The Joy of Hoy’s Bags

Hi all,

If you attended our Annual Thank You Weekend and came to our Volunteers’ Gathering you will have received one of the Goodie Bags…

There are a few of things you need to know. Firstly, I start collecting goodies from all sorts of people as soon as one dinner is finished. The same goes for the Lucky Door Prizes. They come from anywhere and anyone. I already have some books from Pan McMillan ready for next year.

Around the middle of the year, my husband, David, starts driving them down to his place in Canberra. For those that do not know David works in Canberra and we have a townhouse down there.

Some were also dropped off at Melissa’s home. On the Wednesday night before the dinner David and I drove to Melissa’s home and filled my car with Goodie Bag bits to transport them to the hotel as there was no way Melissa could fit them all in her car. On the Friday afternoon the packing began. The goodies to go into the bag were spread all around my room and then the “fun” began. Everything was packed by a team of awesomeness.

From left to right, the three ladies who came to pack the bags were Tricia (wife of our Deputy Chief of Air Force), Melissa (wife of our Chief of Air Force) and Melissa P who many of you will have met. Melissa P is the proud Army wife of Sam, a recipient from our early days (2013 I think). Melissa stores all our goodie bag items at her home and she has been helping with the dinner, and especially with the goodie bags, for a number of years. Unfortunately, me and her husband are heading off on posting next year so she will not be in Canberra. Melissa is promising to fly back for the dinner though, how is that for dedication.

Thanks so much ladies. You are all awesome!

The big surprise of the night were the lovely bags which all the goodies were packed into.

The Joy of Joy’s bags.

70 bags, all different and all made with love. Joy did not make it to the dinner this year but I wish she could have been. I decided we need a special blog post just to pay tribute to all of her hard work. Joy said she used fabric that was not suitable for Aussie Hero Quilts and she sewed these bags at times when she would not normally be sewing an Aussie Hero Quilt.

Everyone loved to choose their own bag and we even had some spare labels from ClothCuts to share.

Clarissa

Fran T

Gail

Sheena

As I said, Joy was so generous, making enough bags for everyone and I felt we just had to do justice to all her hard work by sharing these pictures and the story of the bags.

Til next time….. keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree xx