pinks and brights and will play very nicely with the other donated blocks.
Today I also met up with Lesley Lowe from Kyabram today and she delivered a huge pile of tops, with batting and backings from the Kyvalley and Girgarre Quilters. I spent the day quilting and finished 5 and a half quilts so I have some binding to do before I can show the finished quilts.
Paid work tomorrow and I plan to bind some quilts before work but I may not get them photographed for the blog until the day after.
Thanks to all the very generous donations I have quite a pile of quilts to deliver very soon.
Many, many thanks, Jan Mac

More Parcels Arrived

Lesley Tunnecliffe (WA) sent a large parcel of 24 QAYG blocks and Margaret Maguire (SA) also sent 14 QAYG blocks and they will be used with other donated blocks to make some colourful quilts.





Mandy Collins (NSW) sent 8 lovely QAYG blocks, some binding and 6 Stack and Slash blocks with fabric to finish them into a top. Sharne Gregory (England) sent 6 lovely QAYG blocks in bright colours with pinks and aqua fabrics. Margaret Frost (WA) sent a large parcel of a set of 35 QAYG blocks as well as2 sets of navy bindings which will make a lovely quilt.
Thanks to all of your generous donations I'll soon have more quilts to send off to the people who lost their homes to the floods.
More tomorrow, Hugs Jan Mac

Arrivals Monday - Part Three

Margaret Harris (NSW) sent another two parcels with a quilt top, 3 finished quilts (shown on the other blog) as well as 37 lovely QAYG blocks so Margaret has been sewing up a storm for the quilt appeal.
Kelly Hamlyn-Harris (Vic) sent another parcel with some lovely thread to match the bindings she'd previously donated.





Bettine Lambie (Tas) sent a large box stacked with prepared bindings as well as some blocks and fabric and the bindings are already being used for today's quilt finishes. The pink and purple QAYG blocks are in bright colours and Lyn van Dyke (Vic) sent 10 of them and they will play very nicely with the others I've received.
I've also received a large parcel from Jenny Hall in New Zealand and will show those donations tomorrow. The sewing machine is calling me! Many, many thanks for all your generous donations to help those so badly affected by the floods across Australia.
Hugs Jan Mac

Arrivals Monday - Part Two

These beautiful Rail Fence QAYG blocks were made and donated by Margaret Wallace (NSW) and she very kindly sent more fabric to make more blocks in this style. So thank you Margaret and keep an eye on the other blog for the finished quilt soon.
The next set of blocks came from Penel Biggs (NSW) and she sent a set of 35 blocks as well as the lovely purple polka dot fabric for binding and a bag to store the quilt when it's donated.






Cat Magraith (SA) sent a lovely set of 11 bright QAYG blocks and the next set of 11 blocks came all the way from the USA from Lynnett Jovanovski and the way that so many international quilters have contributed to this quilt appeal is very heart warming. From Holland I received the set of 7 lovely heart blocks in reds and blues from Erica Simon and the 3 QAYG blocks came from Simone de Klede and they will alos make some lovely quilts to bring some comfort.
More to come.
Hugs Jan Mac

Arrivals Monday - Part One

On Sunday I went to Melbourne for my AQA quilter's Monday meeting and had a lovely time. My DH very kindly picked up the mail as it was my birthday and he knew I'd be tired. What a sweet man! Yesterday was spent housecleaning and taking photos etc so here's the latest arrivals.
The Pretty set of 35 QAYG blocks made in pinks and purples were donated by a friend of Prue's from AQA. She was only going to make a few but couldn't stop so she made a whole set. I also received some lovely tops from Maryjane Morris. She is one of my blog readers and arranged to meet me to donate five huge bags of fabric as well as batting, 2 finished quilts (shown on the other blog) and some of quilt tops.
The next beautiful heart blocks came from Holland and were made by Donna Margolis who made 4 blocks.
The set of QAYG blocks made using small squares, were made and donated by Sandra McLay and she also donated a large bag of fabric and a quilt top.


