Month of May a busy time for Sunshine Linus.

26th May 2014

Last Monday was another productive and busy day, with three special guests and a number of new faces at the tables working busily.  The distribution table was overflowing with wonderfully made items and unbelievably was all packed up and distributed by days end. 

Thanks always to Claire for her amazing organisation skills, and we need to thank Rose, Shirley and Ali who worked like Trojans in assisting Claire.  I might add here that Rose has her leg in plaster but still managed to make a big contribution to the organisation and packing.  Thanks ladies very much, it's very much appreciated.

A couple of the managers from Sunny Kids addressed the group and it was great to hear about the sorts of things Sunny Kids do for the community on the coast.  We have been supporting Sunny Kids for some time now, and it looks like we shall continue to do so for a long time to come.

We welcomed Aunty Trudy (Indigenous Community Resource Facilitator) and Neal Whiteman (from the Sunshine Coast Private Hospital Reconciliation Action Plan), who spoke to the group about a terrific initiative that brings together the whole community - raising awareness for the need for tolerance and reconciliation within the Sunshine Coast Community by the giving of the Kanyini Bear. 

These bears are knitted bears with an indigenous themed colour scheme, and a wonderful back story of the meaning of Kanyini - and how it relates to all of the community, where ever you live.  This initiative relies on the volunteer handiwork of keen knitters on the coast and Sunshine Linus is happy to contribute to this worthy cause.  The plan is that every child born at the Sunshine Coast Private hospital will receive a hand knitted Kanyini bear.  It is a sign of reconciliation and certainly a good conversation starter!  We will receive wool and patterns in the near future.

We also welcomed Kylie Moore from Equity Works who have requested a raffle quilt for their fund raising event in October at the Eumundi Markets.  We also received an invitation to hold a stall  at that event and we'll be taking that opportunity to connect with the organisations that we can help and perhaps fundraise a little for more batting.  We held a brief committee meeting after the SL gathering to nut out our plan of action for the event day, 11th October.  We will be making some terrific hand made items for sale, so those of you who would like to, please get those hands busy!

Show and Tell as always was busy and newsy and lots of fun.  Here's a rundown of photos and comments from our monthly looky see!




The table was brimming with
wonderfully handmade
 items ready for counting and distribution
 - and this was before everyone had arrived!

 

Our Queens of the Shops, Lyn & Jan
 are responsible for this marvellou
s array of brand new items
 of clothing and stationery for Sunny Kids.





Knitted socks and fingerless
mittens for patients who undergo
Renal Dialysis




Our lovely friends from South Australia
arrived with a armful of beautiful
knitting

 

These gorgeous zipper bags
were made by Leone and were
delivered to Sunny Kids



This fiddle bag was made by our SA
friends and is terrific.

Some lovely shopping bags fashionisted up
by Annie Wells and her SA buddies.



A couple of Claire's creations on show





Our resident surgeon doing a delicate
operation on a knitted serpent for
Aunty Trudy - well done Olwyn!



 

Don't adjust your screen - this really is weird!
Nicky bought along this "body sock" which
she has made for some autistic children
at her primary school.  These are made from
good quality lycra and the children love them
and it provides a calming influence when being
worn!  We'll be making more of these.
 

This HUGE touchy feely is a cover for an
inflatable cushion used by students at
Caboolture Special School.  Claire has done
a marvellous job.

 

Another very clever touchy feely

Touchy feelies are being made by a lot of SL members and it's amazing the variety of ideas that are going into these sensory quilts.  Some of the members have told me that they didn't think they had this sort of creativity in them, so it's pleasing to see them sprouting wings and flying with new skills.




And another......

Drainage Bags for Surgical Wards

QUILTS, QUILTS & MORE QUILTS!

 

Denise finished this quilt top after the
machine quilting workshop a few weeks ago.
Great job Denise.

 

Rose didn't let a major foot operation
stop her from completing some quilt tops.

Annie was given these precut squares and
created this lovely top

Our lovely friends at Emu Park sent this beautifully
embroidered quilt top for us to finish.

Some curtain scraps from Olwyns stash.

Yvonne made some preemie quilts

A recently joined member Lyn came with an arm load of
quilts!  Well done Lyn

 

Daphne wanted to show us how much
she'd learnt from the Kay Nightingale class.

A very generous donation from Yvonne - and
beautifully put together too!

This masterpiece is the second in a series of "Sensory Quilts" that accompany a story book.  Very expertly made by Claire and is from the story Wombat Stew.  You will notice that just about every detail is detachable, which makes for excited students when they can FEEL what they are hearing being read to them.  Claire has become our resident quilt artist EXTRAORDINAIRE!















