Monday 24th September

Sunshine Linus President Susan Hoy introduced visitors from two different organisations during our September meeting.

Jan is a volunteer in Tanzania assisting births and teaching the ‘Helping Babies Breathe’ program. She heard of Sunshine Linus through Jackie from the Buderim Private Hospital. Jan spoke of the work being done in Tanzania and the need for beanies for new born babies and also baby cocoons that can be knitted or made from fabric. 

Ruth Morgan who is the Recreation Officer, and Raquel a Clinical Nurse, work in the ‘Acute Restorative Care Unit’ in the Nambour General Hospital. They presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Sunshine Linus.  They requested items that could be used in the unit such as ‘sensory mats’ (with the emphasis on the material used such as corduroy), and quilts that ‘tell a story’, for example, a country theme, pets, gardening, or tactile animal shapes.

Susan modelled an ‘interlock wrap’ that will be trialled to see if it would be more versatile than shawls for patients. She also showed a neck pillow made of cotton material and stuffed with wadding off-cuts.

Rosemary showed a set of pretty Christmas decorations. They are an ideal ‘touchy feely’ item for the Alzheimer patients at the Carramar Aged Care facility.

Orrawin showed two quilts this month. The first called ‘Everything but the Kitchen Sink’ combined lots of different blocks. The back of the quilt had a more tropical feel. This quilt would be suitable for a male.

The second quilt was very quirky with lots of colourful blocks pieced to give a more modern feel.

This quilt included 12 machine-embroidered horse blocks that were found on the 'freebie table'.

Cynthia designed this clever quilt which incorporated a central lion’s head block made by Jan from Chinchilla. Cynthia added the animal print half square triangles to compliment the lion.

Dorothy showed a fun quilt called ‘Bathing Beauties’ and a very cute ‘Dora the Explorer’ quilt that would be perfect for a little girl.

Dee showed a selection of quilts she quilted this month including a ‘Winnie the Poo and Tigger’ quilt suitable for a child,

 …a grizzly bear quilt that would be perfect for a male and a multi-colour quilt with large pieces added to the side to enlarge the quilt, both made by Lesley.

There were also a number of striking geometric quilts among Dee’s collection.

….and a pretty applique quilt with a very unusual border.

Anne made two quilts: a lovely intricate quilt called ‘Paisley Panache’ which included 16 machine-embroidered blocks and a bright boy’s machine-appliqued quilt called ‘Traffic Jam’.

Claire showed two weighted toys, a dog and a red-belly black snake.  

Claire has also been working with Mooloolah State School; they had a competition for the children to design sensory toys.  The first prize is Narwahl Comet. Claire drafted a pattern from the drawing and made a prototype and then the final version.  

The second prize is a seal and the prototype was made from minky farbric. The final version needs to be made from 12 different fabrics! Good luck Claire!

Some reminders:

• The next Action Day is on October 15^th and Lyn P will be demonstrating how to make a blockenspiel and we will also pack Christmas and Activity bags
• More volunteers are needed for the Open Day Saturday, 17^th August next year - contact Susan
• Don’t forget to check out the ‘What’s on and Where?’ page on the blog
• Maleny Arts and Crafts Biennial Quilt Show will be held on September 29^th and 30^th, Maleny Showgrounds.
• Gympie Rotary Quilt Craft Spectacular November 3^rd and 4^th https://quiltandcraft.org/