Monday 30 June 2025

Congratulations Sunshine Linus

Old and new supporters of Sunshine Linus gathered together to celebrate 15 years of creating and giving. It was a time for reminiscing, congratulations, and celebrations.

The Sunshine Linus Inc. that we know today has emerged from humble beginnings. In 2010, a group of like-minded women met regularly at the 'Patch Work Angel' to sew and make quilts. They quickly realised so much more could be done with their beautiful creations. Families and friends had been spoiled over the years with gifts, so they decided to donate quilts to community groups. 

Initially, only quilts were distributed, but after 15 years, the scope of Sunshine Linus has expanded radically. In 2025, Sunshine Linus continues to deliver an ever-expanding range of items as requested by community agencies. A combination of shared wisdom, friendship, and a welcoming environment ensures Sunshine Linus continues to be a wonderful organisation to be involved with. 

Our President Sharon welcomed some of the original members to our meeting.
 Judy B, Thelma, Caroline, Sharon, Liz and Lee.

A few quilts from this month's meeting.

Cameron from Sunshine Valley Gazette documented the celebration.

Get your copy!

Every significant birthday celebration deserves cake.

Thank you for the delicious cakes and sandwiches
served with tea and coffee at morning tea. Thanks to the cooks.

A great chance to catch up.

THE SALES TABLE

Bags for iPads, sewing, and phones.

While the birthday celebrations continued, the sales table provided time for visitors to purchase treats for the colder weather. This month's treats included fruit, turmeric, and ginger, and place mats to make our day. Perfect for boosting our physical and mental health.

THE RAFFLE

This month's raffle

Barbara C. won the blue bear, and Jennifer B. took home the cosy rug. Lesley won the doilies and very kindly donated them to Val L for her young granddaughter, who is building her collection of doilies.

Lucky Door prizes were won by Val K, Anne C, Claire, Jennifer B, and Nicky.

SHOW AND TELL

RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS

The last letters for Palmview Special School and the 27-letter alphabet (remember ck)

Tactile letter mats.

Packed up and ready to go.

QUILTS

Inspired by Activity Day
Sharon's Disappearing Hourglass and Pinwheel.

Using material from Trisha's stash,
Sharon created a quilt for picnics.

Barbara urged quilters to keep experimenting.
Here is a simple hourglass quilt.

Judy B created an Alphabet quilt.
A block border and crazy penguin backing made it a very happy quilt.

Crazy penguin backing.

A bright and fresh quilt with
a striped border, by Judy B.

The Blue Path quilt by Christine.

An Eye Spy quilt by Judy B

Animal quilt and....

a lovely backing.

There were lots of "oohs" and "ahs" when this quilt was displayed.

A masculine quilt bought together by the striped edging.

Baby Animal Bears - so cute!

The colours of this quilt fit so well. Thanks Annie!

A magical children's quilt in the colours of gelato.

 Kanyini Bears were sent to Buderim Hospital.
There were 207 bears ready for NAIDOC week.

Speaking of magic, Jenny D's fluffy flouro cats are begging for a cuddle.

Annie created needle cases. Perfect for storing needles by size.

IMPORTANT DATES

July 28                                    Next meeting featuring Norm's Test and Tagging between 9am and 10  am. Bring your machine or overlocker along to be tagged. Once tagged, they will be ready for use at Activity Days and the Retreat.

August 25                               Monthly meeting    

September 15                         Activity Day

September 29                         Monthly meeting

October 13, 14, 15 and 16     Sunshine Linus Retreat @ House of Happiness, Bribie Island. For more details, please see the Retreat Information on the Blog. 

Retreat Information  

 

For information regarding external events:

Please check the 'What's On and Where' section of the blog
 to find events happening near you.

What's on and Where

Meeting: Monday June 30, 2025

Please join us next Monday morning for our monthly meeting. Join in the fun as we  celebrate Sunshine Linus's 15th birthday.

Photos from our Activity Day

During the day, Barbara M taught the Disappearing Hourglass block.

Disappearing Hourglass Quilt.

Initially, making a disappearing hourglass quilt looked very complicated. Barbara's instructions made it far less complex and can't wait to see finished quilts at show and tell. The instructions are below.

1. Requirements 10"squares 1 x pattern, 1 x plain,
1 x dark or 1 x dark and 1 x light.
Right sides together - sew around the squares.

2. Cut diagonally in both directions

3. Iron open-place 2 patterns to face each other
and two plains to face each other.
Sew 1 to 2 and 3 to 4. Then sew together.

4. Iron

5. Cut - 2 1/4 " from center line.

6. Turn.

7.Sew and Iron. Trim to 11 1/2"square.

Disappearing Hour glass quilts were not the only craft happening at the activity day.

RUGS AND TOYS
Jenny D took delivery of well over 700 knitted squares and has sorted them into bags according to sizes and colours. Bags of squares are available to make into rugs and toys to bring warmth during winter.

Bags of squares ready to be made into rugs and toys.

Bags of squares to make rugs or toys will be available to take home at our next meeting on June 30.

Jenny D shared instructions for how to make Bunnies and Bears.

Work in progress.

Bunnies and Bears.

Just fold, embroider faces, stuff and stitch.

An L Shaped rug modeled by Val.

A rug ready to be sewn.

Stitching squares using a blanket stitch.

There are a a number of ways to stitch the rugs together.  Squares can be joined by using zigzag switch stitch, crotchet, blanket stitch or slip stitch.

Zigzag Switch Stitch

SANTA SACKS

Marion took time to finish Santa Sacks for an ongoing Christmas project. The sacks go to Coolum Christian Care Outreach where they are filled and distributed out west, to support families at Christmas. The filled sacks are really appreciated and have bought joy to generations of families in the west. 

Ready to be made up.

Ties for Santa Sacks.

Sorting squares.

And of course there was always time for a cuppa and a bikkie.