Monday 24th June - Happy Birthday to us!!
We celebrated our third birthday at our gathering in June.  After only three years in operation, we have achieved enormous success in providing quilts and other comforts free to our community here on the Sunshine Coast.  If you'd like to see what we've made and where it's gone, click on the prompt at the right side of this screen. 

Our VP Ann made the most scrumptious cakes and we sang happy birthday to ourselves.  We had intended to play some games and have a bit of frivolity, but we just didn't have the time.  That's not to say we didn't get up to mischief - we seem to be able to do that without thinking!! Lots of giggling and chatting is the order of the day, while our hands are busy sorting, counting and packing and stitching, stitching and stitching.

There is just so much going on at Sunshine Linus.  Every monthly gathering sees another haul of wonderfully hand made items that have not only been made by our regular members but items that have been given to us by the crafting community to distribute for them, to those in need. 

Lately we've noticed that the centres and organisations who receive our donations are requesting us to make certain items that they need, that may not necessarily be something we're making at the present time. 

A good example of this was bought to our attention by Barb from Gympie (yes Barb travels from Gympie each month for our gathering!).  Apparently a lady at Cooinda Aged Care in Gympie contacted Barb and asked if Barb would make a bag to store the footrests that come off wheelchairs when not in use.  (These footrests are detachable to allow patients to roam freely in their wheelchairs by using their feet to propel themselves along).  The footrests need to be stored in a place nearby so they can be replaced on the wheelchairs to keep patients feet safely out of the way when being wheeled by attendants.  These bags are kept on the handles of the wheelchair, so a bag was needed for each wheelchair in the facility.  Barb made a prototype and the Occupational Therapist was very happy with the finished bag and had 12 more made for the mobile patients in the facility.  Different wheelchairs will obviously need different sized bags.  I imagine that we'll be asked to make these bags for other nursing home facilities.  It's such a great feeling knowing we can help in such practical ways.

We have a wonderful member named Joan who is the most prolific knitter I've ever come across.  We've shown a number of Joan's lovely knitted dolls on this blog in the past and here's a few more for you to enjoy.  Joan's skill is remarkable and she arrives each month with a bag full of lovely knitted goodies including dolls and items of clothing for children.  We really appreciate having Joan as a member of Sunshine Linus.  It's always wonderful to be inspired by such beautiful work.  Thankyou Joan and all the other wonderful knitters that make such precious little gifts to our community - your efforts are very much appreciated.



Our Open Day Preparations

They say "if you want something done, ask a busy person", well that rings true for us recently.  Lee is one of our members who works full time and is only able to attend gatherings during the school holidays.  But this doesn't stop her, and we always look forward to seeing her husband Tony drop in at our gatherings as he delivers the lovely quilts Lee has put together over the previous month, and of course collects more projects to keep Lee busy for another month.  Anyway, we were brain storming last month about how we can attract attention from the passing traffic, during our Open Day in August, and Lee volunteered to make some bunting.  Isn't it fabulous?  It's going to look marvellous on our special day. Thanks Lee.

We've also finally got photos of our prizes for our raffle.  We've decided that the winner can decide which prize they prefer - a beautifully crochet pure wool lap rug made by sisters Hazel and Jennifer or a Liberty Print Quilt made by Barb and quilted very skilfully by Diane Farrugia from Quilt Quest. Here's the photos for you.

Here's some more photos of some of the goodies that arrived on Monday and were distributed throughout the community the very same day.  Well done girls!

Above,  Claire is holding some knit fabric socks that we're making for the Dialysis patients at the Renal Unit at Nambour Hospital.  Patients get very cold whilst undertaking dialysis.

We are finding our Touch Feely Quilts and Aprons very popular for Alztheimers patients in nursing and care facilities, especially those patients that are mobile, but high care.  These aprons keep busy fingers occupied.

