December Gathering - A Celebration.

Just can't believe it's the end of another year.  We've been so busy with our heads down during 2012, we didn't notice the months zooming past.  We downed tools for our December gathering and enjoyed each other's company over a christmas lunch. 

We did do a little work though.  Throughout the year we receive donated fabrics from lots of quilters and people who see that we can use their unwanted fabrics and we're so grateful for their generosity.  We certainly couldn't do the amount of quilts that we do without people's generosity.

The ladies decided that it was time to sort through our boxes of fabrics and get things neat in readiness to hit the ground running in 2013.  So we had a working bee, folding, sorting, tidying.  The busy bees had everything looking neat and tidy just after morning tea.  Well done ladies!

We were treated little show and tell too. Barb bought a quilt she has just completed and we were completely blown away with this very lovely quilt.  As always with show and tell, some of us now want to make this quilt (in our copious spare time!!).






Barb and her beautiful creation

Our Christmas lunch was delightful.  We moved all the tables to the middle of our huge room and dined together, like one big family.

 Afterward, we mused on the year that has been and our plans for 2013.  I can't divulge too much here, but keep a watch on this space for an exciting event mid year.

Our Sunshine Linus is a fabulous group of generous, giving women, some who attend every gathering and others who are unable to attend, yet contribute crafted items for us.  All of these wonderful crafters have the same objective -

To provide quilts and other comforts to people in need on the Sunshine Coast. 

This is our Mission Statement, pure and simple.  On behalf of the Sunshine Linus committe and members, I'd like to wish all our followers and donors, readers, members and clients a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2013. 

- Judie Bellingham (President).



 



November AGM

Our meeting today started with the very important business of our first AGM since Incorporation.
I'm pleased to be able to report that all positions have been filled as follows:
President, Judie Bellingham; Vice President, Ann Wells; Treasurer, Barb Newman; and Secretary, Cynthia Gray.  You might notice there's not too much change there, but we sincerely thank outgoing Treasurer Yvonne, for the fantastic job that she has done for the past two years, and welcome Barb to the executive team.

We had 30 ladies in attendance today, and all have obviously been very busily sewing and knitting during the last month.

42 of these delightful dollies came our way from a donor who loves to knit.
 

Wendy has been on overdrive with a Pinocchio sensory wall hanging - he even has a nose that grows!
 

This fabulous large quilt was sent to us by Rhonda Williams.

 

A generous quilter from Woombye popped in and left seven quilts without giving her name; these are just two of them.

 

This quilt has been made with indigenous kids in care in mind.

 

And there's lots more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We distributed 42 knitted toys and 3 children's jumpers, some slipper socks and toiletries to Lions Emergency Accommodation Centre;  66 xray bags to Premion; 35 quilts and 8 carry bags to Gifts for Kids in Care; and 6 oncology hats, 1 crocheted blanket and 4 baby jackets to Nambour General Hospital.

 

The date for our January gathering is a bit up in the air at the moment, due to it falling on a long weekend Monday, but we hope to have something sorted out to tell you by the party day, Monday 10th December.

 

 

October Gathering

We had our October gathering on Monday 29th and, as usual our room was buzzing with activity.  Our presence at the recent Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair proved to be quite beneficial as we had three new quilters join us and we also received several deliveries of quilts and fabrics.  Many thanks to Jan Sly from Tweed Heads, who delivered quilts to us at the Fair, and also Nambour Christian College for the quilts made by some of their senior students.

Quite a lot of discussion seems to be needed here!

Other donations received this month came from Spotlight Australia, who sent copious quantities of curtain fabric (for tote bags) and knitting wool for hats, scarves, slippers and toys; Jenny Rintoul from the Gold Coast gave a donation of children's quilting fabric;  Esther Roberts of Mapleton and Di Ferrugia, are longarm quilters who have generously quilted some of our larger quilts free of charge.  Thanks very much to all of you.

 

4 Paws Animal Rescue was the obvious choice as the recipient for a beautifully appliqued quilt that we recently received.  Their group works tirelessly to rehome dogs and cats for owners who, for various reasons, can no longer keep them, and we are happy to be able to give them a quilt to raffle.



