Friday, January 29, 2010

More Action

Last week I received 2 beautiful pink tops from Wendy Evans in WA and I've shown one here. I'll post photos of both when I get them quilted. I also finsihed off the other tops shown here and they will most likely be donated to areas devastated by earthquakes recently. The simple squares make up quickly and are a good way to use up lots of dressmaking scraps too.
I've also been busy measuring tops and making backings to fit them so I plan to get more done as soon as possible. There's always a need for quilts and there's no point in keeping too many here.
I also spoke with one of my contacts at Kinglake yesterday and she said that she has enough quilts to hand out at the moment. We think that everyone who lost their home last Feb has received a quilt now if they've stayed in the area. However we still need to follow up with those who have moved elsewhere. I know that some people have accepted quilts on their friend's behalf if they had moved away, and they are getting the quilts to them. I will keep making quilts though so I can supply more if needed.
I also have a couple of quilts ready to send over to Western Australia for the people who lost their homes in the Toodyay fire and will post them after the weekend.
All for now, Hugs Jan Mac



Monday, January 18, 2010

More Progress for January

I've quilted 5 of the quilts made from simple squares of fabric. The tops have been mostly put together by a lady I work with who isn't a quilter but was very happy to sew the sqs together. Unfortunately she has moved to another State so I have lots of these 6" sqs still to put together. They make quick and bright quilts for me to donate to East Timor and I've made over 2,000 of these over the years.
The other quilt in bright colours was a donated top I've finished off and the QAYG quilt was made from donated blocks.
I've also been making tote bags, scarves and PJ pants as shown on my other blog and I need to get to the post office and get some of these posted off to Pine Ridge Reservation in the US as they need whatever warm things we can send.
Back later.
Jan Mac

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Progress for 2010

I received more beautiful QAYG blocks from Amanda Greenwood in New Zealand and they will make 2 lovely quilts to donate. I also received a beautiful QAYG quilt from Elvira Richardson and The Goolwa Girls in Sth Australia. and that is the second quilt shown here. The other quilt was one I put together from donated QAYG blocks.
Today I also received a large box of fabric for tote bags as well as some very pretty fabric, from Margaret Attrill (NSW). I plan to make tote bags and pillowcases to donate next, as well as finishing more quilts for areas devastated by the earthquakes recently.
Check out my other blog too at http://www.sewmanyquiltstoolittletime.blogspot.com for details about an award from Sew Mama Sew's blog. I'm always surprised when I hear about people acknowledging the quilts etc I've donated as I've been doing this for over 15 years or more, and only mention it to encourage others to donate their time and talents too. Hopefully we can make a small difference in someone's life.
Hugs and many thanks, Jan Mac

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I Forgot to Say...



One of the US quilters, Linda Hungerford, who was visiting Australia during our Victorian bush fires in Feb 2009 wrote an article about our quilt appeal for the US magazine, Quilters Newsletter. It appeared in the Oct/Nov issue and shows where the fires occurred and the quilt drive that followed.
I never expected that we would appear in an overseas magazine but articles also appeared in New Zealand, the UK, and a Danish quilting magazine and the QAYG blocks were also shown in the magazines as well as on many blogs internationally. Many quilters are really part of an international family trying to warm the world one quilt at a time. One of my readers said that for her, QAYG quilts will always represent the bush fire quilt appeal. As part of this appeal I was also nominated for Australian of the Year for 2010.
We couldn't have done it without so much support from all of you.
I made and donated 147 quilts in 2009, of which 90 were QAYG and distributed 1,568. I'm still making quilts as I know that there will be an ongoing need, if not in areas affected by bush fires then they will go to areas overseas which have been devastated by tsunamis and earthquakes. I expect the next shipment will be to the Solomon islands where a tsunami made 1,000 people homeless earlier this week.
Hugs and grateful thanks to you for all your support.
Jan Mac