I can't believe it is already April, the year is just flying past at an unbelievable pace....
I am not sure where to start here....... the year started off similar to many before it with the usual frantic summer holidays we have become accustomed to in this household......
February hit us all in Victoria with memories that will never be forgotten....... the images on tv and on the internet have been ingrained in everyone's mind I am certain. It is hard to believe that it is almost 2 months since those horrendous fires...... but still so much devastation exists... and so much more work is still to be done...
where we live we consider ourselves very lucky.. we are in the South west of the state and although we had our own fires and tragedies to deal with they diminish in comparison to those in the north west of the state. I have not blogged about this or much else for that matter as I really was unsure on what to say and how to say it. The shock and total disbelief of what was happening in our state was just too great to comprehend. We have lived through many wildfires before but these were the exception.. the country was a tinderbox, just waiting... and in parts of the state it still is.... the saddest and most unbelievable part of all this is that some of these fires were deliberately lit..........and in our area are still being deliberately lit....... as we drive around our little part of the world you can see the scars everywhere, the blackened earth and charred remains of trees and fences..... luckily our local firies were very active and attacked every fire with a vengence and quickly controlled most fires much to their credit...... we have just had a large fire in our area brought under control today that has been burning for a number of days....believed to be deliberately lit..... and still we get no rain............. I cannot recall it ever being so dry before in April around here. I can recall having hot days in April but they were always followed by rain.... our last lot of 'real rain' here was 3 weeks ago and prior to that was early December...... and this all follows on from the drought that has been experienced over the last 10 years..... the ground is so dry it will take a really good wet season to repair it all.
where we live we consider ourselves very lucky.. we are in the South west of the state and although we had our own fires and tragedies to deal with they diminish in comparison to those in the north west of the state. I have not blogged about this or much else for that matter as I really was unsure on what to say and how to say it. The shock and total disbelief of what was happening in our state was just too great to comprehend. We have lived through many wildfires before but these were the exception.. the country was a tinderbox, just waiting... and in parts of the state it still is.... the saddest and most unbelievable part of all this is that some of these fires were deliberately lit..........and in our area are still being deliberately lit....... as we drive around our little part of the world you can see the scars everywhere, the blackened earth and charred remains of trees and fences..... luckily our local firies were very active and attacked every fire with a vengence and quickly controlled most fires much to their credit...... we have just had a large fire in our area brought under control today that has been burning for a number of days....believed to be deliberately lit..... and still we get no rain............. I cannot recall it ever being so dry before in April around here. I can recall having hot days in April but they were always followed by rain.... our last lot of 'real rain' here was 3 weeks ago and prior to that was early December...... and this all follows on from the drought that has been experienced over the last 10 years..... the ground is so dry it will take a really good wet season to repair it all.
So what have I been doing all this time..........
Knitting, sewing, donating...... doing whatever I could to help out where I could......
I have knitted and sent off numerous beanies to those affected by the fires, it gets really cold in the mountains even in summer.....so knitted beanies were sent off to a quilter I know who passed them on to those who needed them..... sorry no pics, I forgot to take photos of them.
I already had 3 tote bags made up that I had listed for sale so I sent these off for those who had lost everything. Pic above is one of 2 similar ones I sent off. Hopefully they have come in handy for the survivors. I have just finished a scarf and only need to sew up a beanie and then they will be on their way with a couple of other beanies and some balls of wool for the knitters in the areas...
Not sure whether it was the timing or what but I had just joined an online knitting group the week leading up to these fires and it is amazing the outpouring of help that I have seen happening in this and other online groups I am involved in. This knitting group knits and crochets items of need for needy charities and groups. They have been involved in making beanies, scarves, jumpers, blankets, possum pouches and other items for wildlife. Another online group I am in has been making quilts for all those affected by the fires and hope to make 7500 quilts. I feel privileged to have been able to help and continue to help out thru these groups and others.
This photos shows some of the items I was working on prior to the fires, excuse the mess, this is my ongoing projects bag... I am glad to say they have all been sewn up and are patiently waiting in my little storage container awaiting new homes... There is a little dress and 4 pairs of bootees here....... I will have to get a photo of my little storage case.. I think it is quite cute... I add some lavender to help keep them smelling fresh and protected also..I also have some little teddy scarves in the container awaiting some fringing and now that the footy season has begun again I must get and finish some more of these and get them sent off...
Thought I would show you a photo of my blankets in progress... This bucket sits next to my chair in my sewing room and is full of crocheted squares I make from all the scraps I have left over from projects, also some balls I unwound from a UFO jumper I found which I was making for one of my sons when he was about 4 I am guessing by the size... my sons' are now 18 and 16..lol
I guess it got forgotten over the years but is being put to good use now... I either crochet these squares together when I get enough into a blanket or sometimes I keep on crocheting the same square until it is big enough to make a decent size blanket then they are donated to the homeless. I have lately also been busily playing around with different squares after being sent a link to the 'Never ending blanket' pattern.... I have had fun making different versions of this pattern and so far have 5 different squares of varying sizes... I will work out how to put them together later on to make a nice size blanket also for the homeless...
I haven't updated the tallies yet but I have added some new links for sites of interest... the Oz Comfort Quilt blog which is for the Victorian Bushfire Quilts and also Knit 4 charities website which is the new group I joined earlier in the year and who do an amazing job in helping out those in need across Australia.. go check them out...
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