What if ?...

If I didn't enjoy crafting with fabrics and yarns (and have enormous fabric and yarn stashes)

would my spare bedrooms look like this do you think???

This was the second bedroom in the unit we rented last week...

 No clutter...

Remember how I tidied up bedroom#2 for DsD1 and Dan's visit in the recent school holidays???

Floor visible, and only the doona on top of the bed....

 On one wall are the shelves, but you can see a glimpse of the big striped bags filled with yarns on top of the shelves too unfortunately! lol

Yesterday my friend came over with 3 HUGE bags of fabrics and 1 filled with yarns that one of her scrapbooking friends had given her, for me to hand on. Today (Monday) I started sorting out the fabrics. One pile of mainly quilting cottons and children's designs for Sunshine Linus, another pile for Morag at Sisters of Stitch who collects fabrics for a Refugee Ladies' sewing group that she helps with, another pile for some ladies at the Zillmere Knit and Natter who make children's clothing and quilts for K4BN and one more pile for some ladies at the Scarborough Knit and Natter who also make children's clothes for K4BN. So I guess my messy second bedroom can be viewed as a 'Distribution centre' at the moment.

Dreadful mess isn't it? Oh dear...such a shame! lol (I still haven't removed the traces of the stickers that were put on the shelves by the girls when they were a lot younger) 

The bag of yarn will naturally go to K4BN as well, so theoretically all of this should be moved out in the near future. 

The Sunshine Linus Quilt Show and Open Day...

As promised, here is a post giving more details about this wonderful event that we attended in Nambour last Saturday.
As we pulled into the parking lot, it was very obvious from the number of cars, that this Quilt Show was well attended. Things were really bustling when we entered the Uniting Church Hall.  We paid our small entry fee and bought some raffle tickets, and, like all the visitors before us, we were given a gift at the door...
These sweet little packages...

When opened revealed a tea-bag and a lovely message from the Sunshine Linus group...

What a lovely way to welcome visitors!
Hehe...poor DH is just biting into the delicious scone that came with our complimentary cuppa.

 One of the quilts hanging near the eating area.

There was a series of display boards, showing the variety of items made by the Sunshine Linus group...here is one of the aprons which are used to amuse and calm dementia patients in nursing homes.

 And one for the 'boys'...

Lots of items stitched on this one!

 The next item is one of the 'touchy feely' quilts...

Two ladies were stitching away on their sewing machines and fielding questions about the group's work.

There were stalls run by local quilt shops...the one featured in the photo below was 'The Patchwork Angel' from Forest Glen.

The ladies from Sunshine Linus had many beautifully made items for sale...here is a cane lounge covered with cushions for sale...also in this photo is a glimpse of another area set up with beautiful items for sale...

Here's a lovely quilt just near the entry to the church...

 And now, this is my first view of the quilts on display in the church...a breathtaking sight! Quilts draped over the pews, quilts hanging up along the sides! The quilts around the walls of the church were all on loan for the show, personal quilts made by members of Sunshine Linus...the ones on the seats were examples of the quilts made to give away.

The soaring ceiling of this beautiful church was a wonderful backdrop for these quilts.

DH walked around with me, enjoying looking at the various quilts...the quilt below was one of his favourites! 

And this one was another of his favourites...we asked one of the attendants if she could possibly check the details on the labels for us...the label told us that the quilt was made by 'Granny Gray' so a lucky grandchild has a beautiful and fun quilt!

This one caught my eye...so much work involved!

Now this child's quilt hanging over a pew caught my eye...that fabric looked familiar! Yes it was part of the bundle of fabrics that I donated a short while ago. So good to see it being used; the sashing fabric used with the panels I donated, is beautiful, as is the quilting. I was really chuffed to see this quilt!

Now who is this wandering around the goodies for sale section???

Why it's Marilyn!

For a while I have been a follower of the Sunshine Linus blog. I love reading about their meetings and looking at the photos of the beautiful items made by the members. One of the main writers of this blog is Bev, and it's Bev who replies if I leave a comment. So this Open Day was an excellent chance to meet her in person...and I did! 

Bev said that I'm much smaller in real- life and being photographed with me, she would look taller! lol

Bev commented that it's a bit lonely over at the Sunshine Linus blog, as hardly anyone leaves a comment. Why not use this link to visit that blog and make her day by leaving a comment. Bev also has different photos to mine so it will give you a chance to see more of that day!

Lastly a little look at some of the goodies that I bought. Unfortunately, for many of the items it can only be a glimpse, as they are gifts...

I bought myself a bag which has already been used to take projects to Sisters of Stitch last Wednesday...

Closeup of that cute panel...

Some fabrics I bought from Chris and Robyn of Bowerbirdy; just couldn't resist those colours!

A bundle of handmade cards...2 babies quilts

And some secret 'stuff' which is hidden from the camera! lol

(I also saw Lynda, but she escaped my camera's attention and next day I found out that I'd missed another friend who came after we had left. )

Sisters of Stitch and Sunshine Linus...

