Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has supported Dress A Girl Australia's endeavours in 2016. It was great working with all of you in helping make a difference in this world.

My wish for the new year is for everyone to feel happy and safe, good health and spread happiness, hope, peace. love and good cheer to all throughout the year and make this world a better place. Thank you.

Christmas Message

Gladness of Christmas : Hope

Spirit of Christmas : Peace
Heart of Christmas : Love

Wish this Christmas : A world of hope, peace and love where everyone is safe and free.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Feedback Dress Distribution #102A - School Supplies + Pre-schoolers

These pictures were taken this month when some of the small dresses (age between 3-4) plus school supplies (part of Dress Distribution #102 - July 2016) were distributed to kids of Hope International Philippines c/o Kerry Ann Tomas

To see larger and single images of the above, please click here.

Thank you to Kerry Ann Tomas for making this distribution of small dresses (age 3-4) possible as sometimes it is very difficult to gather kids of these ages and sizes and for sharing these pictures. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Donation #22 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Tranquility Crafts

A parcel of 27 dresses I received today from Tranquility Crafts.

Thank you Tranquility Crafts.

Donation #21 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from the Year 9 students of Kincumber High School NSW

The last parcel to arrive for the 2016 Christmas Collection is from the Year 9 Textile Students of Kincumber High School of NSW. This school project of the Year 9 students was organized and were guided by Colleen Stokeld.

Thank you to all the Year 9 students who worked diligently to make these dresses and to Colleen for guiding them. Much appreciated.

Christmas Shop in my Facebook page

Have you completed your Christmas shopping? If you still are missing a few items and want one that can be treasured for a long time, check out my sale items in my Christmas shop in my facebook page. Check out my quilted advent calendars. I just sold yesterday the last of my 'Çhoo-choo train' advent calendar below and boy, was the little boy who received it so excited when he saw it-

but here is one with christmas lights which you can check from my christmas shop -

Or if you are after country-style raggedy kids my shop also have one -

 If you want a picture of the recipient of your christmas gift on a christmas stocking, check out my handmade christmas stockings -

If you want soft toys that your little boy or girl can easily cuddle, check these out - koalas  -

- kitties -

- doll pillows -

and teddy bears who were made to take care of our earth -

If none of the above interests you, then why dont you sponsor a dress. For $10.00-$12.00, you can make a change to the life of a needy child -

And lots more of handmade items made by me will be made available soon so come back regularly so you dont miss out especially for Christmas.

Click on any of the items above or click here to visit my shop.

All the proceeds from the sale of any of the handmade items in my shop will go to the funds of Dress A Girl Australia to help pay for the cost of running its campaign to provide clothing to the needy for the new year 2017. So check out my shop and help make a difference and make this world a better place. Thank you.

Donation #20 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Colleen Mundt

The last missing parcel has finally been found. A parcel of 15 dresses with undies from Colleen Mundt.

With this parcel it brings my total to 139 dresses, 7 boys'sets and 4 girls'set of t-shirts and pairs of shorts.

Thank you Colleen for your generous donation. It is much appreciate.

Donation #19 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Judy Ducrou

Donation #19 is a parcel of 5 dresses and 4 pairs of shorts/t-shirt set for girls from Judy Ducrou.

This parcel brings my total to 124 dresses, 7 boys' sets and 4 girls' sets for the Christmas collection.

Thank you to Judy for the dresses and girls' sets. Much appreciated.

All parcels in for Christmas collection

Except for one parcel which I think is still missing and needs a folllow-up with my local postoffice, I believe I have received all the parcels for the Christmas collection in my list of possible donors (those who requested for postal address). If I am missing anyone's parcel (missed listing down your name), please send me a message at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. 

My heartfelt thanks to everyone for supporting my christmas collection. Much appreciated.

Donation #18 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Monika

The last parcel I have received for the Christmas collection and full of Christmas goodies  is from Monika Osvald. It had 29 t-shirts, 2 packs of undies, 4 dresses and a bunch of teddy bears.

With the above parcel, it brings my total to 119 dresses and 7 boys' set.

Thank you Monica for your generous contributions. Thank you for your consistent support to Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to provide clothing to the disadvantaged. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation #16 & #17 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Denise and Carol

Last 2 parcels received for the Christmas collection 2016 are from Denise Scott and Carol Mead.
1) 6 dresses and 4 pairs of shorts from Denise -

 2) and 20 dresses from Carol Mead -

Thank you Denise and Carol for your contributions to Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to provide clothing to the needy especially at Christmas time. Much appreciated.