We receive donations of fabrics and other textiles for which we are most grateful.  We also often are given patchwork blocks that haven't found their way into a quilt top.  Our volunteer sewers are just terrific at putting these orphan blocks into a delightful quilt top.  We waste nothing, always finding a use for any goods that are donated to us.  We use zips for our treasure bags, curtain fabrics for our xray bags, wool for our knitters and crocheters, cording, laces and all manner of haberdashery for our Touchy Feely quilts and aprons, stuffing and batting for our stuffed toys and sit-upons, and of course beautiful patchwork fabrics (particularly children's themed fabrics) for our special quilts for children.

The red quilt was put together by Hazel and hasn't she done a lovely job.  The colour graded quilt top  is a Barb Newman "special", made with donated scraps.  Well done ladies!

 



 

What a busy month we've had.  We are getting ready for our Open Day on the 31st August and invite everyone to come and see what we do and who benefits.  Plus there'll be lots of crafted goodies for purchase as well.  See you there!

The Merry Month of May

We had about 40 ladies in attendance on Monday, and it took us yonks to get through show and tell!  So much stuff!

But first I have to apologise because many of the photos I took were excruciatingly bad and had to be scrapped; there's still a few good ones though.

First up was Orrawin, whose specialty is taking smallish unfinished items and turning them into fabulous quilts.  She did a great job on a bow tie one, but sorry, no usable photo.  Orrawin also showed us this quilt/cape she made for her husband, who is big and tall and has much longer arms than our model, Lorraine.

 

Next is Kay's lovely spiderweb quilt.

 

Joan has been knitting dolls for over 10 years and has now made over a thousand!

They are all so special - and from all walks of life.  I think I see Harpo Marx there.

Joan also crocheted some of these rugs; I wonder what she does in her spare time?

 

Olwyn made a bright star quilt.

 

Margaret Brown sent us this pink flimsy, which a kind person has taken home to complete.

 

...and one from Glenda Halpin.  O!

Judy M made many kiddies carry bags, some of which she has filled with small items; colouring books, pencils, perhaps a small toy and toothbrush or pyjamas.  These little bags are given to children who are going into care and sometimes have to wait for several hours while everything is being organised.  The bags help to keep them occupied in the meantime.

 

I missed who made this quilt - a quickie but a goodie!

 

 

And also these two delightful baby panels

 

A bright star quilt with appliqued and embroidered birds made by Judy and Bev

 

And a fabulous starry quilt from Margaret S.

 

I love this strippy quilt as you go from Ann M.

Sharyn has sent us many, many unfinished quilt tops.  Here are a few of them after quilting, along with the orange one from Carol Beavis.  Thanks, girls.



An enormous amount of our product comes from people that we never meet, and sometimes we don't even know the names of donors, but we're always thankful to be able to pass on their items.

One such group is the Emu Park Crafty Chicks, who have mailed many unfinished quilt tops.  Below is one with beautiful hand embroidered blocks that has recently been finished.

Thank you, Chicks.

 

Some of the items that we make are more useful than beautiful.

This little vest has hidden pockets for small weighted bags, and they are used in classrooms in special schools.  The vests help to calm the children and keep them focussed on their lessons.  Lorraine has made heaps of them in various sizes and they are in high demand.

 

Check out what we distributed this month here.

 

Thank you so much to John Hay, who gave us a donation after receiving a touchy feely apron for his wife Beverley, who is suffering dementia.  Beverley has been much less agitated since receiving the apron.

 

Heaps and heaps of diverse items are being stockpiled for sale at our Open Day on August 31st.  We're hoping to raise lots of funds to purchase wadding and other essentials to continue our giving, and we're looking forward to seeing you all there.
 

In the meantime, keep sewing and we'll catch you next month.................

 

 

 

 

 

Thankyou from Judie B

Hello one and all. 

 

It’s the International Week of the Volunteer and what better reason for sending you a very big THANK YOU to every single volunteer for Sunshine Linus.  We’ve been in operation for three years and have achieved the most amazing amount of support for the Sunshine Coast community and beyond.  It is only with your generous gift of time and resources that we’ve been able to help those in need and in so many different ways. 