The set of 4 QAYG blocks made in pretty pastel colours came from a quilter (V. Hubbard) in Sth Africa. The lovely knitted sweater is one of two sweaters and matching hats knitted and donated by Pam Stewart (Tas) and will be appreciated when the weather becomes colder, which won;t be too long away.
Thanks to the wonderful blog world these donations will all be used as quickly as possible and donated on your behalf.
More to come in part two.
Hugs Jan Mac

A Challenging Week

I always try to sew for at least a half hour every day but don't always manage it. If I don't sew I often use some time to cut and press bindings, cut strips of fabric for blocks etc. This week was a bit more challenging than most when it came time to get some quilts finished. Night shift made the week seem very short and I was really looking forward to getting lost done last night and we had a severe thunderstorm, lots of rain and the power went off for 15 hours or so. Luckily I can knit in very little light. LOL.
Of course when the power finally came on again just before lunchtime today I made sure I got straight into the sewing in case it went off again as more storms are predicted. We also have warnings for floods here but we think we'll be fine as the river has gone down a long way and after living here for 20 years we get to know when we might have trouble. Of course nature has a way of changing too. Anyway I did manage to get some quilts finished and they are on my other blog.
Yesterday the mail arrived with more lovely blocks from Sue King (NSW) who sent 8 QAYG blocks and a pillowcase. The XSANity Quilters and Lorna McCluskey (NSW) sent a lovely set of 25 blocks, and two beautiful tops and I plan on getting them quilted as soon as I find backings to fit them. Stephanie Driel (WA) also9 sent a lovely quilt top and 2 sets of QAYG blocks (70 in total) as well as 4 sets of binding. The first set was in pretty pastels and I put that one together today so it's on the other blog now. Jan Massey (WA) sent 5 lovely European pillowcases in colours for boys and they are lovely and soft with polar fleece and fabric and will be much loved I'm sure.
The community group's truck I was using to send quilts to Qld isn't taking anymore things up now so it's time for me to concentrate on delivering quilts to the farming areas and small towns here in Victoria which have been inundated with flood waters. Many farmers have lost their stock, their crops, fences and also their homes so life is pretty grim for them. Now that school has just started back and the waters are receding I'm going to be delivering quilts to those areas which are only an hour's drive away from here. At least I'll start there and then see where I end up when I get the call for more quilts.
Of course none of this would be possible without the very generous support of the readers in blog-land. The cyclone that wiped out some small towns in Queensland on Wednesday night has caused some wild storms and floods as far down as parts of Melbourne with homes being flooded again. One area near Ballarat had homes flooded for the 4th time since September and I'd hate to think how they are coping with that time after time. I can't give everyone a quilt but we can try to get as many made and donated as possible and it's time to get off the computer and back to the sewing machine now.
Stay safe everyone,
Jan Mac

The Mailman Has Been Busy

I've received more wonderful parcels from around the world and it always amazes me that quilters respond so well when there is a quilt appeal for those in tragic circumstances. You probably also know that Qld has just endured their worst cyclone which devastated the areas along the coast of far north Queensland so the need will be ongoing for even more time now. The towns of Tully and Innisfail seem to have taken the most direct hits and Cairns and Townsville were spared the damage they'd anticipated but there is still lots of storm damage to clear away due to the excessively strong winds tearing down trees. Now they are warning that we may have heavy rain and flash flooding where I live due to the aftermath effects of the cyclones up north. I think that we'll be fine and dry and hopefully the rain will cause the humidity to be reduced.
In the last couple of days I have received the following:
Susanne Nixon (Tas) sent 70 QAYG blocks, a cot sized quilt, some threads as well as fabric and they will all be put together quickly and donated.
Jeanne Cleveland from TX in the USA sent 73 blocks for me to make a top from and they are in Australian prints and are sure to be loved in an Aussie quilt.
Cheryll Shannon (NSW) sent 4 QAYG blocks and Linda Stokes sent another parcel of blocks from WA with some red and white QAYG blocks in smaller sizes as well as 4 lovely crazy pieced blocks.


From overseas again I received a box of 21 QAYG blocks from Lisa Palo and Brita Backlund in Finland as well as 4 appliqued and embroidered heart blocks from Cuny van Collenburg and 13 appliqued heart blocks from M. Kleefman-Sandee, and both of these ladies are from Holland.
Diane Matheson from Canada sent 16 QAYG blocks and she said that she'd acquired some fabric strips from a quilting friend who had passed away and although they are not what she would normally work with she kept them anyway. She certainly put them to good use for the Oz Comfort Quilt appeal and they will join others to make some lovely quilts.



Then I opened a box from Helen Schumacher (NSW) who sent a lovely quilt top and backing as well as 17 QAYG blocks and Joan Dickie (NSW) also sent 12 QAYG blocks as well as blue binding. As you can see the response from quilters around the world has been very gratifying and it will be a huge help for me to get more quilts finished and donated. I was also lucky enough to have Toni Martin (SA) arrange the donation of a roll of batting from Mini Jumbuck in Sth Australia and this will be a very big help with getting some of the donated tops finished and donated as well.
A quilt appeal this large is really a group effort and I was very surprised to find that I finished 37 quilts just in the month of January this year so I'd better get into gear again when I've recovered from night shift.
Take care and stay dry everyone,
Hugs Jan Mac