Parcel Acknowledgement from Garden of Life India

Today I received a reply to my email from Pragna of Garden of Life in India letting me know that they have received the parcel of dresses I sent early last week.

Thank you Pragna for finding the time to let me know. Much appreciated

Quilt Distribution #5 - For the grandmas of Mbale Uganda

For taking care of the orphans and their granddaughters, they too deserve something nice in appreciation of what they do for the good of their community. Long time overdue, these 12 quilts (Distribution #5) will be handed over to Anne Wandendeya of the Bushikori Christian Centre in Mbale Uganda by Liane Foord and the other members of the Bushikori  Australian Support Committee when they visit Uganda in July.

Here are the three parcels which I will be mailing today to Victoria - although they are light but what is inside are kind of bulky -

and here are the contents of the 3 parcels - chosen because of their sizes

made possible by the following donors -
1) Wendy Yates
2) Sue-Ellen Cox
3) Susan Reid
4) Margaret Cheers 
5) Kathy Pfieffer
6) Shirley Bell
7) Margie Burke
8) Joan Wolf
9) Vera Geffs
10) Robertstown Senior Citizens
11) Lucienne Magnay
12) Linda Smyth
13) Pat Hanson 
14) Jannice Schutz

To see larger images of the quilts, please click here or click on the special tab "Dress Distribution" located at top of this page.

Thank you all so much for making these parcels possible and my heartfelt thank you to Liane Foord and the other members of the Bushikori Australian Support Committee for their kindness in taking these quilts with them in their visit to Uganda very soon. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Feeling grateful today

I am feeling very grateful today (and deserves a special mention) to the members of the Bushikori Australian Support Committee headed by Liane Foord. They will be kindly handcarrying quilts I am giving for the grandmas of Mbale Uganda during their visit to Uganda in July. Am packing the quilts nicely to make it easy for the group to carry them with their luggage when they leave. And because of this, there was no parcel drop-off/sent at the postoffice today. Instead I will be posting my parcel to Victoria.

My heartfelt thank you to Liane and the group. I am very sure Anne will be very happy. Thank you so much.

Quilt Distribution #3 - For Romania Parcels 3A & 3B

It has been awhile since I posted a distribution for quilts and this time it is two parcels for Romania with a total of 19 quilts in the parcels. These parcels will be sent to the Fundatia Romanian Relief in Romania.

Here are the two parcels -

and here are the contents of the two parcels -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Craft & Hope Group Kapunda S.A.
2) Vera Jeffs
3)  Lorraine Sandow
4) Gaynor Bottcher
5) Pat Hanson
6) Jannice Schutz
7) Shirley Bell
8) Kathy Pffiefer
9) Robertstown Senior Citizens
10) Karen Lienberg 
11) Chris Redden

To see larger images of the quilts, please click here or click on the special tab "Dress Distribution" located at top of this page.

Thank you all so much for making these parcels possible. Thank you for your support of Dress A Girl Australia's initiative to keep a few children of Romania warm and make them feel comfort and joy during their winter this year and the years to come. Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

Lesson Learned

The moment I saw this poster I told myself 'this advise is all I need'. A great lesson learned from Charlie Brown, one of the greatest cartoon characters of all time - 

I just do what I want to do, the best way I could and enjoy every moment of it... and as the song goes....nothing else matters.♥

No more winter clothing for 2014

In response to a few enquiries, I am no longer accepting clothing for winter as my winter allocations have all been packed and sent. Unfortunately I have no space in my small home to keep those items for next year (my garage is full) and I will just have to be as honest and straightforward as I can... I definitely have no budget to pay for a space to keep them. 

Please keep them if you can wait for next year's distribution. I will notify everyone when I am ready to accept winter clothing for 2015 or if and when a clothing drive comes up sponsored by an Australian group or entity and I would want to make a donation and would need anyone's help. Thank you and thank you for your understanding.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#68 - From Bett Holmes

I want a clean slate of donation acknowledgements next week so I can focus on the dress parcels so here is I think the last parcel of dresses donated for the month of May. This is a batch of 31 dresses from Bett Holmes -

To Bett, thank you so much for your unwavering support of Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia's campaign to make dresses a reality and not just imaginary for the disadvantaged girls around the world. Thank you for making this world a better place to live in through your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

More school supplies from old books

Two months ago I listed most of my old school books and bestseller books in ebay especially the ones that I think I would not like to read or refer back in the future since they were offering free listings. I sold all of them after a month and last week I decided to spend the money on these school supplies. I was inspired to make a purchase after I fell in love with my school starter bags.

