Waltzing MatilD'aire

Sue Forrester

Victoria, Australia

I live with my husband Bill Molyneux and our (currently) four Airedales on our five acre property called Wombat Bend ( www.wombatbend.com ).  Geographically we are about an hour’s drive north-east of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.  The area is known as the Yarra Valley and is a well known tourist destination and wine-growing region.

I have a particular passion for both wildlife rescue work and for Airedale Rescue, which I co-ordinate for Victoria and liaise with people in other States of Australia.

We have a small but very strong network of people and although the need for Rescue is not as great as in USA, nevertheless it is significant.

The idea for our Airedales Downunder Wall Hanging grew very suddenly.  Three of us ~ Jenny Patience, Anne Marie Serrano and myself ~ were together for a ‘girls’ weekend’ in October 2009, and in a matter of a few moments we had decided we could do this.  Our offer of a Bonus Quilt with a very Australian flavor was accepted by the Quilting Bee Committee and we began work immediately on the design.

Anne Marie was returning to USA the following week so we knew that our plans would depend on long distance communications ~ thank heavens for email.  I’m sure every Quilter thinks that.  Photos, thoughts and ideas have been flying back and forth from Oz and USA for months as we have steadily approached completion of our work. Anne Marie and Jenny have done the bulk of the work, and Anne Marie (we call her AM for short) has assembled all the blocks and added all the final touches of its completion.

We hope that our gift of Airedales Downunder will find a wonderful ‘forever home’, but most of all, we know that our beloved Airedales ~ wherever they are in the world ~ will benefit from the love, care and commitment that they receive from everyone connected with Airedale Rescue.