In on Saturday February 7th 2009 devastating bushfires swept through parts of Victoria, Australia. The fires caused 173 deaths, 120 of them caused by a single firestorm, the fires destroyed over 2,030 houses and more than 3,500 structures and damaged thousands more. The fires affected 78 townships and displaced an estimated 7,560 people.
The patchwork group I belong to decided to make quilts to be given to some of the survivors and those affected by the fires. I had heard via another group that I am involved with, the Australian Breastfeeding Association of Australia, that one of the Victorian counsellors had lost her house in the fire. She and her husband and their 4 children were all ok but the house and all the contents were gone. I decided that I would like to make quilts for this particular family, or at least the children. My daughter Fangirl assisted me by cross stitching the children's names to go on the quilts.
For Amelia's quilt I chose to use a mermaid panel I had and complimented it with a range of seaside and ocean squares, sashed in purples and pinks
For Zoe's quilt I chose eyespy fabrics along an insects and butterflies
The youngest two children in the family were twin boys Thomas and Christopher. I did ABC eyespy for both boys incorporating their name squares as part of the ABC's
I put the quilts together and a friend of mine who has a long arm quilted them. In all our group made over 70 quilts. Our community contributed with donated fabric and money for wadding. Our three local fabric shops all made generous donations as well and one of the local mining companies donated a whole roll of batting. One of our local members was able to drive the quilts down to Victoria where they were given to a local organisation down there to distribute. The quilts that I made were sent separately as the family lived elsewhere. I never heard back from the family. I hope they arrived safely
I'm linking up with Quilting Jenny's Throwback Thursday
No comments:
Post a Comment