Thursday 28 November 2013

Over 200 quilts and counting! Christmas has come early!

This week marks the 200th quilt received. Actually, we are now up to 227! We could say that Christmas has come early seeing as we have reached our Christmas deadline almost a month early. How exciting is that?!?!? It is a very exciting end to an emotionally charged week.

On Friday I volunteered at The Salvation Army's Relief Centre in Springwood, helping people get the items they need and having a friendly chat. It seemed to me that people were going through another stage of grieving as they were finally settling into rentals. Families with school-age children have been very focussed on getting accommodation close to the schools. For a lot of parents, the last few weeks have been all about getting “the rental”, of having a place where they can get back into a routine, have their own family space, and help the kids feel settled. But it seemed a common theme on Friday that once people were in their rental property, with the goal of finding it completed, the reality of what is happening to them starts to sink in and they’re asking themselves “what do I do now?” I simply cannot imagine how stressful that would be.

On Saturday a bunch of lovely volunteers and myself packed up the goods from the Relief Centre in the Baptist Church in Springwood and set it up in the barn at Springwood Salvation Army. It was a lot of physical work, on a hot day, but the rewards of seeing it set up made it worthwhile. It is set up on supermarket style shelves so people can walk down a few short aisles and see the toothpaste all set out, and shampoo, and conditioner, toilet paper, and linen, etc. The boys from Hadleigh Lodge have worked so hard at setting up the food and clothing sections. It really does look neat.

On Sunday I had the privilege of serving tea and coffee with The Salvation Army Emergency Services at the Community Meeting for fire affected residents at Winmalee High School. I caught up with friends I went to primary school and high school with, and friends I have made in the years since then, and friends I have made just since the bushfires. Some of the people I met for the first time at the Disaster Recovery Centre when they first came in to register, and then at the Relief Centre in the following days, and it was so good to see them again and find out how they are doing.

During the week I spent a lot of time on the phone with quilters who had quilts, fabric and donations to make towards the quilt appeal. It is so exciting to speak with quilters from all over the country! Have a look at our Thank You page at all the lovely generous quilters out there.

This week’s classes have seen us churning out quilts at a great rate of knots. Our group of ladies have become a well-oiled machine of quilting achievenators (as I like to call them). They just seem to know what skills that they are good at and everyone gets in and gets the job done. It is a lot like a factory line, but with excellent conditions, coffee and cake. It is a joy to see. This sense of a cause, and a deadline, is great for me because I am sure I could write a doctorate on stuffing around. If left to my own devices, I can fiddle with the colours and layout and quilting ideas FOREVER, instead of just getting it done. I love all the possibilities. This quilt appeal has put a stop to my chopping and changing and I’m getting things done and I love it. In fact, if you look at the first photo in the post about 100 quilts (one week ago) you will see a beautiful quilt top in blue being pinned. Well, it is in the Photo Gallery today!




I wonder what our new goal for Christmas should be. Is it too ambitious to say 300 by Christmas? We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracey.


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