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Dear Pennie,
I received your beautiful laundry bag today and I was so excited. I don’t think I have ever been this eager to do my washing. The cats on the inside of the bag are amazing.
I can’t wait for the quilt – I can only think of how fantastic it will be and it will be lovely to put on my bed to make it feel more like home.
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I just wanted to extend my heartfelt thank you to the ladies at the Country Women’s Association in Queanbeyan for the absolutely stunning quilt they made for me! It was so perfect it brought a tear to my eye! I can see that they have put much time, effort and love in creating the most wonderful quilt for me. It has taken pride of place on my bed, giving my room over here that amazing boost of colour it needs.
Thank you so much to the ladies and everyone else out there who make these quilts and laundry bags for those of us deployed. It really does make such a difference to know that people care. It is so hard being away from our friends and loved ones for so long but what you all do brings the biggest smiles to our faces.
I would especially like to thank the ladies for placing a special message on my quilt from a loved one back home – it is the perfect touch to the most perfect quilt!
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Dear Pamela,
Just a quick email to let you know your box of laundry bags have arrived and I am going to forward them on to some of our personnel at a remote location that are often forgotten about. I note that each one of your bags has a note enclosed so I hope the grateful recipients will drop you a line.
The bags are true blue beautiful! A lovely little reminder of home in each one of them. On behalf of all the women and men out here serving in the Air Task Group, thank you so much for your support it really is appreciated.
To help you understand what we are doing, Operation OKRA is the ADF’s contribution to the international effort to combat the Daesh terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, the Air Task Group is the Royal Australian Air Forces contribution to the Operation.
Once again many thanks
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G’day Jan-Maree,
I have received my quilt and laundry bag (from Gwenda) and have to say I am blown away.
The work you guys do is amazing. Definitely brought a smile to my face.
Thank you all for the work you do.
Regards,
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Kate,
I’m writing you today whilst sitting on my new amazing quilt.
Firstly, thank you so much for the time and effort it must take to create something like what you made for me! The incorporation of the rising sun just made that even little bit more personal, so my sincerest gratitude.
A little about me; I have been in the army for ten years as an armoured corps soldier,and this is my fourth deployment, third to the Middle East. This rotation is somewhat slower than previous ones. With my team, we are the ones doing the hands on training with the Iraqis. This trip will probably be around about seven – eight months long in duration. This rotation is somewhat slower than previous ones although meaningful, its still along time away from home from my wife and 7 month old son!!! I will say that the wives I think have a far tougher job than us boys over here!!! I’m just extremely thankful that friends and family are so supportive of her!
I’ve seen my soldiers previously get the quilts and thought about how amazing a job you folks do in taking the time to make these, and that given the opportunity I would get one this time.
I will cherish this gift.
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Joan,
I am emailing you to thank you for the laundry bag that you sent through Aussie Hero Quilts!
I appreciate the thoughts and random act of kindness from a stranger! Rest assured its been put to good use on board! Its a really uplifting thing to receive a gift that you didn’t expect from someone you have never met so thank you for all of your efforts it really does brighten your day when you are at sea and away from your loved ones!
I hope my email finds you and your family well and my very best wishes to you!
Yours aye,
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Jean,
I had the most wonderful parcel arrive this week, it was the laundry bag you made!
Wow; it is beautifully made and the Australian animal material is fantastic. I loved the blue tongue lizard aboriginal print. Thank you ever so much, you really made my day.
I also really enjoyed reading your letter.
I have seen many laundry bags since I have been here and marvel at their originality. It really does mean so much to the service men and women to receive such a personal gift. Thank you for the many hours you must spend sewing, it is really appreciated.
Best wishes
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Dear Joan & Robin
I just want to say many thanks for the laundry bag that you made and sent to me, it was fantastic to receive it and the design was great. It will be put to good use. I will endeavour to take a picture for you and email it to you when I get a chance.
regards
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Carolyn,
Thank you so much for the fantastic superhero quilt that you have made for me. You have put far more effort and time into it than I could imagine. I assure you that the personal touch you put into it really does make a difference for morale here. A highlight of receiving mail is when one of the team receives a quilt!
I requested a super hero quilt due to having two young sons at home, one five and one three, both of whom are great fans of the different super heroes. Having your quilt is a great reminder of my boys and in some small way lets me connect with them. When i get home I hope that it becomes something we can all sit under whilst watching any of the kids’ movies that they like. i am sure they will love it as much as I do!
I have been here now for over six months living in a tent in the desert. We have had over four months above 45 degrees so I will not be using the quilt for warmth! I have about a month now then will be heading for home again. It is a long trip but it is good to hear that there are people like yourself supporting us there – I know we don’t get much news coverage on what we are doing and many people would have forgotten we are here…
Thanks once again for your effort and support and I will be sure to treasure the quilt until it falls apart!
Regards,
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Thank you, your daughter and Lisa N for the Aussie Hero Quilt you made for me. Where I am based it is a monotonous sand coloured place including the buildings. Your quilt brings a bit of colour into my life here.
I requested a Northern Australia themed quilt and you nailed it. I grew up in Far north QLD near Cairns, as the country singer 8 Ball Aitken says, they call Far North QLD because North Queensland wasn’t good enough or far enough. The blue and green colours, with the frogs and lizards remind me of the rainforests there. As the tourist ads say “It is where the rainforest meets the reef”.
It is good to see in this world of consumerism that sewing skills are still being used and passed on. Your children may not always appreciate it now or in their early twenties but one day they will require sewing something and will be happy you taught them.
Thank you to your daughter for giving up some time on her school holidays as well. I spent most of my school holidays hanging with my mates riding bikes to various swimming holes and occasionally working with my father on weekends and wouldn’t have thought of doing something for a stranger.
Thanks again, you are the champions working unselfishly.
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I wanted to personally thank you SO much for the work you and your team do.
I received one of your quilts (that my brother Michael requested be sent to me) and I just had to jump on here and thank you so much. I absolutely love it and it brought tears to my eyes. I think what you and all your team do is an incredible thing. Thank you so much for YOUR time and sacrifice for making something so special that will remain in our family for the rest of our lives. I would absolutely jump on the quilt knitting bandwagon if I had any idea how to use a sewing machine but unfortunately I don’t so for now all I can say is thank you!
All the best, keep up the amazing work!
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Lovely messages indeed.
I love reading these messages, if anyone needs reminding why we do what we do, read these thankyou's! Wonderful!!