Monday 25th February

This month’s meeting saw a few changes introduced to the way we manage the many items that are donated to Sunshine Linus. Susan and Kaye had arrived very early in the morning to set up tables with signage and information relating to the new grouping system which included the Sensory Team, Quilts Team, Sewing Team, Knitting and Crochet Team, Baby Items Team and Special Order Team.

After a brief introduction by our President Susan, each of the team leaders set about explaining how the system was going to work.

It wasn’t long before there was a buzz around the room as everyone set to work on their designated tasks.

Included in the activity was the ‘Presidents Challenge’. The leader in each group had to find a volunteer to dress a mini mannequin.

 Who’s up to the challenge?

It was great to see Orrawin back with us during the ‘show and tell’ segment. She has been busy string-piecing very small pieces of fabric with the help of the pages from a telephone book! Once again the back of her quilts are just as lovely and intricate as the fronts!

She found this block of a deer and bird on the ‘freebie table’ and said she just kept adding borders until the quilt was large enough!

Annie loves the challenge of making quilts from scraps of fabric. She showed a colourful quilt that was made from left over squares and rectangles and another ‘Disappearing 9 Patch’ quilt with lots of tiny squares in the mix!

Annie found one of the arrow blocks in this very modern quilt on the ‘freebie table’ and decided to make 5 more blocks with a striking result.

We are very fortunate to receive many donations of items and quilts from groups all over South East Queensland. The Crazy Quilters from Caboolture made a generous donation of these lovely quilts all quilted by Debbie.

The Mountain Quilters donated this magnificent quilt in shades of purple.

The Bribie Island Quilters donated a series of double-sided ‘quilt as you go’ quilts. The backs were just as gorgeous as the fronts!

The Emu Park Quilters donated these bright quilts, all quilted by Lyn.

Lyn also made this gorgeous tulip-themed wheel chair quilt complete with fold up corner and press stud.

Barbara used a ‘layer cake’ to make this modern quilt of squares and rectangles in contrasting colours. She said it was very easy to make and has the pattern if anyone is interested.

Kaye has been busy making a number of brightly coloured octagon quilts. She said they are a simple task to complete in between quilting quilt tops!

Kaye also showed this magnificent quilt made using shantung and silk fabric, and dimensional embroidered blocks found on the ‘freebie table’.

Glorianne has been making brightly coloured children’s quilts again. This one is called ‘Speedy Racer’ and comes complete with its own racing car driver!

Last month Claire put out a request for a number of quilts for Nambour Special School. Chris made this very cute, machine-embroidered quilt. The theme was ‘big and small’. The children will love engaging with the back too with its numbers and colours.

Claire’s neighbour assisted her in making this delightful Alphabet quilt that even has detachable pictures.

Cynthia and Claire worked together to make this ingenious map of Australia complete with postcards for each capital city.

Claire also made a ‘Water Cycle’ wall hanging for the students at Nambour Special School……

….and this charming, interactive wall hanging based on the song ‘Where is The Monkey?’ It has a removable monkey that can be moved around to teach positional words.

Claire has also been busy making these adorable weighted toys for Mountain Creek State School.

Jenny made this delightful cubby house table-cover complete with windows, doors and embellishments for the STEMM toddler crèche at Burnside State high School.

What Else Has Been Happening at Sunshine Linus?
A big thank you to our knitting and crochet ladies. Every month they produce a selection of beautiful items to be distributed to people in our community. Below are some examples of the cardigans and footwear they create.

Our new trolleys proved extremely helpful during setting up and packing up time. Thank you to Leonie and Bonnie for organising these.

Trolley filled with a load of goodies from Judie B ready for transport.

There has been a request for more drainage bags. A new pattern with measurements will be available on the blog soon.

Don’t forget to start making items for Sunshine Linus Open Day on Saturday August 17^th! Susan has begun displaying examples of items people may like to make.

You can find the President's Report for February at this Link: President's Report

One more thing! Don't forget to pick up the latest issue of the Ruth magazine at your Newsagent. This quarter it contains an interview with Judie B about the work of Sunshine Linus Inc!

Mid Month Happenings and Important Reminders

Of course the business of Sunshine Linus continues between each monthly meeting with many of the members involved in the distribution of items to various organisations and a range of administration activities to keep Sunshine Linus operational.

Susan was able to deliver a selection of beautiful pyjamas sets and shorts to the Redlands Community Centre. A big thankyou to the ladies who made these items.

Sunshine Linus Inc. now has its own business card. Be sure to collect some of these for distribution next meeting.

Jenny sent out an email reminding everyone that we filled everything from last month’s wish list, but have some ongoing wish list requests and a few new wish lists which you can now find over under the Wish List tab on the Blog. She has asked that if you have liaised with an organisation in the past to provide them with wish list items, consider contacting them this month to check if they have any new wish lists.

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

At the next meeting you will be asked to nominate for committee positions in 2019. All positions will be vacant so everyone is encouraged to consider taking on a position. You can find the role descriptions under the pages tab on the right hand side of the Blog and the nomination forms here: 
Nomination Form 2019-2020

SETTING UP GROUPS

1. As you come in there will be information on the LINUS noticeboard regarding where items can be dropped and groups you might like to join.

2. There will be areas set up with one of the Linus committee team allocated to explain the process.  These areas will be Quilts; Sensory; Aged Care (incorporating knitted and crochet items); Hospital; Community; Baby; Special Orders

3. Please select a group/s which you would like to join. You do not have to commit to one specific group.

4. At 9:30 Susan will ask you to join a group if you have not already done so and the facilitator will explain how we hope this process will work. 