From this batch, I think I would be able to make another 25 school starter kits. And lucky me the shop I went to were selling their 48-exercise books for fifteen cents each. I will be making starter kits again and keep them until I have decided which school/location it would be going to. I may not be able to send them though until I get back from my July holidays as my main focus would be the sending of the dress parcels. I still have more old books to sell and new craft books which I hope to list to sell soon. All I need is time.

No Dress A Girl Activities - Saturday, 24-May

As July is fast coming up, more of my Saturdays will be filled up with bushwalking adventures with family to prepare for our Peru trip. I have no backlog for donation acknowledgements. The only small backlog I have is putting the packed bags to boxes which I usually do on weeknights anyway. So I think I am ok. Woohoo!

Yesterday we went for a Scenic World full circuit walk which included going up the Grand staircase of 900 steps. We started at Echo Point and ended up at Echo Point. It took us about 5 hours to go around including stopping for rests. It never crossed my mind that I would be doing the very steep grand staircase. Some people say it only takes them about 30 minutes but it took me 40 minutes going up. I think going up is more difficult than going down and since we have been walking for almost 2 hours already I would say 40 minutes was still good. 

 Arrived back home at around 3pm and immediately fell asleep. Woke up at 7pm and ended fully awake even at half-past eleven. I needed to do something so my eyes would feel tired and I can go back to sleep again. Then I saw my nephew's old t-shirt on top of my benchtop which I planned to recycle into a market shopping bag the next time I had a chance. Perfect timing in 15 minutes I had recycled the old t-shirt into this bag. To make it look nice on the picture, I put in some items from my pantry.

At exactly midnight, I was 'pharell' happy with my new recycled bag. And half-an-hour later I felt sleepy and went to bed. I still have one more old t-shirt to recycle the next time I need something to do to make me sleepy. LOL! Come to think of it, the thought of making a pillowcase dress never crossed my mind. ☻♥☻

Dress Distribution #61 - Children of Mbale Uganda Parcel 2A

Went to the postoffice this afternoon to send the first parcel of two for the children of Mbale Uganda. A total of 87 dresses and 13 pairs of shorts sent to Anne Wandendaya of the Bushikori Christian Centre.  
Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Heather Harris
2) Elaine Klein
3) Jo Holt
4) Lakes Anglican Quilting Group c-o Jean Knowles
5) Sharron Arnold
6) Vanya Bryant
7) Sharyn Cafee
8) Sharyn Paull
9) Julie Nielsen & Bev Stephens
10) Ladies from the Sew for Charity Workshop organized by Natascha Wettmarshausen of Make and Learn
11) Two Bettys' Betty Barrett and Betty Paull.

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

A wholehearted thank you to all the donors who made this parcel possible. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. Thanks!

Dress Distribution #57A - A few toys for the children of the hinterland areas of CDO Philippines

I thought another 2 or 3 kilos wont hurt in the pocket if I sent an extra box for the children of the hinterland areas of CDO Philippines so I decided to pack up these toys to send to Sha together with the dresses. About 2 years ago I collected toys for a 'second chance toys' charity drive. My sister Fabi gave me a box full of toys some of which were not even played at all. When I started to pack them up so I could carry one bag at a time to work I was told that there were just too many toys already so I kept them in my garage. 

Last December I gave away about 5 of them when QCCT did a christmas charity drive. Two weeks has past since the drive started and no one was filling up the collection box. It was always empty whenever I passed by it so I brought one everyday for the whole week to contribute. And the ones I am giving away now are the ones that were left behind and about time to give up the space it occupies in my garage. ♥

So here is the additional parcel I sent -

and here are the contents - it even has 2 real wooden airplanes which weighed more than the 5 plastic ones in front of it in the picture below. ☻ And some magnetic alphabets, beach toys, D-I-Y wooden trucks, matchboxes, giant marbles and a little bit more. An early Christmas for the lucky recipients.

