Today I ran across this article about a devastating wildfire in Western Australia about two years ago.  I hadn’t heard of it, and probably most of you haven’t either.

Almost the entire town of Yarloop was destroyed.  See the effects of the wildfire here.

The quilt is meant to symbolize life, recovery and rebirth.  The mandalas incorporated into the quilt were made by over 100 needle work practitioners (like you!) in about a month.  There are knit, crocheted, quilted, and embroidered mandalas, of all sizes.  Participation was generated by word of mouth.  It was inspired by the yarn bombing activities of a nearby town, Waroona, where the yarn bombing has become an annual event.

The part of this story that really impressed me was that these wonderful fiber craftists have recognized that even 2 years after the event, there is still need for support for the survivors.  Even symbolic support is critical to all trying to rebuild.

Of course the current wildfires in Southern California came to mind immediately.

While the rest of us are celebrating the end of year holidays, so many, many thousands of people from Santa Barbara to the south will have dreadful memories of the destruction that is occurring right now.   And after all the assistance from the government agencies and the disaster relief charities have gone, there will still be an empty hole in the hearts of so many people.  And that hole will need mending too.