The Haul

Well today has been spent sewing on labels to the blankets that are going out on Friday night as well as pinning on a leaflet of what we are about and who has donated/helped on this project. Boy is the list long - imagine if all those anonymous donors had given their names too.

You can see that I'm not exaggerating when I say you can't move in my spare room - usually it's lovely and neat. I am neatly piling up the completed blankets now ready to go - when I have done this I will take another photo - which at least will look neater.

Cheque's in the mail...

... or should I say blankets are on the bus??

I haven't posted for ages - between full time uni and two little people there just never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done!!

As Dawn has already posted, 36 blankets have made their way from generous donors here in the ACT and we've got loads more squares that are still in various stages of being put together. I'm still getting random packages of squares in my post office box and the ABC called to say that they have 5 more bags of squares at their office for collection.

I'll be picking them up next week and working on the next lot of blankets. Hopefully in the next two months or so I'll have another lot of completed blankets ready to send down. That's the plan anyway!!

Spoilt Me

I am overwhelmed with how many people have contributed to this cause but was very pleasantly surprised when I received a gift of a gorgeous shawl for me and a hat for my husband from Annette and Alexander in Germany. A photo of them will be posted soon.

That's in addition to the monetary donation they made which has really helped me with the costs associated with this venture. Two Aussies have also made a monetary contribution, my thanks goes to them too.

And the blankets and squares just keep on rolling in. I cannot move in my spare bedroom now so I will be glad when the first delivery of blankets is made. I can then start to put some more together which I hope to deliver to the Kinglake area later in the year.

Distribution

FINALLY it's all coming together.

Bec is sending down 36 blankets from Canberra today with Dysons buslines which I shall collect from their depot in Bairnsdale on Sunday. I have just spoken to Chris from Rotary who is helping me to distribute all the blankets, toys, clothes etc that we have assembled so far and the first lot will go out next Friday. They are holding a dinner at Traralgon South next Friday for the residents and another lady from a group who has knitted clothes and myself have been invited. I will give a talk on what our group has achieved and will be able to assess and decide who gets what. I LOVE that idea. It means that people get to tell me if they want a bed or comfort blanket, a hat for the kiddies and whether they want wool or synthetics. I have no doubt there will be an article in the local paper about the evening and if so I shall direct you all to the internet link for it. If there isn't anyone from the paper there I shall write an article myself because I think everyone who has contributed to the cause needs to acknowledged for what they have done.

The flyer and contributors lists are up and ready to go, I shall be attaching one to each and every blanket.

Monday May 5th

Bec and I had hoped to be able to have a lot of what she has collected sent down to me this weekend but unfortunately Dysons didn't have any room on the bus for our stuff so we'll have to try again next time I go to Lakes Entrance.

Today I collected another great batch of squares from Stitches & Things in Lakes Entrance. They have been doing a marvellous job. I even got to meet one of the ladies that have been knitting, she walked into the shop with a few more squares just as I was standing there with a great boxfull sitting on the floor in front of me. Karen and all the ladies in Lakes have donated so many squares, I'd hate to work out how many but suffice to say there will be a few people just a bit warmer this winter because of them.

Just as I was leaving the shop Karen came up with a wonderful idea and even volunteered to do all the work for us. She has an embroidery machine, she does custom embroidery for anyone, and offered to make up small labels with our logo and a brief message that I will sew onto each and every blanket. Along with the printed sheet explaining it all these blankets could end up making an interesting story for someone in the future to read about. Especially as this blog is going to be stored in the Library archives about the bushfires. So thanks Karen. It's a lovely little shop and Karen also takes mail orders so please log onto her site and see what she has to offer.

Last week I spoke to Chris Payne, a lady with the Traralgon Rotary Group. She is visiting all the bushfire victims in this area, having a chat with them and finding out what they need. When she heard about our Blankets of Friendship she was very keen and thought they would be just what the people want to boost their morale a bit. I shall be making a big delivery to her as soon as I have sewn on the labels that Karen is making and typed up the synopsis to go with them.

As the squares have been donated from all over Australia as well as a few overseas donors as well I believe that the recipients of the squares should be from all fire affected regions, not just our Gippsland ones. For this reason I shall be donating about half locally and the other half I will drive to the other areas to distribute. At the moment I still have many, many, many squares to be made into blankets but I'm going as fast as I can. With winter approaching (what happened to Autumn, we went straight from summer to winter) I want to get them distributed as quickly as possible.