Thanks to my sister Fabi and the other anonymous donors of the other items (anonymous as I cannot remember who gave which on the toys on the right) but a wholehearted thank you guys for giving these kids a chance to play with toys that most likely they will not get a chance even just to hold in their lifetime. Thanks so much.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#65 to #67 - From Catherine, Virginia and Antoinette & Group

Three parcel donations for this week for a total of 39 dresses and 36 pairs of shorts kindly donated by Catherine Jenkins, Virginia Banks and Antoinette Stuart.

1) Donation #65 is a parcel of 36 pairs of shorts from Catherine Jenkins -

2) Donation #66 is a parcel of 31 dresses in various sizes from Virginia Banks -

3) Last but not the least is Donation #67 from Antoinette Stuart and a group of ladies who I believe were attending a sewing workshop held at the Remnant Warehouse in Alexandria. Antoinette is the president of the Australian Sewing Guild whose main goal is to share and further the art of sewing through membership. Here are the dresses they made when they met for a day at the Remnant Warehouse -

 To all the ladies who made these dresses possible, thank you so much for your support, kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping make this world a better place through the dresses you make. Much appreciated.

Link to tutorial of small bag used for school starter kit

Have had a few emails asking about the small bag I used for the Dress A Girl Australia school starter kit. Here is the link to the tutorial by Pam of Threading My Way. Just click here or click on the image below -

Thank you Pam!

School Supplies Distribution #2 - for the school kids of School for Life Foundation in Uganda

It is time for another distribution of school supplies and this time it is for the school kids of the School for Life Foundation in Uganda c-o Annabelle Chauncy, a co-founder of the foundation. For the very first time, I will be giving away the very first 10 sets ever made of the Dress A Girl Australia School Starter Bags.

Here is the parcel -

and here are the contents of the parcel including 58 96-page exercise books-

made possible by the following donors -
1) Monika Osvald
2) Karina Tomlinson
3) Pam of Threading my Way
4) Carolyn Walker
5) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

A wholehearted thank you to Monika, Karina, Carolyn and Pam for making this donation to the school kids of the School for Life Foundation in Uganda so much possible. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is so much appreciated. Thanks!

Dress A Girl Australia's School Supplies Starter Kit

This year I wanted to make a School Supplies starter kit to distribute every now and then and if and when I can collect supplies I wanted to include in the kit but could not find the time to actually sit down and start making one until about six weeks ago when I received 10 mini bags from Pam of Threading my Way. I had the choice of either selling the bags to raise money to help with postage or do something with the bags that can make a difference. 

Seeing the bags finally made me sit down to start creating a Dress A Girl Australia School Starter kit. After the Indi Kindi collection charity drive, I was still able to collect a number of school supplies from generous donors. And from what I had collected I was able to come up with the following to put inside Pam's bag - good enough for a kid to own especially if they are just about to start school or even in the middle of school. It would be such a big help to them, perhaps inspire them more to go to school everyday. My Dad who used to own and run a technical school in the Philippines before he retired used to say that you need a kit for the students to work on to inspire them to go to school and learn more. So here is my inspirational kit -

2 exercise books
1 pack of colouring pencils
1 pencil sharpener
1 eraser
3 pencils
2 pens
And this is how the school starter bag looks like with its contents -

I was able to make 10 sets of starter kits for the 10 bags I received and the first lucky recipients of these starter kits will be 10 school kids of the School for Life Foundation in Uganda c-o Annabelle Chauncy, a co-founder of this organization. Perhaps they can use it as an award to their best students since there are only 10 sets...but at least I finally made the kit I always wanted to make...and I hope to make more in the future...and maybe include a dress or a pair of shorts to wear to school. Endless possibilities that started with Pam's bag. ♥

Heaps and heaps of thanks to Monika Osvald and Karina Tomlinson for their school supplies' contributions that enabled me to fill the bag with the supplies I wanted as starters and to Pam of Threading my Way for the mini bags that triggered the start of the School Supplies starter kit. Thank you so much.