Bev Fleming (left) receiving the quilt from Judy Stewart.

Our intrepid Treasurer, Yvonne, hauled herself out of bed before dawn one morning this month and went to speak to Rotary Club of Alexandra Headland at their breakfast meeting.  As part of her talk she had the leading lights of Rotary modelling her Pop and Nanna sensory aprons which she and Cynthia are showing off below.  They must have enjoyed it as Yvonne came away with a donation of $300, and we were also featured in their newsletter.  So thanks very much to Rotary of Alexandra Headlands for the much needed injection of funds and also the PR.

We had an enormous pile of quilts today, and were able to deliver 140 quilts to Currimundi Special School, so that every student will receive one.

We also distributed 5 baby quilts and knitted baby clothes to Nambour Hospital; 10 weighted blankets and a raffle quilt to Compass in Palmwoods; 2 knitted blankets to Tricare, Kawana; 4 sensory quilts and 3 aprons to Symes Grove; 50 gift pack bags to The Shack in Nambour; 33 drainage bags to an oncology unit in Brisbane; and pj's, boy's clothing, slipper socks and tote bags to Lions Emergency Accommodation in Nambour.  Wow!

 

Further news of our Christmas Party which will be held on December 10th.  Please bring a SMALL plate of food to share, and if you have not already done so, let Cynthia know next meeting what you will bring so that we don't double up too much.  Also, if you would like to bring a present, please bring unwrapped toiletries or small items for adults or children that we can pass on to Lions Emergency for distribution by them.

 

Finally, our November meeting is also our AGM, so please attend if you can.  You're fairly safe from being pressured into anything! 

 

A Show and a Party!

The Queensland Craft and Quilt Fair is currently on in the Convention Centre in Southbank, Brisbane, and Sunshine Linus is sharing an information booth with Project Linus Brisbane in the Queensland Quilt Show area.

The fair will continue until 5pm Sunday, so drop by and say hello if you're in the vicinity.  The girls would love to chat with you.

On the home front, Will and India spent part of their school holidays helping their Nanny, Yvonne to fill some discovery bags for dementia patients.

There's a lot of thought going into choosing the right items.

The bags are filled with rice and all sorts of little trinkets, buttons, old earrings, shells, beads and anything else interesting that Yvonne can find in her sewing room.

Finally, we have definitely secured December 10th at the Uniting Church for our Christmas party. I still have no more details until after our meeting on October 29th, but keep the date free, this is one party you won't want to miss out on!

September Meeting

Our meeting room was vibrating with energy yesterday as we met to discuss, co-ordinate, organize, sew and share, and, as always, much was achieved.
We welcomed visitors from South Australia - Ann's friends who have sent many items of children's knitwear for us - and also from Cooran Quilters - two ladies who have organised their local group to help us out.  Thanks for coming, and we hope you enjoyed your day.
Many thanks also to Kedron-Wavell Medical Centre for their donation of $320 for the purchase of a roll of batting, and to Rowan Young for his donation of funds to cover our liability insurance.  We couldn't manage without the generosity of such people.

On to this month's goodies:

Sweet embroidered memory quilts by Jan

Golly, Orange, Superman and Red are helping Sue with the sorting.

There were some fabulous finished quilts and fun knitted children's hats and lots and lots of Xray bags.

 

Something's happened that doesn't want me to write captions, but at least you get the picture!

On November 26th we'll be holding our Annual General Meeting, and it would be fabulous if everyone could attend; and also we're planning on a Christmas party on December 10th, no details about that yet, but keep the date free.

 

We'll have a presence at the Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair, sharing with Project Linus Brisbane in the Queensland Quilt Show area, so stop by and say hello, we'd love to see you.

 

 

Samford Quilt Show Bus Trip

Yvonne has written to tell us all about the great time they had on Saturday.