If you’ve not yet done so, have a look at what we’ve donated since our beginning in 2010. Click on the following link:
 

http://sunshinelinusgroup.blogspot.com.au/p/what-we-make-and-where-it-goes.html

 
We don’t have an actual figure of members for Sunshine Linus because a great deal of our volunteers work away on their own, in their own homes and arrange for their creations to be distributed by Sunshine Linus.  We don’t see your faces and in some cases know your names, but we truly appreciate the wonderful flow of donations for our community.

 

To each and everyone of you, I offer my most humble THANKS for everything that you do for Sunshine Linus.  Your generosity and community spirit is what makes the operation of Sunshine Linus such a success.  Please pass this message on where possible, to those who you know don’t receive our emails or are on our email list. 

 Looking forward to seeing those who can attend our next monthly meeting on Monday 27th May.

 Cheerio for now

 
Judie Bellingham

President Sunshine Linus Inc.

April meeting

I always seem to start off saying "Another busy day", but I can't help it because it's true!  Lots of ladies, buzzing about; creating, sorting, packing, and sharing skills.  It's so uplifting to be part of a group that's working together and filling a need in the community.  And we're fulfilling a need in ourselves at the same time, and that's important too.

So what happened.

 

Ann's friend, Lorraine, who lives far away in South Australia sent some baby knits by mail.

Lorraine has been knitting for us forever, and just in the last year has sent 107 baby jumpers and cardigans.  Talk about flying fingers!  Thanks, Lorraine.

 

Jan K has been on holidays, fishing I believe, but she found time to embroider these sweet little motifs, and put them into memory blankets when she got home.

So pretty!

 

Claire found some white lace in our supplies and was inspired to make this little lovely.

 

And Nicky demonstrated how to make a shaggy quilt like these.

So effective, and they're so warm and cuddly!  Thanks for sharing, Nicky.

 

Leone always brings in such a haul of product that we think she must sew 23 hours a day!

Amongst it this time were these Xray bags.  The radiology and oncology departments love these for their patients so they don't have to juggle cumbersome Xrays.

 

Of course, in amongst all this loveliness our main focus is quilts; and below is a selection from this month.  I apologise that I do not always remember who made what.

This strippy might look a bit plain, but the other side is pink plush that a little girl is going to fall in love with!

 

I Spy squares and corduroy, what a great combination.

 

And tartan for a big boy.

 

Tweet tweet - too sweet.

 

A scrappy delight, with a very striking border.

.

And lastly, woven pink hearts.  Yes, that is not check fabric in the hearts, its woven strips!

 

Our next meeting will be on May 27th, and we'll be working on preparations for our Open day on August 31st (which is going to sneak up on us real fast!

 

 

 

 



Busy, busy day!

Wow, they came from everywhere!
So many people!

 

And look at this fabulous space that the Nambour Uniting Church allow us to use, FOR FREE!

We really couldn't continue without their generosity, and we're very grateful.

 

Chris Potter, from Gifts4KidsInCare came to talk to us today (that's her standing way over in the corner), to tell us what an impact the gift of a quilt can make on a foster child, and how treasured these gifts are.  We've been supporting her efforts for a couple of years now, and supplied over 250 quilts, but there is still a great need.

 

 

Here's Chris and Cynthia (our Secretary) holding two of the quilts that Chris collected from us today to start her winter appeal.  There are a lot more kids in foster care than most of us realise.

 

With so many in attendance today Show and Tell was quite a long affair.

Quilts, chemo caps, crocheted rugs, knitted items for babies and children, touchy feely quilts and aprons, pieced quilt tops and backs, all manner of tote bags, and sit-upons; the list is endless.

 

 

The tables are groaning under today's haul!

 

Just before I leave you with some photos of individual items to drool over, I'll remind you that we're having an extra meeting on April 15th, mostly to work on making, packing and pricing items for our sales stall at Open Day on August 31st.  (More about that as the time draws nearer.)  Then we're back to our normal meeting on April 29th, which will feature a raggy quilt mini-workshop.

There's always plenty happening!

 

 

Cosy baby wraps

This one is such fun

 The stained glass effect is the backlighting from window behind, and the leaves are on the backing.  Pretty, isn't it?

 

Stunning colours

 

We're very lucky to have so many talented and generous people making for us.

Thank you all.