Donation #14 & #15 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Jayne and Sue

Adding to my christmas collection are a couple of parcels from Jayne Hogan and Sue Pursche.
1) From Sue is a parcel of 12 dresses -

2) and from Jayne is a parcel of tote bags for my school collection, 8 t-shirts and 3 t-shirt dresses

Thank you Jayne and Sue for your generous donations. It is much appreciated.

Donation #13 - Christmas 2016 Collection - 5 dresses from Lyn

Continuing on my task of acknowledging parcels received for the Christmas collection 2016, a parcel 5 dresses arrived two days ago from Lyn Granger.

Lyn, thank you for the dresses. Thank you for consistently supporting Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to provide clothing to the needy. Much appreciated.

With the above parcel received from Lyn, it brings my total to 74 dresses and 3 boys' set for the Christmas collection.

Donation #12 - Christmas 2016 Collection - from Year 10 Textiles Tech Class of Picnic Point High School NSW

Donation #12 is a parcel of 17 dresses from students of Picnic Point High school of NSW - Year 10 Textiles Technology Class of 2016. These dresses were made by the students assisted by Teriesa Thompson and Cheryl Wardrop. The 17 dresses are below -

made by the following students -
(1) Rhea Yan (2) Phoebe Payet (3) Tash Stengos (4) Nancy Nguyen (5) Simone Myers
(6) Bianca Favorito (7) Patricia Eata (8) Tani McCaw (9) Lauren Flanagan (10) Sydney Dinsdale
(11) Imogen Wallace (12) Rachel Iveli (13) Alyssa Rosanella (14) Hannah Floyd
(15) Tatiana Vasilj (16) Katelyn Wood (17) Jessica Hilley-Hulme.

Thank you and thank you to Teriesa and Cheryl for making this project possible. I will always look forward to your participating again in the future.

Donation #11 - Christmas 2016 Collection - Pairs of Shorts and a Skirt

Am starting to sew again and this time 2 pairs of shorts for boys and a small skirt to match with t-shirts I received from Sylvia Pommerening. The fabric I used for the pairs of shorts came from a donation by Monika Osvald and the material for the skirt is from my personal collection. the undies on this collection also came from Sylvia.

With this set, 3 smiles will definitely be added to planet Earth. Thank you to Sylvia and Monika.

Donation #10 - Christmas 2016 Collection - Five dresses from Prue

Donation #10 is a parcel of 5 dresses from Prue -

Thank you Prue, for your consistent support of Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children. It is much appreciated.

Donation #7, #8 & #9 - Christmas Collection 2016

It is time to acknowledge donations for the Christmas collection for 2016.
1) Donation #7 -  A parcel of undies, dress, t-shirts and a pair of shorts from Sylvia Pommerening -

 2) Donation #8 - A parcel of 4 dresses from Ann McGinnes -

 3) Donation #9 - A couple of dresses from Sophie Dargaville

Thank you to Sylvia, Ann and Sophie for their contribution to Dress A Girl Australia's Christmas Collection. Thank you for your support. Much appreciated.

Parcels, for everyone's info.

I have been away for 2 weeks and just arrived today. To those who sent their parcels while I was away, please be patient as I try to sort out the parcels left behind by Australia Post in the last 2 weeks . I also received notification cards for about 3 parcels that were forwarded to Casula post office, I will only be able to pick them up on Monday, Dec 5. Thank you.

Donation #6 - Christmas 2016 Collection - Ten dresses from Yvonne

Received a parcel of 10 dresses today donated by Yvonne Henderson.

I had a few left of undies donated by Jody Clooney which I have allocated to some of the dresses.

Thank you Yvonne for your consistent support of Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to provide dresses to disadvantaged kids. Thank you for helping make a difference. Much appreciated.

Donation #5 - Christmas 2016 Collection - Fabrics for boys pair of shorts

6 metres of army man soft canvas fabric to make into pairs of boys' shorts. Fabrics were purchased from the sale of handmade dresses sewn by Monika Osvald. 

Thank you Monica! Much appreciated.

Donation #4 - Christmas 2016 Collection from Rachel

These 8 dresses I received today were donated by Rachel Walsh and will be included in the Christmas 2016 collection. All dresses come with undies.

Thank you, Rachel. Thank you for supporting the Christmas 2016 project. Much appreciated.