The last few SoS gatherings I've noticed an increase in numbers of ladies attending...and that is great!
We gather in a meeting room at Chermside Library here in Brisbane. It's actually 2 meeting rooms but our group unlatches and folds back the dividing wall. We set up work tables in one half of this big room...then in the other half we set up an area for afternoon tea, with a table of goodies to share and a trolley with a number of urns of hot water for tea and coffee.

 But in the last month, we've had to set up extra tables and so now our work tables extend into the other half of the room...long may this increase in numbers continue as it's such a great place to spend a few hours with others who enjoy crafts.

This last week, 2 of our members came with a bag of 'Show and Tell'...these two ladies, Judie and Nicky are members of Sunshine Linus. Often they show us the lovely quilts that they make for children who are undergoing treatment for cancer, or cute or way out beanies for young people and children who have had chemo treatments, but this time they had a number of other items which are made by the group.
The first photo shows Judie holding up a 'touchy feely' quilt which is used in nursing homes to calm dementia patients.

In this photo Nicky is modelling some examples of the aprons that are made by Sunshine Linus members. These aprons have all sorts of gadgets sewn on them...again the emphasis is on the tactile. These aprons are used in nursing homes...each morning an apron is put on a dementia patient and especially for males, it is like going to work... it calms them and they are quite happy to 'play'with the items attached to the apron.

Here's a closer look at those gadgets...and Judie is wearing another apron made by a Sunshine Linus member.

here Judie is showing an example of the bags that are made for nursing home residents who are in wheelchairs...the removable footrests can be kept close at hand, ready for they need to be put back on the wheelchair...

In the next photo, Judie is demonstrating how post operative patients wear the bags which are made by the group to hold their drainage bags...both male and female patients are able to leave their home with dignity when the wound drainage bags are popped in these outer bags.

This is a lovely flannel raggy quilt...the latest made by Nikki for Sunshine Linus.

Next the girls showed us the 'Blankets of Love' that the group makes for stillborn and babies who die shortly after birth...the babies are wrapped in these little quilts...

Nicky shows us another Blanket of Love...

In this photo below, Judie is explaining that there is always a need for bedsocks/booties for the Renal Clinic at the PA hospital, and Sunshine Linus provides many.

Now this wonderful group of ladies (Sunshine Linus) is having an Open Day in Nambour on August 31. Details are here...There will be a Quilt Show at this Open Day, as well as demonstrations, Show and Tell, Stalls with Quilt Shop Vendors, as well as beautiful craft items for sale. Sounds like a great day out and the bonus is raising funds for this marvellous and very productive group! 

I feel very blessed today...

It's been a busy day today and a very good day too! Firstly this morning I went to a Knit and Natter at Albany Creek. Two ladies there are working on  throws using the chevron pattern that has become almost like my signature pattern (there's one in my banner) , and today 2 other ladies indicated that they are going to start one in the next day or so.  One lady, Helen, is going to post a photo of hers on Ravelry when her rug is finished. It looks great by the way!

Now just have a look at the lovely Easter surprises I got at the Albany Creek K&N... isn't this so cute! And no sugar! 

I put her in my little blue willow egg cup :-)

Look at her cute hat!

Then look what Karen's husband Peter, got especially for me because, as he said, he didn't want me to feel left out when he gave out chocolate Easter eggs. This was just such a lovely gesture and I really appreciate Peter's thoughtfulness.

I headed for home then, where I quickly put on some beef to roast in the slow cooker because my DD2 and her housemate were coming for dinner. (These two, along with another friend are off to Thailand for 16 days on Friday and DH and I are minding Jimmy Hans, DD2's pup, my furry grandson :-). So he arrived tonight along with his bed, toys, treats and food. ) 

Then this afternoon I headed off to Sisters of Stitch and had a lovely time...stitching, oh and some knitting too!! I took along some fabrics to give to a young friend there who belongs to the Sunshine Linus group. Last SOS gathering Nicky had told me that the group needed fabrics so that they could continue to make quilts for children in hospitals awaiting treatment especially young cancer patients. So I went through my stash, took photos of the fabrics and emailed  these to Nicky to see if they were suitable...they were, so I took those in today. 

This panel I had bought at a market in the UK...

 The rest of the pieces that I've given to Sunshine Linus are mostly from 'scrapbags' that I bought from eQuilter. I might have used them one day but it's much better to have these bits and pieces used up now and making quilts to provide comfort to sick children here in Queensland hospitals.

This cot sized panel was in one scrapbag...

 Now this next one...I bought this in the late 1990s to make a cot quilt for a friend's baby...hmmm I think I ended up buying a gift that time...so out it goes!

 These fairy/elves/pixie panels were also in a scrapbag...

This is a cloth book panel length...also in a scrapbag...Paddington Bear...love him!

These are just scraps but both Nicky and Judie assured me they will be useful!

Just a narrow strip of Paddington

Now I wonder what the ladies can do with this panel length...all the days of the week!

So instead of these taking up space here at my place waiting for 'one day', the clever ladies of Sunshine Linus will turn them into something useful...how good is that???

Now today I also got a parcel from Norway...from my swap buddy in the Mug Rug Swap...now these are  special so I'm going to write about them in the next post...showcase them on their own :-)