Today Sunshine Linus members hired a bus and enjoyed a great day visiting the Samford Quilt Show.  On arrival at the community centre, we were welcomed by Judie, Pat and Cynthia.  Hopefully one of us will win one of the two raffle quilts.

There must be something very interesting outside the bus.

The show was well attended with very interesting quilts on show.  It was hard to make a decision on the viewer’s choice.


What a fabulous quilt to use up all your floral leftovers.  The two stars and the use of blue made this quilt very interesting.

The colours used in this interpretation of a Piece of Cake design is very striking.

All the ladies really enjoyed their morning tea.

 

After lunch we boarded the bus again and headed to Sewco at Mt Gravatt.  All of us were very impressed with the fabrics, knickknacks and demonstrations.  Many a purse was opened up there and many promises to return were made.  It was difficult to get the ladies to come back on the bus again to head home to the Sunshine Coast. 

 

Thelma never wastes a moment!

Hopefully we can organise another bus trip to Gympie, Howard and Hervey Bay in the next few months.                Yvonne

Thanks, Yvonne, for telling us about your day.  It looks like everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Another busy day

We've all been very busy throughout the month creating all sorts of lovely things to help others, and we had the collection table groaning again.

But first, we have to say thanks for some very generous cash donations.

Maroochy North Shore Lions Club have sent a cheque for $300; Redlands Special School $60; Ann Wells $145; Janice Souter $10; and $20 from someone who wishes to remain anonymous.  We also had gifts of fabric once again from Nimble Stitches in Buderim and Kimz Sewing and Patchwork in Warana.  We also received many items from members of the community to distribute, e.g., knitted teddies, crocheted rugs and Xray and tote bags. Thanks so much to everyone and, as always, thanks to all our lovely helpers who sew all month and come along to our meetings and are always such fun!

Doesn't Thelma look winsome in this lovely donated beanie!

 

We've been invited to share the Project Linus booth at Queensland Quilt Show once again this year. The Quilt Show is part of the Craft and Quilt Fair on October 17-21 in Brisbane.  Any members who'd like to be on a roster to spend a couple of hours chatting to visitors about what we do can contact Cynthia, please.

We'll also be having a stall at Queensland Quilters Market Day on November 13th to raise funds for consumable items (wadding, zips, etc.) so any small saleable items will be gratefully received.  Christmassy things are very popular.

Yvonne demonstrated the use of Ezy Angle and Companion Angle rulers, which make constructing  star blocks and half square triangles so simple.  Thanks for the tips, Yvonne.

On to the goodies.

Yvonne and Barb made sensory aprons (touchy feelies) for male dementia patients.

 

If they're half as much fun for the patients as they were for our models they're going to be a big hit!

And Wendy has made another sensory artwork.

These lovelies go to various institutions to assist kids reach their potential in many ways.  I understand this one is off to help deaf children.

 

This lovely needleturn applique quilt came to us as partly completed blocks.  Marg sent the blocks for her sister to finish and then assembled them using a quilt as you go method.  It's so beautiful we'll be donating it somewhere as a raffle quilt.

 

Below are more of the fabulous items received today.

 

 Finally, a reminder that at our next meeting Barb will be demonstrating how to make her scrappy strip quilt as you go blocks as shown below.

Mmm, delicious!

So we'll see you all there on September 24th.

 



July Gathering

It's Judie B doing the blog this month, Bev is having some time off.  We had a simply mind boggling gathering on Monday.  The usual suspects were in attendance and lots of mirth and silliness abounding. 

We commenced show and tell after everyone grabbed a cuppa and a cake and it was truly amazing the amount of beautiful handmade things that were placed on our donations table.  I estimated that approximately 1/3rd of the donated goods came from non-active members who have heard about us, and have forwarded their beautiful creations for us to distribute. 

Thank you to all those crafters who have put their faith in us to distribute their hand made creations on their behalf.  I will give you a break down of where these goods have been donated to, further down this post.

Here's a photo of the goodies that came to us from our own members and other wonderful community crafters. 

Our show and tell usually takes about 3/4 hour and there is a constant flow of beautiful items.  This photo was taken during our show and tell.  The legs belong to me, shame about the body!!  LOL.