Feedback on Dress Distribution - Malabon Phils (c-o Norie Bordador)

Here are a few pictures taken from the dress distribution made in Malabon Philippines last Mar 25, 2014 through the kindness of Norie Bordador and friends. I can see and identify some dresses but because there are so many of them I get confused. For me they seem to look all the same. ☻ Anyway, if you see a dress made by you give yourself a small pat in the back. 

A wholehearted thank you to Norie Bordador and her group of friends who supported her on this distribution and all the dress donors who made the children happy. Thank you so much.

For larger and individual images, please click here.

Sew your Bit...Make it a reality for some of these kids

When the mood is there....it is "Poster" time.

Please write to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com if you need more information. For donations, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#61 to #64 - From Margaret, Sharyn, Nicole and the two Bettys

A continuation of last night's donation acknowledgements and last parcels to open until the next pickup from the postoffice are 4 donations from Sharyn Paull, Nicole Neeves, the two Bettys - Betty Barrett and Betty Paull and Margaret Willoughby, another Margaret charity campaigner for Dress A Girl Australia. After the acknowledgements I will then be able to focus on packing and sending of parcels. So without further ado -

1) Donation #61 is a parcel of 7 dresses from Sharyn Paull -

2) Donation #62 is a parcel of 12 dresses, 2 sun hats and 21 mini bags from the two Bettys - Betty Barrett and Betty Paull. Betty Paull, by the way is the mum of Sharyn Paull -

3) Donation #63 is a parcel of 15 dresses from Margaret Willoughby. Margaret comes from a family who have been sewing over the years and have acquired materials she made into dresses.

4) Donation #64 is a parcel of 3 dresses, 4 undies, bundles of fabric materials, ribbons and embellishments from Nicole Neeves -

To all the ladies responsible for these dresses, thank you so much for your time and effort in making these dresses. Thank you helping make this world a better place, making the less fortunate kiddies around the world own at least one dress. Much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#58 to #60 - From Virginia, Vanya and the two Margarets

For today are 3 donations from Virginia Smith, Vanya Bryant and the two Margarets namely Margaret Blanch and Margaret Leech. I thought I could post 2 sets of 3 donations tonight but could not finish it as I left early for a practice bushwalking this morning and did not arrive home till 2pm. If some of you are wondering why am doing a practice it is because together with a few members of the family we will be going to Peru in July and will be doing the Inca 4-days and 3 nights trek to Macchu Picchu. ☻

1) Donation #58 is a parcel of 14 dresses and 22 pairs of shorts from Virginia Smith -

2) Donation #59 is a parcel of 22 dresses, 12 pairs of shorts and 6 packs of undies from Margaret Blanch and Margaret Leech who from now on I will be referring to as the two Margarets ♥

3) Donation #60 is a parcel of 8 dresses, 6 pairs of shorts and 15 bags from Vanya Bryant -

Thank you so much Ladies for these wonderful dresses. Thank you for your unwavering support of this charity campaign to dress the less fortunate children around the world, making owning at least one dress a reality rather than just imaginary. Thank you so much. Your efforts are much appreciated.

Another reminder on Dresses

Another reminder especially for those who prefer to use ribbons instead of bias tapes, please try to run a few stitches at the corners (armpit area) to hold the ribbons permanently and also please be generous with your ribbons. I noticed some of the ribbons hardly make it to the shoulders for tying. Please be guided with these important rules if you want your dresses to be included in the distribution. I know some people think I complain a lot and do not appreciate the dresses being donated but I do not really see the point of sending these dresses to these kids if they cannot be worn. Thank you.

Feedback on the Arts & Craft Supplies for the Indi Kindi Collection

Here is a photo I received today re shipment ready to be sent to the kids of Borroloola in the Northern Territory.

Somewhere inside one or several of these crates are the donations of arts supplies I received from Carolyn Walker, Ladies of the Willow Branch QCWA, Threading My Way, Dawn Manser, Pam Baber, Myf McFarlane, Karina Tomlinson, Mo O'Brien and Monika Osvald. 

Thank you so much Ladies for your contributions thus making this shipment possible.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#55 to #57 - From Di,Sharon and Rowena and family

It is almost midnight but I want to continue on acknowledging. Next batch of May donations come from Di Menzel, Sharon Spilsbury and Rowena Turk and family.