April 28th Linus gathering

Our April gathering saw 45 members in attendance on what turned out to be a very busy yet productive day.  How wonderful it is to witness the generosity of these marvellous people, as they busily put labels on quilts, bind quilts, package items, count and pack for delivery, press fabrics, sort through fabrics, arrange haberdashery and so much more. Oh, and the home bake was particularly yummy this meeting! 


 

Kay Nightingale hosting Show & Tell


Kay Nightingale our Long Arm Quilter Extraordinaire hosted the Show and Tell part of our day and injected a friendly and warm sense of fun into this very important part of our day.  As always, our members have made huge efforts to make all manner of items that are needed by the community of the Sunshine Coast.  We received some more donated fabrics this month and this came in very handy for those who are busy making quilts for our commitments toward the end of the year.


Claire works hard to get all our items ready for distribution at the end of the day.
 
 
  We have many crafters from far and wide who generously provide items for us to distribute and we received a lovely package from the girls in South Australia this week.  They are dear friends of Ann Wells, and as in previous months have been knitting up a storm and sent us some lovely baby items for the neo natal nurseries that we support.  Well done ladies!



Just some of the lovely baby knitting done by our SA friends.



A Micro Preemie Baby Hat

 
 
 

Some Polar Fleece PJ's for littlies made beautifully by Bev.


 

Sensory Wall Hanging

We have been receiving requests from Nursing Homes for Sensory or touchy feely wall hangings that can be used as interactive calming tools for patients.  Here's a terrific example made using some orphan blocks.  Very creative the SL girls!

We managed to donate some 25 or so Wheel Chair Quilts to the Muscular Dystropy organisation on the coast.  These are extremely popular amongst the patients who are wheel chair bound.

We welcomed Michelle and Megan from IFYS and were able to make sure they didn't leave empty handed.  We donated some children's clothing, toys and little quilts to this Foster Care program. We sincerely hope that this will be an ongoing relationship for many years to come.

Wheel Chair Quilts

Both Rosemary and Claire have been busy making touchy feely aprons.  Great job girls!

Rosemary and Touchy Feely Apron

Claire's Touchy Feely Apron

A really beautifully knitted rug and matching cushion were
donated and will be used as our 2nd prize at our next Open Day.

 

These fabrics are upholstery samples and have been sewn together
the quilt as you go method, by Claire.

 

Another String Quilt and Quilt as you Go Method.

 

Orawin started with the Dresden plate and just
grew the borders around and around.

 

Another really effective scrappy quilt

 

All manner of greens make this a gem.

 

Wyn created this from an orphan block, well done Wyn!

 

Denise and her anything can be made from scraps quilt

 

Our other Denise with a beautifully colourful creation

 

So good to see Sandra
from the Isa visiting us and catching up with friends

 

Little Preemie nighties for humidicribs

 

Gorgeous clothing packages including tops, bottoms and undies made by the
Bubs and Kids group

 

This colourful creation is to become a raffle quilt

 

Our Zig Zag expert put together this one - just stunning Kay

 

Lots of fabrics, very colourful too.

 

Maggie and her very pretty pastel quilt

 

These items were donated by two very generous hearts, Lyn and Jan,  who are
also very savvy shoppers - and great helpers on our gathering day.

 

Yes, these log cabin blocks are very tiny - well done too.

 

Joanne made these unique wheelchair quilts.



Cathy completed this creation that had been given by a friend.

 


Another happy and bright wheel chair quilt


 

 

Barb from Gympie is a beautiful crocheter, isn't this stunning?

Claire - and her "We're going on a Bear Hunt" Wall hanging that was made for the
Special Needs students at Caboolture Special School

 

Our intrepid creative quilter Claire has done it again.  We were approached by the staff at Caboolture Special School to assist in the creation of some sensory, touchy feely wall hangings to compliment the school's collection of big books.  So Claire started with that well known children's book "We're going on a Beat Hunt".  Above is the over all picture and below is the special creativity that makes this hanging so special.

 

Lift off Grass, and flowing river, and of course muddy foot prints in the mud

 

Removable Trees and the snow storm and of course the bear in the cave!

 

Everyone hurries to home with the green door and snuggles under

the pink quilt.

 Well, as you can see we had a very big meeting and managed to deliver lots of goodies to many different organisations and individuals on the Sunshine Coast.  We look forward to our Machine Quilting Workshop on the 12th May for those who would like to learn how to use the walking foot on their machine to simply quilt small quilts.

 

Our next gathering is the 26th May.  See you there!