After show and tell we got down to labelling items, completing sewing projects, sorting through the massive donations readying them for delivery, cutting fabrics and binding and lots more. 

We receive beautiful quilts from all over and here's a lovely one - it's a I Spy quilt and perfect for a little boy or girl.

We get a huge amount of organising done on our gathering day.  Everyone contributes to the day, stepping in and helping out where needed.  This group is a pure joy to be part of.  Go  Sunshine Linus girls!!

Here's a break down of what goods we have donated and to whom.

• 34 Boys and Girls Quilts delivered to Paterson Ward, RCH
• 12 crocheted Baby garments, including booties, bonnets and 16 swaddling quilts to Nambour Hospital Neo Natal Care
• 12 knitted crazy beanies for Teenage Oncology patients at RCH
• 10 crochet blankets to Tricare, Sunshine Coast
• 12 Blankets of Love to S.A.N.D.S. Brisbane
• 27 Pairs of PJ's, 25 toilet bags, hand knitted jumpers and beanies, knitted dolls and teddies to Salvation Army Women's Refuge
• 57 Xray Bags to Premion
• 20 Drainage Bags to Piecemakers Caboolture
• 14 children's bags and 21 carry bags to Lions Emergency Care Nambour
• 11 touchy feely quilts to special schools
• 13 situpons to Pacific Paradise State School
• 2 Tactile and Language Quilts to Taigum Preschool for the Deaf
• 1 Touchy Feely quilt to Embracia Nursing Home, Beerwah

Quilt as you go

We had another very productive day on Monday 16th July, although there were not so many of us in attendance.
Judie and Bev demonstrated how to join quilted blocks together, and before too long we hope to have a tutorial for that posted here.

We've had some fantastic financial donations:  Buderim Lioness Club has donated $250; and Lions Club of Lake Currimundi-Kawana also have sent a cheque for $200.  Thanks you to those Clubs for much needed funds!

We've also had donations of some beautiful new patchwork fabrics, so many thanks to Kim of Kimz Sewing and Patchwork, and to Julie Day of Nimble Stitches at Buderim.  Please support these traders who support us so generously.
We'd also like to thank Peggy Byrne and Diane Bode for sending along beatifully crocheted rugs and knitted scarves, and others who have sent children's beanies, fancy and plain, and slipper socks;  Leone made 16 Xray bags, and brought along bags of freshly washed children's clothes to be redistributed through Lion's Emergency Centre.  So many people in the community are helping out - just because they can and we're grateful to all of them.

Our distribution list is as follows:-
3 Touchy Feelies to RSL Care Tantula Rise; 4 crochet rugs to Kidney Support Network, Nambour; 2 weighted vests to Compass Institute, Palmwoods; children's clothing, baby rugs, knitted scarves and beanies and slipper socks to Lions Emergency Accommodation Centre; 16 Xray bags to Premion Oncology, Brisbane; and knitted beanies to RCH Children's Oncology.

To end the day the committee had a short meeting and worked out a program for the rest of the year.
July 30th - Next meeting will be an ordinary meeting.
August 27th - Yvonne will give a demo on using special rulers to make easy blocks.
Sept 8th (Saturday) - Bus trip to Samford Quilt Show will include a visit to two quilt shops.  There are three spots still vacant, so if you're interested in joining us please phone Yvonne.
Sept 24th - Strip Quilt as you go blocks, like Barb is making.

Oct 17-21st - Qld Quilt Show at Craft and Quilt Fair - Sunshine Linus will be looking for representatives.

Oct 24th (Wednesday) - Mooloolah Show and Tell - we'd like someone to represent us here too! 

Oct 29th - Mile a minute technique demonstration

Nov 13th (Tuesday)- Market Day at Queenland Quilters - remember that last year we made a lot of small items to sell at this event to raise funds for Linus.

Nov 26th - AGM (will you nominate for a position? - please give it some thought), followed by a crazy Christmas Party.

Then we'll have December off and restart late in January.

Until next time ....