Monday 25th June

Wow! What a busy meeting this month! There’s been so much happening at Sunshine Linus these past weeks! It’s quite sobering to think about the massive effort undertaken each month, not only in the output and distribution of donated items, but also in setting up and running the meeting and of course this would not happen without the individual effort of all of you!

The introduction of the new membership fee and card was initiated on Monday. Jan and Marion were firmly ensconced at the entry ready to receive membership forms and fees. A total of 72 memberships plus one life membership were received on the day. Don’t worry if you didn’t get a chance to join this month as there will be the opportunity to do so next month.

The distribution table was brimming with a range of gorgeous knitted items ready for immediate distribution with the colder weather upon us. Thank you to all the knitters, members and non-members!

Glenis showed some of the beautiful beanies she has knitted and donated.

Margaret from the Hibiscus Retirement Village at Sippy Downs shared how members from her group who had previously knitted items for the Royal Brisbane Hospital are now knitting baby items for the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. 

Cynthia showed a beanie knitted in the symbolic Aboriginal colours of red, yellow and black. Sunshine Linus would be happy to receive more beanies in these colours.

Neil from the Sunshine Coast Private Hospital said ‘thank you’ for the donation of the dozens of knitted and crocheted ‘Kanini bears’. These bears are to be distributed to children during Naidoc week on the 14^th July at Cotton Tree Park.

Maggie from the Reconciliation Group thanked Sunshine Linus for the many quilts that are donated to Aboriginal communities each month.

One other guest speaker this month was Hayley from the Bendigo Bank. She reminded us to encourage friends and family to bank with the Bendigo Bank. Of course the Bendigo Bank is one of Sunshine Linus’ key sponsors. We did notice the slight height difference Kaye!

One very special announcement this month was Judie receiving ‘life membership’ as the founding member back in 2010. She was also given the first membership card (number 1) for Sunshine Linus. Judie was most surprised and very touched by this announcement.

This month Sunshine Linus also celebrated its 8^th birthday! Happy Birthday Sunshine Linus! The long-time members of Sunshine Linus: Judy, Jan, Sharon, Judie, Thelma and Liz gather around to cut the cake!

‘Show and Tell’ began with Susan showing a very versatile boy’s hooded jacket she had made from an old blanket.

Cynthia showed a quirky 'touchy feely' glove puppet Elaine had made.

Annie showed a very complicated looking ‘strippy quilt’ she had started on the last Action Day.

Bev showed four lovely quilts hand-quilted by an 83 year old friend!

Dorothy has been busy making more delightful children’s quilts.

Leone showed a number of scrappy children’s quilt tops and 'strippy' quilts that were donated by Maleny Patchwork Magic and the Mountain quilters. There was also a beautifully knitted rug made by a member of the Mountain Quilters.

Joy showed a delightful Dragons and Wizards quilt and a very intricate ‘one block wonder’ hexagon quilt she had pieced.

Lesley from Mapleton has donated two sets of very cute embroidery blocks ready to be made into quilts.

Gabriele showed a gorgeous crocheted rug made by the ladies from her craft group at Peregian. She also showed a very quirky bag made from knitted strips of scrap fabric!

Pat showed an aquatic-themed quilt made from strips and squares.

Judie has kept herself busy once again machine-quilting a number of the donated quilt tops.

Kaye also quilts many of the donated quilt tops. Below are 3 quilts she assembled and quilted, each with beautifully embroidered blocks.

Other news this month… the Cancer Council, Noosa Branch raised $5200 at an event after being gifted a Sunshine Linus raffle quilt and Faye was excited to share that her Bribie Island View Club has managed to raise $1460 with Anne’s Racoon quilt!

The ‘Gifts of Gratitude’ recipients this month were Joy, Thelma, Leone, Bonnie, Dee and Ann. Well done ladies!

And finally… Kaye reminded us of Action Day on Monday 16^th July 9am-1pm (approximately). We will be making quilts from scraps of fleecy fabric so come join us!

One more thing… ‘Thank you’ to Jill who very graciously stepped in to fill the shoes of our trusty assistant blog editor Carole who was unable to attend the meeting on Monday.

Sunshine Coast Agricultural Show 2018

As many of you know, the annual Sunshine Coast Agricultural Show was held recently at the Nambour Showgrounds from 15^th - 17^th of June. It was very exciting to discover that two of our Linus members were asked to judge the handcrafts section!

One of our members Judie, also had the opportunity to be interviewed by Robert Blackmore on Thursday June 14^th about the work of Sunshine Linus on ABC Sunshine Coast radio (90.3).

There was also a colourful display of items made by Sunshine Linus members on the ground floor of the main pavilion.

Don’t forget to come ready to pay your membership fee tomorrow! You will find a link to the membership form on the right hand side of the blog page in the pages section. This form can be downloaded and/or printed off. You will need to bring this form and $10 (fee for the remainder of this year) to the next meeting. The annual membership fee beginning next year will be $20.

Promoting Sunshine Linus

Judie was recently invited to attend the monthly View Club at Buderim on 6th June where she had the opportunity to speak about the history of Sunshine Linus and its mission. She showed a collection of items from her “Demonstration Bag” and answered many questions from an interested audience. Judie enjoyed talking to this group of dedicated, community-minded women. Below is a link to the View Club for those who might be interested in what they do for their local community.  http://view.org.au/find-a-club/qld/clubs/buderim-view-club/

Jenny and Judie at the View Club

Judie also visited the Villa Serena Aged Care Facility run by Allity at Robina on the Gold Coast. These ladies work tirelessly as Diversional Therapists and are always looking for different ways of entertaining and encouraging their residents to participate in various activities. They had heard about Sunshine Linus through a staff member who was working at the organisation. Again Judie went equipped with her trusty “Demonstration Bag” and a few large bags of "give-aways" for the Diversional Therapists to start utilizing amongst the residents.

Anthea, Elizabeth and Marie

If you know of an organisation who would like to have a speaker from Sunshine Linus attend or if you belong to a community group who would like a guest speaker from Sunshine Linus to speak to your group, please don't hesitate to contact us via email at sunshinelinus@gmail.com