Bushfire awakening


In my last post I talked about my visit to Braidwood to pick up a raffle quilt that I had won and where I spent a wonderful couple of hours visiting with the ladies of Braidwood Quilters.

My drive out to Braidwood almost didn’t happen because of a large bushfire in Nelligen.  While I visited Braidwood we talked about the terrible drought afflicting New South Wales.  One of the ladies commented that visitors to the Exhibition were lower than normal because farmers are doing it hard at the moment and there is less money to spend.  A dry State means lots of fuel for fires.

I managed to get up Kings Highway which was thick with smoke from the bushfire and made it to Braidwood.  However, since then a new bushfire just outside Braidwood has spread and the Kings Highway is often closed.  It is a tragedy and very distressing to think of the farmers and other people living in the region who have lost property.

Here in Rosedale we are getting a lot of smoke, but so far, no fires.  The nearest bushfire is about 40km away from us.  But a 30km firefront can chew up 40km very quickly.  We keep up to date with the Rural Fire Service to make sure we are aware of anything getting closer to us.

Our fire plan is to leave sooner rather than later.  Bags are packed, dog leads and food are in the car, cars are parked in the driveway in the direction we need to take off in, and we have important documents backed up on the laptop.  

Lives are more important than property.

Baby quilt in the making


Browsing the Internet I came across an inspirational post from Allison at New Every Morning Patchwork and Quilting.  She blogged about a baby quilt she had made on commission for a friend.

I really like the snowball block and have started to make my own version.  The background fabric is proving challenging.  I don’t know where I got it, and I won’t have enough for the whole quilt, but I don’t intend tracking any of it down.  It frays terribly. So my blocks will have scrappy backgrounds of grey on white.
Not perfect … but good enough for me!

I don’t know what I will alternate the block with – hearts maybe?  I’m not sure if the new baby will be a boy or a girl, so I am just going with an all-over colour palette.

It’s keeping me away from hand sewing for a while and I hope the quilt will be put to good use next year!

While sewing, and writing, I’m thinking of all those caught up in the bushfires, especially the ladies in Braidwood.

Hubblebird


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What a rigmarole ...

Image
... and a Bramble Blooms Pt 3 Update I'm calling on the Gods to thank the IT guy that I engaged to help me solve my Google and Blogspot problems.  He came to see me this morning, and it was a few dollars well spent to relieve my anxiety, and get me back into my blog.   Google help/support/community etc, including the bot - called Bard of all things, which makes me wonder if this is a nod to The Great Bard (Shakespeare) himself - couldn't resolve my issues.  Google Bard is still learning and wasn't helpful. It turns out that I had created the problem, but it took us a long time to sort it out.  Hopefully all is now resolved, as I have a lot to talk about! Adding the second border Rambling in the brambles in more ways than one Audrey's update for Bramble Blooms was to create the next border with repeat applique motifs and to add quarter-triangle style cornerstone blocks.  I read her really informative post several times, but I still managed to make a mistake...
Read more

Pretty little pots unearthed

Image
Four blocks completed Back in 2019, I attended a Wendy Williams workshop in a small town nearby.  I really enjoyed it, and came away with some gorgeous fabrics, and the intention to sign up for the Block of the Month called Pretty Little Pots. I decided to use different linen backgrounds for the blocks I made four blocks and set the project aside in favour of concentrating on  Red Centre . I can't believe that 5 years have gone by and that I haven't touched this project since. The linens are a variety of textures, prints, and checks in muted colours. I had to contact Wendy at Flying Fish Kits to get back into the Block of the Month website as the pattern is all Online.  Luckily the folks at Flying Fish Kits got back to me very quickly so that I could re-enter the website and gain access again to the pattern. I'm now looking forward to stitching these pots on my way across Australia, and also during the first few weeks after my move.  I need hand stitching as I won'...
Read more

[Butterflies wiggling]

Image
I watch a lot of foreign films.  And, because many English language films and documentaries have such loud music (meaning I have to reach for the remote to turn down the sound, and then turn it back up again so that I can actually hear the dialogue) I always have the subtitles turned on for foreign and English language films and moderate level sound.  I do this for anything that I am streaming actually. Much better. An added bonus to the comfort of watching films this way is that sometimes the descriptions for background noise, usually in square brackets, eg [melancholy music] [footsteps clattering] are hilarious, and occasionally, completely wrong.   For example, in a recent episode of a TV series set in the English countryside, a fox screaming in the dead of night is described as [woman screams].  Anyone that has ever heard a fox in the middle of the night will never mistake it for a woman screaming.  Kate, from The Last Homely House, certainly wouldn't....
Read more