Follow the link below to find out more about the organisation of these groups:  Groups Organisation Document

STORAGE

There had been some discussion regarding moving the storage into cupboards located on the stage area. After much discussion with Leonie and Bonnie, we have decided to keep the storage in the current location and purchase garden trolleys to help with movement of items. Our aim of course is to reduce items in storage over 2019. These trolleys will also be placed at the entrance to the hall and you are encouraged you to use them to move your goods from your car to hall and visa versa .

2019 MEMBERSHIP FEES

The 2019 membership fees (and forms) are due by March. Only financial members can vote at the AGM. 2019 fees are $10. Many of you have already renewed your membership but we will be accepting forms and payment next meeting as well.

OPEN DAY

August is rushing back to meet us. Kaye will want to meet with the Open Day Group at the next meeting. Please start thinking about and making items for the sales table.

Monday 21st January 2019

It was ‘all hands on deck’ for Sunshine Linus first meeting for the year. Two cheery faces, Jan and Marion were at the door prepped to greet everyone. They signed everyone up for this year’s membership and gifted a ‘scissor zinger’ (keeper) to all the attendees.

Susan trialed starting ‘Show and Tell’ a little later in the morning to give everyone the opportunity to make those very important social connections with one other and of course give those wonderful ladies on the distribution table time to do their job.

First off the ranks this month was Lyn with a checked quilt suitable for a man. She was excited about finding the backing fabric at a Lifeline store for $1 a metre! She stitched matching checked rectangles on the backing fabric to ingeniously hide the Ghana mining company emblems.

Among her other creations were a stunning sampler quilt she had put together from donated blocks - the backing was made from new a doona cover again purchased from Lifeline,

.....and a colourful and cute circus themed quilt.

Lyn also showed a number of delightful, scrappy quilts which Dee had quilted.

Kaye has also been extremely busy during the Christmas break creating an abundance of quilted and stitched items. She added lace and machine quilting to embellish the embroidered blocks on this quilt.

Her cross-hatching frames the beautiful appliques on these needle-turned blocks.

This gorgeous Christmas banner will be for sale on Open Day.

Among Kaye’s other creations were a quirky hand embroidered 12 patch quilt, a bright, cat-themed quilt, an eye-catching, diamond patterned quilt (pattern and technique to be share at a later date), a Japanese themed quilt and a funky, scrappy, houses quilt!

Maureen made two cute, cot-sized, rag quilts.

Bridget showed two delightful scrappy quilts. We can appreciate the time it takes to fit and sew all those small pieces of fabric together!

Beanie showed a funky knitted rug she had pieced together from donated squares.

Last year Claire sent out a request for a number of banners to be made for Nambour Special School to assist in reinforcing positive attitudes and school rules. Kaye made time to make the ‘Confidence’ banner.

Claire made the ‘Be respectful’ banner which includes letters that can be removed and replaced and a superb counting banner again with removable numbers and pictures. She has an alphabet banner in progress. Good luck with those 26 letters and pictures Claire!

Claire continues to trial her designs of the weighted toys she makes for the Acute and Restorative Care Unit at Nambour Hospital. This month we were introduced to two charming hounds.

She has also been experimenting with a weighted dragon toy pattern and today we met Darlene and George! They are to be sold at Open Day.

For those of you who love all things Blockenspeil related, Jenny showed a colourful ‘Amish star puzzle ball’ she crocheted. The pattern can be found at this link: http://www.lookatwhatimade.net/crafts/yarn/crochet/free-crochet-patterns/star-ball-crochet-amish-puzzle-ball-pattern/

Neil shared the sad news of Auntie’s passing in December. Auntie was a respected and loved member of the Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group and an avid supporter of Sunshine Linus.

At the end of ‘Show and Tell’ Susan discussed in length some of the changes Sunshine Linus will be implementing in the future. Below are some of the changes you will notice at the February meeting which will be trialed for 3 months.

SETTING UP GROUPS

1. As you come in there will be information on the LINUS noticeboard regarding where items can be dropped and groups you might like to join.

2. There will be areas set up with one of the Linus committee team allocated to explain the process. These areas will be Quilts; Sensory; Aged Care (incorporating knitted and crochet items); Hospital; Community; Baby; Special Orders

3. Please select a group/s which you would like to join. You do not have to commit to one specific group.

4. At 9:30 Susan will ask you to join a group if you have not already done so and the facilitator will explain how we hope this process will work.

STORAGE

There had been some discussion regarding moving the storage into cupboards located on the stage area. After much discussion with Leonie and Bonnie we have decided to keep the storage in the current location and purchase garden trolleys to help with movement of items. Our aim of course is to reduce items in storage over 2019. These trolleys will also be placed at the entrance to the hall and you are encouraged you to use them to move your goods from your car to hall and visa versa .

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

At the next meeting you will be asked to nominate for committee positions in 2019. Please check the blog for position descriptions. All positions will be vacant so everyone is encouraged to consider taking on a position.

OPEN DAY

August is rushing back to meet us. Kaye will want to meet with the Open Day Group at the next meeting. Please start thinking about and making items for the sales table.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to the Sunshine Linus Blog for 2019. We look forward to catching up with all our members and friends at our first meeting for the year on Monday 21st January. You will need to complete and bring along the new 2019 Membership Form available at this link or on the side bar pages on the right hand side of the Blog.

Or course there have still been a few things happening behind the scenes during the holiday break.

Susan met with Redlands CEO, Alison and City Councillor Tracey. She handed over pencil cases and library bags for their back to school project for families in need.

There are a number of new patterns available in the 'Free Patterns' page (see right hand side of Blog), including a new set of instructions written by Lyn P for those tricky little gadgets called Blockenspeils!

Here is a link to the Sunshine Linus calendar for 2019 if you would like to print this off or make a note of our activities for this year. There is also another link over in the pages column (see right hand side of Blog).

We look forward to meeting up with you again very soon!