Feedback Dress Distribution #106 - Philippines - Oct 2016

Here are a few pictures taken from the dress distribution #106 completed in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon, Philippines about two hours away from Metro Manila by plane.

For more larger and individual pictures taken from the distribution, please click here.

My heartfelt thanks to the alumni of Lourdes College High School Batch 1970 for helping out and making this distribution possible. Much appreciated.

Donation #2 - Quilts for Elderlies

Second quilt received today for Project: Quilts for elderlies. This quilt was sent and donated by Sylvia Pommerening.

Thank you to Sylvia for the quilt and for supporting Project: Quilt for elderlies. Much appreciated.

Thank you from Mac Uni Catholic Society

Last month I wrote about an exhibit at Macquarie University presenting the corporal works of Mercy to celebrate the Jubilee year of Mercy. At this exhibit, Dress A Girl Australia's campaign was featured as an example of the "clothing the naked'' corporal work of mercy. Today, I received this ''thank you'' card for helping with the Catholic Society's mercy week.

If you want to continue on with this corporal work of mercy and you do not sew or cannot find the time to sew, why not sponsor a dress. All you have to do is click on the link below. Proceeds from the sponsorship will help pay for the cost of distributing these dresses and/or donated ones. Thank you.

Dress Sponsorship Program

FYI to protect your donated items from getting wet if it rains

Good Day everyone! With the unpredictable weather we are having these days, can I please request dress donors to put their donated items, if possible inside a plastic bag (like grocery bags) before putting them in a box or satchel. If there is nobody home, the postman just drops the parcel inside the gate and there is nothing to protect the parcel if it rains.This way, if the dresses are protected by a plastic bag they do not get wet if it rains even if the external packaging gets wet. Hoping for your understanding. Thank you.

Donation #2 - #3 - Project : Christmas 2016

Two more parcels arrived today from lesley Kroese and Kellie Cameron for the Christmas project.
1) ten dresses from Lesley Kroese -

2) four dresses from Kellie Cameron. the undies are from Jody Clooney's donation.

Thank you to Lesley and Kellie for the dresses and the undies from Jody. special thanks to lesley for the postage donation. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation #1 - Quilts for Elderlies

Today I received the first quilt donation for Project : Quilt for Elderlies. The quilt was donated by Gwenda Doherty and she hopes that it will bring warmth and peace to the recipient which I am sure it will plus comfort and joy.

Thank you to Gwenda for the lovely quilt. Much appreciated.

Donation #1 - Project Christmas - Jody Clooney

A parcel of 5 dresses with undies and an extra 11 undies from Jody Clooney is our first donation of dresses for the  Christmas 2016 project. Jody sew the dresses on behalf of Deb Colahan and Nadia Hamilton who donated the fabrics.

Thank you to Jody for sparing her time to sew these dresses and to Deb and Nadia for providing the materials that Jody can use.

rainbow over the vatican square and a dress

About a week ago I was in Rome in the Vatican City. The picture below I took after coming out of St Peter's Basilica after completing a 3-1/2 hour tour of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum and St Peter's Basilica itself. I was so happy and felt completely satisfied of the tour and more so when I saw the rainbow over the vatican square when I came out. The people around me got excited and so happy to see the rainbow that almost everyone who saw it took a picture. At that moment while looking around I remembered a couple of lines from the song "What a wonderful world" which goes this way -

"The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by"

The atmosphere was so good, something different from what I sometimes would normally see where everyone looked so happy. After a while it made me think of the dresses that I collect and give to disadvantaged kids, dresses that make a difference to their lives. I was thinking that if seeing a rainbow in the sky can bring so much happiness and excitement to people who I would consider priviledged for being there, imagine that rainbow was a dress. Imagine the happiness in the child's face when she is given a dress, a dress that she now can call her own. That smile could be priceless. So I told myself that from now on I dont have to have hundreds and hundreds of dresses to give, only a few that comes from the heart but a few that will make a big difference to the world, a few that will make this world a wonderful world just like the rainbow.

Feedback Distribution #104 - Papua New Guinea

A couple of pictures from the distribution of dresses and a few school supplies to the orphans of the BFO Orphanage in Papua New Guinea. 
Girls wearing their new dresses -

and the boys with their school supplies' allocation -

The school bag and small totes were saved for Christmas time. For larger individual images, please click here.

Thank you to the BFO and Dimmett doings for sharing and making this distribution possible. Much appreciated.

