Thursday, February 19, 2009

Black Saturday

By now everyone has heard the horror stories of the Victorian bushfires that swept through entire towns, wiping them out in minutes. It's so hard to comprehend what the poor victims and survivors went through, but I feel for them all. The Kinglake area is/was so beautiful, I have visited the Kinglake National Park numerous times, and used to play tennis in Kinglake West when I was younger. I have been so pleased to hear of the way Victorians, Australians and even International friends have supported the bushfire appeal and given of their time, money, goods and services. Makes me proud to be an Aussie! And they say the economy is shot, with a recession on the way, yet we've all managed to dig deep and donate close to $100 million dollars!!

Due to this tragedy, my stitching plans have changed somewhat. After the birth record I'm working on is completed, I'll move onto the ANZAC day piece for the exchange. Then I've commited to stitching a square for a quilt that will be donated to either the CFA (Country Fire Authority - A volunteer firefighting organisation for those of us in country/rural Victoria  - who are always looking for funds) or one of several wildlife rescue organisations, who also run on mostly donations. They will be able to raffle or auction off the quilt for much needed cash. I've signed up to do an EMS baby, they are SO CUTE!! More stitchers are needed for the 4 themed quilts being made, and the due date is the end of June '09. If interested in helping, please email Terry Louise at terrylouisetas at yahoo dot com (please put Fundraising Quilts in the subject line).

I've also commited to stitching some bits and pieces for Nise who is collecting stitched items to be distributed to the survivors once they have a new home. The original idea was to stitch Christmas ornaments, but has grown to include basically anything! I'm going to stitch a few yellow awareness ribbons which have come to symbolise the tragedy and maybe a welcome sign or two for the entrance way of their new homes. Not sure what else, only time will tell. If interested in helping out in this project, you can email Nise at dmazzan at gmail dot com

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