Busy, busy day!

Wow, they came from everywhere!
So many people!

 

And look at this fabulous space that the Nambour Uniting Church allow us to use, FOR FREE!

We really couldn't continue without their generosity, and we're very grateful.

 

Chris Potter, from Gifts4KidsInCare came to talk to us today (that's her standing way over in the corner), to tell us what an impact the gift of a quilt can make on a foster child, and how treasured these gifts are.  We've been supporting her efforts for a couple of years now, and supplied over 250 quilts, but there is still a great need.

 

 

Here's Chris and Cynthia (our Secretary) holding two of the quilts that Chris collected from us today to start her winter appeal.  There are a lot more kids in foster care than most of us realise.

 

With so many in attendance today Show and Tell was quite a long affair.

Quilts, chemo caps, crocheted rugs, knitted items for babies and children, touchy feely quilts and aprons, pieced quilt tops and backs, all manner of tote bags, and sit-upons; the list is endless.

 

 

The tables are groaning under today's haul!

 

Just before I leave you with some photos of individual items to drool over, I'll remind you that we're having an extra meeting on April 15th, mostly to work on making, packing and pricing items for our sales stall at Open Day on August 31st.  (More about that as the time draws nearer.)  Then we're back to our normal meeting on April 29th, which will feature a raggy quilt mini-workshop.

There's always plenty happening!

 

 

Cosy baby wraps

This one is such fun

 The stained glass effect is the backlighting from window behind, and the leaves are on the backing.  Pretty, isn't it?

 

Stunning colours

 

We're very lucky to have so many talented and generous people making for us.

Thank you all.

25th February Gathering

Well, we had big plans for our day at Sunshine Linus.  We hoped to have a mini workshop on making drainage bags for those women who have had mastectomies.  Well, Mother Nature had other ideas and we had a small gathering due to yet another "weather event" as the Bureau likes to call it. 

We normal people call it something else I probably shouldn't type here, but you get my meaning.  It poured and poured throughout the day, and driving up from Brisbane and home again became a bit of an adventure.  We travelled over two flowing creeks, and both were almost at the point of bursting their banks and covering the road.  We held our breath as we passed over, and had no other problems other than a very slow trip.

But there were a about 15 of the die hards there, who all now would qualify for being postwomen for their local communities!  (Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.) 

So we abandoned the idea of a mini workshop and spent the day enjoying show and tell, and organising, sorting, sewing, gathering like bits together etc.  We had a few newbies join us, it's always lovely to welcome new members and delight in their skills.  We had one particular newbie who also happened to be a on the receiving end of our quilts recently.  Nicky's little boy Stewart was in hospital and received a quilt from Sunshine Linus.  Nicky went super sleuthing on google and found our blog.  Nicky and her family wanted to thank us and the rest is history - she's very happy being a part of our wonderful group.  BTW, Stewart is doing well, but being monitored.

Thanks also to Lyn who took these photos for us - she is also a very skilled quilt maker and we delighted in seeing her great creations - the red one is hers, isn't it stunning!

So here's some of our photos from yesterday.



This quilt was a wonderful idea from Rosemary.  Lots and lots of scraps, with an I Spy centre.  Here's a closeup:

 



This one is very jewel like, facets abound - Another Lyn creation



Simply red and white looks absolutely stunning.

This one has been made using the Quilt as you Go method.  Very effective results.

Frogs Frolic

A simple row by row, but just gorgeous

 

Plans are underway for our Open Day in August and we received a large amount of beautifully made goodies for our stall in August.  Leone has made some very clever little nick-knacks which may not last till August.  Lots of lovely things, and it's looking like we're going to have a huge stall.  More information about that in the next blog posting.  Bye for now.


Here's a listing of the goodies that we received today and where they were distributed to:

16 x Baby wraps, 4 baby caps, 26 hot pack cases, 11 wheat pack cases all to Nambour Hospital
2 Touchy Feelies to Winton, Qld
5 Fitted Touchy Feelies (to site on wheelchair trays) and 5 Touchy Feelies to Winston House
1 Raffle Quilt and Bag to Cystic Fybrosis for Fundraising
9 PJ sets, 10 Toilet Bags, 4 small childrens quilts to Salvation Army Teewantin
10 Children's Quilt to McConnell Ward RCH
12 Teenage Quilt to Foster Parents Assoc
4 Touchy Feelies to Maryborough Special School
33 Toilet Bags, 15 shopping bags and 2 beanies to Lions Emergency Care, Nambour
14 Quilts in storage for next month.

Given that this was a very wet day, and we only had a few members attending, we are very pleased with out output for this month.  Well done ladies.








 

 

Proposed Activities for next few monthly gatherings:

February 25   -  Demonstration of making Drainage Bags

March 25       - Quilt as you Go demonstration and making quilts

April 15 (extra meeting) Stall Items (making, packing, pricing)

Arpil 29         - Raggy Quilt mini workshop

May 27          - Quilt Open Day preparations

 

January gathering news...

Well, we had a very busy day yesterday at Sunshine Linus Inc as it was our first gathering for 2013 and we hadn't seen each other for about 6 weeks, there was much chatter and catching up.

We welcomed a number of new members to the group and we hope that our newbies enjoyed their day with us.  It was hot, hot, hot, and luckily we have the use of this wonderful facility and it's ceiling fans!

We had a huge pile of goodies that had been made by our regular quilters as well as others who don't attend our meetings, yet are busy making goodies for us to distribute. 

To the right of this column you'll see a link "What we make and where it goes".  This link is updated after every gathering with a listing of the goods that we have donated in that month.  Please click on that to see just how much we put out each month.  It even surprises us!

Here's some photos of yesterdays gathering -

Margaret made this beautiful Jewel Box quilt.  Aren't the colours gorgeous?



This quilt is a "Mile and Minute" quilt, very colourful

Joy made this beautiful quilt, which was donated along with one other to two children who lost everything in the Tasmanian Bushfires recently.

 

We loved this quilt from Rosemary, who used the Foundation Piecing method.

 

These two are great examples of boys quilts, which we always are in need of.



 

Bright and Bubbly, perfect for a child.
 

We are pleased to announce that 2013 will see our first "Sunshine Linus Inc Quilt Open Day" to be held on Saturday 31st August at the Nambour Uniting Church, Nambour.  We are very excited about being able to showcase what we do and meet people from our local community.  So, please claim this date on your diary and we'll keep you informed of more details as they come to hand.





 

Support for Sunshine Linus Inc most appreciated

Sunshine Linus Inc has a large group of members who actively attend meetings and contribute enormously to our output of quilts and comforts for people in need on the Sunshine Coast.

We also have a large group of supporters who help Sunshine Linus in different ways to achieve our mission. 

One such supporter is Diane Farrugia, who has a Machine Quilting Business in Brisbane.  Her business is called Diane's Quilting Quest.  Diane made contact with us during 2012 and has offered her services to Sunshine Linus free of charge.  It is incredible to receive this kind of support and we are so grateful to Diane for thinking of us. 

Sometimes we have quilt tops that are just too big for our quilters to machine quilt on a domestic sewing machine and that's where Diane comes in.  Her work is very professional and we can recommend her work to any quilters who are looking for exceptional workmanship, a reasonable turnaround time and a very reasonable price.

Here's a link to Diane's website where you can find out her contact details and lots more:  www.quiltingquest.com.au