Feedback Quilt Distribution #3 - Pakistan

Here are a few pictures taken from the distribution of quilts (Distribution #3) in Pakistan as organized by Lubna Ghani.  The quilts were given to a group of women in the Maseetian Village who are working as brick kilners and vegetable pickers. 

For more pictures and larger images of the distribution, please click here.

Thank you to Lubna Ghani for organizing and making this quilt distribution possible.

• 

First 2 sponsored dresses for Christmas Distribution

These 2 dresses sponsored by Sophie Dargaville officially opens up the collection for Christmas 2016 distribution.

For more details on the Christmas 2016 collection, please click here.

Thank you to Sophie for sponsoring these dresses. If you want to sponsor dresses, all you have to do is click on the link below -

Dress Sponsorship Program

For $10.00, you can share your happiness with a disadvantaged child this Christmas. Thank you.

Project : Christmas 2016 (Dress Distribution #107)

The collection allocated for Christmas offically opens today. 

All dresses to be donated for this distribution should meet all the guidelines on how to make dresses including materials to use. No dresses using flimsy materials will be accepted. If you use flimsy materials, please make sure you put lining on the dresses. 

Maximum number of dresses that can be donated : 
               Individual donor - 10 dresses 
               Group - 25 dresses 
Any contributions to help with postage will be highly appreciated. 

For those intending to donate, please send me an email or message at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com for postal details. Postal details will not be posted on this blog or in my facebook page for privacy and/or security reasons. 

Deadline for all dresses to be donated will be Thursday, 30th of November 2016. All parcels must be posted on or before this date.

For those who wants to make a difference this Christmas and do not have the time to sew or cannot sew, all you have to do is sponsor a dress. Your sponsorship will help a lot in paying for the cost of distributing. To sponsor a dress, please click on the link below. More dresses for sponsorship will be made available in the next few days.
                                        Dress Sponsorship Program

For any questions and/or more information regarding this distribution, send a message or email at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.
                       

Messages received -For everyone's info

To those who sent me messages in dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com, I will respond to your messages when am back in Australia at the end of October. I am currently away (overseas) and have very limited access to my mailbox. Thank you.

New Project : Quilts for the Elderly

Project: Quilts for the elderly. 

Today I am opening a new project for the elderly. I am hoping to collect and raise 50 new quilts to be given to elderlies staying at retirement homes who cannot afford to provide blankets. This project will remain open until I have collected the 50 quilts. Anyone who wants to donate a quilt, please send a message to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com for postal details.

Dress A Girl Australia Exhibit

The 'Dress A Girl Australia' campaign to provide dresses to disadvantaged children around the world is being featured in an exhibit organized by the Sydney Catholic Organization at Macquarie University from Oct 10-14 to commemorate the Pope's Jubilee Year of Mercy which started last Dec 8,2015 and will end on Nov 20,2016. The campaign of providing new dresses to disadvantaged kids is being featured as a great example of 'clothing the naked' which is one of the corporal works of mercy to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy. I have sent a couple of dresses and a boys' matching t-shirt/pair of shorts as a sample of how we clothe those who are in need. If you live around Macquarie University at North Ryde, Sydney, please drop by and visit the section which displays Dress A Girl Australia's campaign. Thank you.

Quilt Distribution #3 - 6 quilts for Pakistan

Last week I posted the last 6 quilts in my possession to Pakistan. It was sent to Lubna Ghani who will distribute it to deserving kids. Here are the quilts I sent -

and the postage -

Today I received a notification from Australia Post that the parcel has arrived and is being scheduled for delivery. Unfortunately I can no longer identify the donors of these quilts but my heartfelt thanks to the donors. Thank you.

Hands that are making a difference

These beautiful hands are starting to make a difference in this world. Beautiful hands of Year 10 Textiles Technology students of Picnic Point High School in Sydney who have started sewing dresses to make a difference and share their blessings this coming Christmas to disadvantaged kids. 

They have chosen some beautiful fabrics and are taking great pride in their work.

If you are not into sewing but would like to make a difference this coming Christmas, why not sponsor a dress. For $10.00 you too can share your blessings,a new dress and an undie or a t-shirt/pair of shorts this coming Christmas with a disadvantaged little girl or boy. To sponsor, all you have to do is click on the link below - Thank you.

Dress Sponsorship Program

Feedback from Dress Distribution #103 - Parcels to Uganda

Received this message today that the parcels of dresses and a few quilts I sent to Mbale Uganda last May, 2016 has been received by Anne.

For a larger and more readable version of this message, click here.