1) Donation #55 is a parcel of 22 dresses from Di Menzel - 

2) Donation #56 is a parcel of 2 dresses from Sharon Spilsbury -

3) Donation #57 is a parcel of 13 dresses from Rowena Turk and family where Dress A Girl Around the World was the charity their family had chosen for their Crafty Charity challenge for the month of April. Two of the dresses were made by Rowena and each of her two daughters Lauren and Bethany made one dress. Some of the dresses they made were from fabric donations like the dress with little owls which was made by Judy, sister-in-law of Rowena's mother and a few from the 8 dresses made by Barbara, Rowena's mother. Donated fabrics came from Barbara's friends and she also did a good job of spreading the word around. Wow! What a great family of craftivists!

Thank you so much ladies for making these dresses possible. Such a job well done. Much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#53 to #54 - Boys' t-shirts from Catherine and Karina

This is the start of the May donations to Dress A Girl Australia and what a better way to start with boys' t-shirts from Catherine Jenkins and Karina Tomlinson. These t-shirts will be matched with pairs of shorts to provide a complete outfit for disadvantaged boys. I hope I got the numbers right as I did not write it down and they have been sorted and packed.

1) Donation #53 is a parcel of 24 t-shirts from Catherine Jenkins -

2) Donation #54 is a parcel of 17 t-shirts from Karina Tomlinson -

My heartfelt thank you to Catherine and Karina for responding so quickly to my call for t-shirt donations. It is so much appreciated. Thank you Catherine and thank you Karina.

Donation Acknowledgement FY14/#50 to #52 - From the members of the All Saints Parish South Hobart, Vanya Bryant and the Craft and Hope Group SA

A bit delayed since we are already in the middle of May but this is the last batch of dress donations for the month of April from the members of the All Saints' Parish South Hobart, Vanya Bryant and the Craft and Hope Group of Kapunda South Australia. The parcel coming from the All Saints' Parish of South Hobart was organized and sent by Suzanne Nixon. Here are the dresses for this batch -

1) Donation #50 from the members of the All Saints' Parish of South Hobart are 68 dresses and 15 humanitarian dolls -

2) Donation #51 is a parcel of 6 dresses, 11 winter scarves, 3 softies and 4 pairs of shorts from Vanya Bryant.

3) Donation #52 is a parcel of 32 dresses from the Craft and Hope Group of Kapunda South Australia sent by Deborah Parish. These dresses were sewn by Margaret Adair, Di Cain, Julie Bolton, Jennifer Bockman, Chris Redden and Helen Blane.

To all the ladies who made these dresses possible, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for making this world a better place most especially to the less fortunate children around the world. Your efforts are much appreciated. Thank you.

Size Preference Update

Dress size preference at this time and for the next few months will be between 8 to 12. For those who are intending to donate, please be guided with this information. If you still prefer small sizes you can still do it but please note they will be very slow moving. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #60 - For the children of Maubisse Timor Leste

This distribution which is a parcel of 53 dresses and 14 pairs of shorts are for the children of Maubisse Timor Leste which will be handcarried by a group visiting Timor under the Bendigo-Maubisse Friendship Committee.
Here is the parcel that I sent to Elaine John Klein whose husband is a member of the visiting group -

and here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1) Wendy Yates
2) Maureen O'Brien
3) Shirley Bell and Kathy Pfeiffer
4) Ladies of Kapunda South Australia Sewing Group
5) Vanya Bryant
6) Heather Harris
7) Two Bettys Betty Barrett and Betty Paull
8) Lisa Gallagher
9) Julie Bolton
10) Annette Norley
11) Katherine Nott
12) Sarah Tanmahapran
13) Bett Holmes

To see larger images of the contents of this parcel, please click here. For more details on this distribution (and also at a later stage when feedback is received) please click here or click on the special 'Dress Distribution' tab which you can find at the top of this page.

Thank you so much to all the donors who made this parcel possible. Thank you for the materials, time, money and effort you all spent in making these dresses being given to the less fortunate children of the community of Maubisse Timor Leste. And also my heartfelt thanks to Elaine John Klein for facilitating this distribution through the group members of the Bendigo-Maubisse Friendship Committee. Your kindness and generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

If you feel the need to enquire about this distribution, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.