Monday 29th April

Today’s meeting began with members gathering around their group tables, preparing, labeling and sorting items for the wish lists. The new system appears to be working well under the guidance of the new group leaders:

Quilts: Kaye

Sensory Items: Linda 

Knitting and Crochet: Val

Special Orders: Claire

Sewing: Denise

Baby Items: Jan 

Thank you to the group leaders for taking on these roles.

Jenny and Sharon and a number of other helpers had also put much thought and time into preparing the distribution tables ready for the wish lists to be filled.

Kaye very kindly gave up precious time from her quilt retreat to attend today’s meeting and oversee the official part of the meeting as Susan was unable to be with us today due to a family commitment.

Kaye began by thanking all of those members who arrive early to set up, and those members who provide something to eat for morning tea each month.

Cynthia introduced ‘Show and Tell’ resplendent in a lovely, gold dress but no, she was not all dressed up for a night on the town, rather she was trying to remind everyone to sort and cull items before bringing them into Sunshine Linus. Remember Sunshine Linus does not receive clothes, used linen or other similar items!

Jenny showed two very ingenious sensory vests complete with ‘touchy feely’ items attached to the outside and also hidden inside the pockets! They are to be donated to the ‘Break Through’ organisation who are in the process of setting up a sensory room through the NDIS.

Orrawin showed two intricate and colourful quilts, both called ‘Hidden Stars’. The second quilt was assembled using the string piecing technique.

Judy showed a ‘square in a square’ quilt made by the Samford Quilters. She enjoyed testing her machine quilting skills out on this quilt.

She also showed a gorgeous ‘Noah’s Ark’ quilt top which has been foundation-pieced by Jan from Chinchilla. Kaye has volunteered to finish it and then it will be donated as a raffle quilt.

Jan also foundation-pieced this striking strip quilt.

Kaye showed three gorgeous quilt tops she assembled this week during her quilt retreat! The first is a version of the popular ‘I Spy’ quilt. The second quilt is called ‘Hour Glass’ and the third quilt is made from 2 1/2 inch strips and looks like a beautifully gift wrapped present!

Each of the working groups were asked to show some of the items they had received at today’s meeting.

The Sensory group showed a number of quirky muffs that incorporated tactile objects on both the inside and outside.

They also showed this delightful ‘touchy feely’ mat with a magnificent lion’s head.

The Quilting group showed two bright, strip quilts made by Lorraine and quilted by Lesley.

The Baby group showed these pretty crib quilts and baby beanies.

The Knitting/Crochet group showed two beautiful shawls,

A classic man’s vest,

Three colourful rugs,

A knitted beanie and scarf that Lorraine enjoyed modeling,

……and a crochet puzzle ball made by Helen.

The Sewing group showed these sweet, zippered pouches.

Claire has been extra busy during the school holidays. She showed a number of special order items that will be donated to schools on the Sunshine Coast. The first of these items are a series of blocks based on the Numicon blocks system. The idea is that children with a visual impairment can put their hands through the holes to count how many holes.

Claire also showed two superb wall hangings based on the books ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and the counting book ’10 Apples Up On Top’ by Dr Seuss. All of the items on the wall hangings can be removed and reattached.

This sensory, flower garden wall hanging made by Claire includes lots of different fabrics for the children to touch and explore.

Claire also managed to find time to make a selection of funky, small toys that can easily be held in the hand of a small child. Some of them even contain’ scrunchy’ things inside!

Lisa from Wish List was our guest speaker this month. She thanked Sunshine Linus for the many items that are donated to hospitals on the Sunshine Coast. She shared a few moving stories highlighting the thankfulness of the recipients who receive items lovingly made by the members and friends of Sunshine Linus.

One more newsworthy item: A big thank you to Glenis for these lovely baby beanies, cocoons and teddies! A total of 50 items!

• Keep making items for the sales table for Open Day!
• All items for the sales table on Open Day should be kept at home until the July Activity Day meeting when the items will be sorted and priced.
• Don’t forget to get someone in your group to dress the mannequin for Open Day!
• Quilts of all sizes (to display on the church pews) are needed for Open Day.
• If you are looking for information about our monthly program, click on the link on the side bar of the blog page that says ‘Monthly Program’.