A random message out of the blue from a recipient from years ago
We love getting messages like these. It is so good to know that these quilts live on long after the deployment is finished.
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Hi Aussie quilts. I have one of your quilts from my deployment to Afghanistan in 2015. It has become one of those things in our house you always had. Like one of those things from your childhood home you can always remember your parents having
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The photo is taken in my ‘sick bay’, which is my workplace on the ship. I’m the ship’s doctor and share this area and a small office area with two medics (as you may know, medics in the Navy are trained as a sort of halfway between paramedics and enrolled nurses). We have fun in our little team… other people on the ship come visit to keep us busy – a few interesting cases, but a majority of ‘manflu’ and little injuries from people attempting gym exercises when the ship is rolling around in the ocean… other than that people are behaving themselves which is good. I also work closely with our ship’s Chaplain – as your husband would know these deployments can be hard on some members so between the both of us we try to keep them happy and well supported.
While I love the main part of the job, I also love the port visits – it is definitely an amazing way to see the world! A lot of the time I’ll still have work, like taking people to hospitals or getting scans done, but when we get time off it’s great. Seeing a lot of new countries which is always good!
My Mum is also an avid quilter and actually makes quilts as part of a group Community Quilts, and gives them to people in hospital or after bushfires etc. I was pretty excited to show her the Laundry Bag you made me!
Thank you again – it really is appreciated!
Hello Shirley,
Just wanted to pass on a quick thanks for the quilt you sent through. It might seem like a small thing, but little packages in the mail like that can really bring up our spirits over here. The quilt is great, and I’ll definitely have it either on my bed or hanging from the wall even when I return home. You have quite some skill!
This is my first overseas deployment, and I think I underestimated how much I would miss my siblings, who I can’t talk with as frequently as my girlfriend. They are scattered around the world so arranging for a group Skype chat when we are all available is quite the feat, but really worth it. My brother was in the Army and served in Afghanistan. We sent him a lot of care packages while he was over there, which he thanked us for, but I don’t think I fully realised what it meant to get a small reminder of home until I was in a similar position myself. It really does brighten your day, regardless of what is inside the small box.
Hope all is well with you, and please know that the Aussie Hero quilts are very well appreciated (and sought after) over here.
Thank you so much for our laundry bag! What a thoughtful and generous gift.. we wanted to let you know how much we as a family appreciated all your efforts and that we are avid Star Wars fans!
Thank you again, we love it.
First of all, sorry for the late response. I absolutely love the WOW quilt and murloc bag that you have created for me, it actually surpassed my expectations.
The Horde/Alliance sigil is perfect, and I love the quotes on the back! My wife loves the murloc bag as well!
I really like reading about other peoples experiences from the game, it’s such an amazing world that I am thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of.
I never really got into cosplay but I do appreciate the work that goes into the outfits!
I also have a Staffy which we called Gracie, she turned 8 this year. She is a little smaller than most of them that you come across, she is super cute though. She is also rather spoilt most of the time, she really knows how to get what she wants.
This is my first deployment, I look forward to having the chance to go over and serve for a second time, maybe not for a couple of years though.
I would just like to say thanks again, it was a fantastic gift to receive, we are going to use it for our first born (we are due in a few months).
Kind Regards
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We have been work colleagues for many years and for him to be able to request such a special gift is wonderful.
I joined the RAAF as an Air Mover. This job involves the loading and unloading of cargo aircraft. We specialise in vehicles, emergency relief, passengers and general cargo etc.
My job has taken me to different locations throughout Australia as well as Antarctica, USA, the Phillipines, New Zealand just to name a few.
I hope this letter expresses how grateful I am to have this quilt that you made.
Kind Regards,
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I want to start by saying, thank you very much for the laundry bag (you should have seen how happy I was when I opened it). I proudly took it around the ship showing other people. I have attached a photo of my car for you to see.
So about my job. I am posted to HMAS Ballarat. My core job is to manage the maintenance of our Seahawk helicopter and I conduct this with a group of 13 maintainers, we call it a flight. As Ballarat is a mining town, the aircraft’s name is Gold digger. I find this a very rewarding job as I have a big part in ensuring out aircraft can get out every day and search for suspicious boats for the ship to investigate. I have been in the Navy for 18 years this year and currently and have had many great adventures. I am currently planning to leave after 20 years to move onto something else to be closer to my family and start a new chapter.
My Family. I have been married for 13 years and have been with my wife for 18 years. We have two children together, an 11yo boy, and 8yo girl. We also have a Husky. We have been working toward building our own home for a long time now and ironically it is now over a year old and I have only lived in it for 2 months. I am really looking forward to getting back there to enjoy it with them.
And me. I grew up in Tasmania with a younger sister and brother. I rode BMX, went rock climbing and Kayaking worked at a service station on weekends. I joined the Navy at 18 and have never regretted it. I love the environment, the ocean and tinkering on cars old or new. I am part of a movement called Take 3 where we encourage people to just take 3 pieces of rubbish with them whenever they go to a beach, park or any ware really. I currently like to go stand up paddle boarding in the surf, I find it works well for me as I can see the kids playing on the shore while I am in the surf. As for the cars, they have just always been a part of my life and I like the satisfaction of working on and rebuilding them.
Once again, thank you very much for taking on my request. It really does mean a lot to all of us out here when we receive them.
Serving you proudly
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Hello Chris,
I serve in the Royal Australian Navy as a Hydrographic Systems Operator. I’m still rather new to the job, I joined straight out of high school.
Out of all my siblings, I am the 7th child. All of my siblings get along well and I really enjoy when we get together on big occasions like Christmas or mums birthday. The oldest sibling is 28 and the youngest is 14. As I am a surveyor the trips that we go on aren’t that long. I enjoy this job as it gives me the opportunity to explore new foreign places. I’ve been to Bali, Jakarta, Langkawi, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
It is a very exciting job at times and the friends I’ve made in the force are irreplaceable.
Kind regards,
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Hi Gail and Jan-Maree
Thank you so much for the quilt. It is wonderful. I think I might even take it when we go on exercise and we are allowed swags.
I also think my daughter loved it as she has pulled it out of the cupboard a few times to use when lying down in the lounge room. She is now 2 years old and full of attitude, character and beans. I love being back with her and my wife to be a family again.
I’m sure you are aware by now. I was over in Afghanistan. I was deployed as a Craftsman and was part of the maintenance crew over there.
As part of my job, I got to travel around to a lot of the other bases in the area to keep our equipment up and running. As you can imagine it got quite cold over there during winter with a few snowfalls of around 30cm.
Thank you both once again for your support. It really does make being so far from home a little easier knowing people back home appreciate what we do.
Thank you once again
Your Aye
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