Tuesday, April 28, 2015

April 27, 2015 meeting

Project Illfracombe:
Thanks to Tony Cumner at Lindsay Rural in Nambour, the donations from Sunshine Linus of food items, new clothing, quilts and other assorted items are to be transported to Brisbane, and from there out to Illfracombe, arriving on the 30th May to help the community battling with the effects of drought.  We sent 140 quilts, and according to Tony, many a large number of pallets of donated food items.  Well done Sunshine Linus and other groups from around the Sunshine Coast.  A special thanks to Caloundra Quilters for their mammoth efforts.  A job well done everyone.

If you're interested, here's a link to the Drought Angels who are managing this wonderful effort for a number of townships who are under great stress due to the continuing drought.
Drought Angels website

Another very busy day today, and we welcomed 9 new members to our gathering day.  It was all hands on deck to distribute all the wonderful goodies that we received.  Yesterday it didn't take long for the distribution table to fill up with wonderful creations.

balloon ball covers

warm hats for cooler mornings

children's clothes and toiletries

zipper bag for toiletries
We have a number of long distance Sunshine Linus members who live in other towns, cities and states.  One such member is Lorraine from South Australia.  Lorraine is a dear and long time friend of Ann Wells.  Lorraine visited us at our gathering and would you believe, has just completed the 225th knitted baby jumper for Sunshine Linus.  What a wonderful effort Lorraine - and we love it when you come up to see us.


Show and tell was all about quilts.  Just look at what people have been doing!

I hope Liz didn't go cross eyed doing this! 

Liz turning scraps into a quilt

more scraps put to good use by Liz

Liz converted a bed throw into a quilt

Thanks to Claire B who dyed lots of sheets, Kaye was able to make the backs of these quilts as colourful as the front.



Kaye says this was quick to piece
Kaye Nightingale will have the instructions for making the quilt above at the next gathering.

Orrawin loves scraps - we love the result

machine embroidered cowboys and horses

Nicky has a new quilting machine which she tested on these two quilts.



Annie cleaned out the sewing cupboard - result is one quilt

Annie's stack and whack creation

random didn't work for Annie

Annie used a donated kit to make this lovely kid's quilt
The quilt above has been reserved for the SIDS organisation in Mackay, as they have requested a raffle quilt for their vital fundraising.  Nicky is going to quilt this one up and then it will be on its way to Mackay.

The ladies from Stokers Siding made this dog quilt
Every year we donate an appropriate quilt to 4Paws Animal Rescue on the Sunshine Coast, to raise funds for the running of the animal shelter.  A very appropriate quilt we think!

sorry this is blurry Joy but I love the colours

We not only receive fabric donations.  Here Barb M converted donated bird blocks into a reversible quilt.



Barb made this small quilt into a more useful size

Another quilt enlargement by Barb



Now for some picture quilts.  This tactile landscape scene is going to a local nursing home.


The "Wonky Donkey" is a children's picture book.  The quilt can be used by the teacher to follow the wonky, winky, lanky, ... donkey on his journey down the road.



Sunglasses make a spunky donkey and the cowboy hat a honky tonky donkey.


This quilt (below) should have appeared last month but it still needed binding.  It was donated to Juvenile Diabetes Queensland for their raffle. Desleigh Rose from Juvenile Diabetes has thanked SL for their efforts in providing a raffle quilt for the past two years.



We had a very special guest speaker today.  Judy Clarke from St Marks in Buderim talked to the gathering about the connection between St Marks Anglican Church in Buderim, Sunshine Linus, 200 children's operating gowns and Val Orr-Smith from the Philippines.

Val is a nurse specializing in cleft lips and palates and burns. She is living in the Philippines as a volunteer and does THE most amazing work very much against the odds.  Val is also a member of the St Marks congregation and recently made a special request for 200 children's operating theatre gowns for children to wear when being operated on. These children live in small villages in the highlands of the Phillipines - where Val lives. 

Julie Day (Nimble Stitches) mentioned to Jan Kerr of SL,  about Val's wish and coincendentally , at the same time we at Sunshine Linus were nutting out how we could use the Kimguard material, that is given to us from the Sunshine Coast Private Hospital through our Memorandum of Understanding. 

Kimguard is used to wrap instruments for steralisation.   The material is usually used once, and then is dumped in land fill.  So Jan consulted our creative pattern maker Carolyn who made up three patterns and a team of other wonderful sewers from Sunshine Linus got busy and made 200 gowns out of the Kimguard.


Val is coming to St Martins on 8th May at Buderim to receive the gowns, and to present a talk about what she is doing in the Philippines. You're welcome to attend the talk, commencing at 7:00pm.

Fabric Donation -
A big thankyou to Scott from Beauleiu Pacific for his incredibly generous donation of the most beautiful fabrics to Sunshine Linus.  This fabric was delivered free of charge at the hall, having been transported from Brisbane.  The fabric is of wonderful quality and will be used to make xray bags, wheelchair bags, and all manner of other goods and items that we make for the community. Thanks Jan for facilitating the donation.  Great stuff!

See you at the next meeting on Monday 25 May.