It would be great if you could aim to have your blocks in the mail no later than the end of September.

Lots of lovely thank you messages to share with you today.  So nice to know that what we do is making a difference.  Just about every day I hear that we are raising morale and they really appreciate it.

Caroline and the Nine Patches,

When I emailed this lovely young lady to ask permission to publish her picture this is the response I got

Isn’t that lovely. Everyone is loving reading the messages from the guys and gals over there so please keep sharing them so we can all enjoy them.  

I was passed a gorgeous thank you email and photo and, of course, requested permission to publish and this is the response:


I have no problem at all with posting my email on the blog. However, I have attached my picture with a small change. I’m unable to publish unedited photos of myself whilst I’m serving over here. So if you could use the new picture I’d more than happy to give you permission.
I think it gives me a more mysterious look anyway….

I have also attached a photo of the type of scenery we have over here to give you a sense of why colour is sometimes missing from our lives whilst serving.

All the best, and keep up the great work

And here is the original email to his quilter, Pam M.

Thanks so much for the care package. I received it couple of days ago
and have been using the Hero quilt and laundry bag since.
Unfortunately the biscuits only lasted a few minutes in the
office…..
I have seen some of the other guys with hero quilts, and have been
envious since.
I have made a small space where I watch DVDs and write emails. Its a
great spot but its right next to the airconditioner and is freezing. A
simple and less inventive fix would be to turn the aircon down or off,
but simple isn’t always the best. Now, as you can see, I have the
perfect fix!
With thanks

Naomi got a very special thank you for he quilt that she made at the request of a wife.   Today she received a lovely email from that wife and a photo of it on his bed!

I received a request for a laundry bag and suggested that I send a box full as one laundry bag takes up so little space – here is the response

The mail is working very well at the moment as the bags have arrived. They look excellent and made it much easier for me to find my laundry today.
The postcard asked for one of the bags to go to a chef if possible. I will be taking this with me on my next trip to Tarin Kot where we have ADF chefs and pass this on. I will let you know when this has occurred.  I will also pass the remaining laundry bags to our Chaplain who will coordinate handing them out.
Thanks again for the great service your team offers to us. In these tough times it is great to know that people care. 

Lyn from Mt Helena WA – you will be pleased to know that it is your cool laundry bag that he is talking about.

The next lovely message was left on Facebook for us after a fellow received a quilt made by Karen D from Vic.

Hi have received my quilt and it is amazing.  I can’t say thank you enough for the effort you and your ladies have put in to make and send them to us, knowing people care and support us helps us that miss our lives back home just a little more bearable, from all of us over here to all of you over there, take care and again thanks heaps.

Where possible I chase up every quilt we send if we don’t hear that it has arrived.  This is one email I received in response to such a query regarding a quilt from Christine.

Hi Jan-Maree,
Yes my quilt has arrived, it came in the post end of last week… I absolutely LOVE IT!!! So much time and effort has been put into it, and I really like all the colours that were used 🙂
It is definately something I will treasure always!! Thankyou so much for all that you do for our troops you really have put a smile on mine and many other faces around the camp, not to mention it has brightened up my incredibly plain bed 🙂 Thankyou for giving us all a touch of home to take with us along our travels we all do truly appreciated the time and effort you all put into the quilts and wash bags for us all 🙂
Thank you again 

I also received a batch of homemade pillowcases from  a group in Queensland and sent some of them to a girl in Tarin Kot.

I have received the pillowcases and handed them out to the ladies.  They absolutely love them and send a very big thank you to all of the ladies who made them!  It is lovely to have something hand made by people thinking of us. Your thoughts and kindness are truly appreciated by all.

And just a bit of mail…

Till next time……………keep spreading the word and happy stitching.