Keith Morris Gray, died July 1, 1942 'Lest We Forget'

It is ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp), April 25. It is the day we remember those who past and present have fought (and many cases died) for our freedon in Australia.

My uncle Keith Morris Gray, was one such hero. He forged his parents signature (as he was only 17) to go to New Britian as a medic When Rabaul fell to the Japanese, he stayed behind to tend the sick and was taken prisioner of the Japanese. 1053 Australian troops and civilians (who had been interned in Raboul by the Japanese) were loaded onto the Montevideo Maru ship which was consequently sunk in the China sea off the coast of the Philippines on July1, 1942. All lives were lost, this is the worst of all Australian maritime disasters. This ship has never been found.

Keith was my dad's younger brother, being born in 1921, and dad still carries a picture of Keith in his bible. I never knew my uncle, but we were always told about him, he was the baby of the family having four brothers and one sister older than him.

I do not know if there is anywhere the names of those who where lost in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, other than the website I found Keith's name, and I thank Keith Jackson for this site, are listed to be remembered at ANZAC day, however for all the Gray family, I am remembering Keith Morris Gray today and trust that somewhere, somehow he knows he will never be forgotten 'Lest We Forget'.

Happy 99th Birthday Dad and Congratulations Shirley and Meg

Elaine Pollard taught her sister Shirley how to use the Quilt-a-matic quilting technique in an effort to take her mind off her pain. The results are gorgeous and something I would never have thought of, how clever you two 'girls are!

Meg Covalt, (a JH Educator in the US), sent me this picture of her Jenny Haskins' Ministry of Sewing projects. They are simply fabulous Meg, Robbie and I just love what you have done. Meg told me she will have these  with her when she visits Patti's Sewing Center in San Antonio and at the quilt show in Paducha, so make sure you see them up close and personal, they are great techniques.

Happy 99th Birthday dad, here he is with his cake with his two girls me (left) and my sister Sue (who is a medical doctor) helping him blow out his candles - yes I know not quite 99 candles, but we did not want to alert the fire brigade! Simon came up to help celebrate with his beloved Poppa and Elaine came also to be there with us all. It was a very special day. We had two cakes, balloons and flowers, a real party. You are surely loved dad, but most of all by me, he is the perfect father!

Welcome baby Frankie and Simon is home!!

Simon has a new daughter and Harvey has a new (very tiny) baby sister - congratulations to everyone, Cleo (new mum), Kirstin, Harvey and Simon, Frankie is truly beautiful and we are all excited. She was born on April 1, and I had a ball going mad on pink clothes, mind you I had all ready decided it was to be a girl and sent pink clothes to the 'girls' well before Frankie was born.

Cleo looked beautifully radiant, if a little tired, (Frankie was a Caesar) but both are doing well. I went to see her over Easter and had a cuddle, she settled into my arms and fell asleep as if she knew her Noo Noo already loved her before she was born and she was safe and happy. Simon missed the birth as it was a hurried delivery, (and Kirstin lost her phone - once again), but he was there soon after and spent the whole day with his new daughter.

What a great welcome home (after seven long weeks in the US) for Simon, who is now madly in love with his new daughter, so is somewhat distracted at work as he is trying to catch up on all his emails.

Our first Ministry of Sewing webinar went well (I think we were all a bit behind the eight ball); Simon was jet lagged and I had been in surgery the day before - never mind we did it. Due to a technical hitch the webinar did not record, so we repeated the webinar on the Tuesday and this time the recording worked. Yahoo, ain't technology grand! The response was fabulous and everyone just loved the projects, I cannot wait to see how everyone makes these projects up and we get lots of photos.Remember it is not too late to register, you still get to download the project directions, video and webinare and better still get the great discounts that were offered through the Ministry - so take a peak at the introduction video.

Robbie and I have been working on our Christmas in July projects for the Ministry as well as our up coming final Academy with the current projects, so if you have not registered for either the 2012 Online Academy or the Ministry of Sewing you are truly missing out on a treat.

The Jenny Haskins' RNK Educators are all members of the Ministry of Sewing, so if they are in your area make sure you go to their presentation, these are always amazing, and 'girls' have all promised to have our first Ministry projects (well some of the projects) done for you to look at. I cannot wait to see what the girls - Meg, Gina, Susan, Pattie, Paula (the JH division manager) and Jeannie come up with, they have all emailed me and told me they have exciting projects planned, so watch this space for the photos of their version of our Wedding Accessories.

By the way have you all purchased Creative Machine Embroidery - the US magazine, how do you like my column, I believe my first column is in the May/June issue, so don't miss out you will love this magazine and my column is a great reference for you to keep when you have a question you need answered.

Now to catch up on FaceBook and Twitter - how good am I?