Dressember 2018

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It’s that time of year again. Dressember is the month of the year when I will join thousands of advocates around the world in a campaign to make a difference in the fight to end modern day slavery.

This is the third year I have participated in Dressember and, although it is a cold month to be wearing a dress every day it ends up being a simple choice for me. If I can make a difference in the fight against human trafficking by pulling out dresses instead of jeans then I will. I need your help though. I have a fundraising page where you can donate to the campaign. I am posting about the campaign here on my blog as well as on instagram and pinterest; please share my posts with others who might be want to be involved.

In 2014 I raised $1200, in 2017 I raised just over $1500 and in 2018 I am aiming for $1800! This year, just to mix things up a little I am going to wear the same dress for several days in a row, styling it a little differently each day until I run out of ideas and switch to another dress. We will see how that goes. I’m starting with a dress I made in Australia so it must be about twenty years old. That doesn’t make it vintage but perhaps it counts as retro!

 

Dressember update #2

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I have less than a week of Dressember left and I am thrilled to announce that my fundraising is now at 107%. I am so excited to have reached my goal but would love to keep adding to the total for as long as the campaign continues. Anything I raise will help my team reach its $2500 goal so please think about getting involved. Thank you so much to all who have contributed. I have been encouraged by family, friends near and far, from my current connections in Canada and my roots in Australia. I have also been thrilled to see the response from the crafting community both those I know from live classes and those I know only online. I have had several anonymous donations; I am not able to thank you personally but please know I am very grateful for your generosity.  I appreciate all donor’s support of my fundraising efforts but more importantly I am excited that you are making a difference in the lives of victims of human trafficking around the world.

To donate please visit my fundraising page
https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/fundraiser/heather-telford

or my team fundraising page
https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/team/fancy-a-dress

As I mentioned in my previous post the money raised in this campaign is given as grants to organizations, namely International Justice Mission, A21 and the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Centre. Please check out the work they are doing if you would like to know more.

As you can imagine it has got a little chillier as December has progressed. Some days Alexandra and I have snapped photos out in the snow but other days it is definitely an indoor task! To check whether I am completing the challenge you can see my daily dresses posted on Instagram and Pinterest but here are a couple of favourite photos from the last few weeks.

One of the Dressember catch cries is #youcandoanythinginadress and on December 14th in -15°C  I successfully jumpstarted a car!

The next day I got all fancy and spent part of a night at the museum for Andrew’s work Christmas party.

I’ve cleared the car and shovelled the driveway in a dress.

Thank you for your interest and involvement. Thank you for visiting here; I’ll be back with a wrap up in January.

 

 

Dressember 2017 update

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I am excited to update you about my Dressember 2017 campaign. I have been wearing dresses for ten days now and have already raised over $600! I am hoping to not only reach my goal but surpass it. Modern day slavery is a problem all over the world. Individuals and whole families have their freedom taken away and are forced to work for someone else’s gain.

Organizations like the International Justice Mission and A21 are working around the world to free victims, bring perpetrators to justice and restore survivors to new living situations with the liberty to work and thrive in safety.

I have been very encouraged by the support I have received from family, friends, anonymous donors, blog readers and fellow artists and crafters. I am approaching my fundraising goal of $1000 and hoping to exceed it before my donation page closes at the end of January. THANK YOU to those of you have donated. If you would like to donate to help end human trafficking please visit my page here

It is fun doing the challenge with my daughter Alexandra, I don’t need to take selfies, we raid each other’s wardrobes and we celebrate each other fundraising achievements. If you are wondering whether I have worn a dress each day on December, here are the first 10 day’s pics.

 

 

Dressember 2017

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Back in 2014 I participated in Dressember, a campaign to raise funds to end human trafficking. Once again I have committed to wear dresses every day of December for the same worthy cause. Wearing a dress every day can get a little chilly here in Canada and tends to look a little fancier than my usual jeans and sweaters so it does prompt some conversation. Wearing dresses all month is my kind of a challenge though; I like fashion, I make dresses, so combined with such an vital cause, it’s a good fit for me. This year my daughter, Alexandra and our friend, Nan have teamed up with me and our goal is to raise $2500

The challenge is certainly not to wear a different dress everyday, some participants wear the same dress all 31 days! The campaign is about freedom and justice.

Dressember equips a community of advocates to fight for the dignity of all people, leading to the protection and freedom of millions.

Check back here during the month to see how I am going with my fundraising or click over to my fundraising page to help me meet my goal. Right now our team has raised 13% of our $2500.

I am updating my instagram and pinterest accounts to show ‘proof of dress’ and will be back to post some photos here on the blog also.

 

Floriade

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Floriade is a festival of flowers in Canberra every spring. It features many tulips but includes a range of other flowers as well.

The last time I visited Floriade was probably at least twenty years ago. It was as impressive as I remember it.

My dad and I visited Canberra last weekend and stayed with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew.  We decided to go to Canberra so my dad could attend and present a short speech at the 90th anniversary of the church we attended when he was the minister from 1975 – 1980. It was also the church where Andrew and I were married in 1990. It was fun to be back there and catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen for many years.

 

We also enjoyed Saturday night Jazz on the lawn, hearing David preach on Sunday morning and the views from the National Arboretum.

My Mother

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My dear mother passed away earlier this week and I am now in Australia with my family. She died peacefully with my father and brother by her side. My mother was a faithful, loving, wonderful wife, mother, sister, nanna and friend. She is now in the presence of Jesus, her saviour whom she loved and trusted throughout her 82 years.  I am so blessed to have had such a loving, prayerful, unselfish role model and friend.

Canberra Zoo

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I visited the Canberra Zoo with some of my family to celebrate my great nephew’s 3rd birthday. It was a beautiful day and everyone had a great time, especially the three year old. I was able to see several familiar Australian animals but a good selection of foreigners as well! Above is a snow leopard and below are the lions we could hear roaring from all over the park.

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The wallabies and fairy penguins were cute as always.dsc_3367fairypenguinssc

The fur of the dingoes was surprisingly soft and a beautiful colour

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The giraffe was the favourite of the birthday boy and one of the animals we were able to see up really close.

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There is also a reptile area and aquarium.

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‘New’ Parliament House

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When I lived in Canberra, the current Parliament House was being built. I remember touring the old parliament house as a student and as a teacher. I remember when designs were submitted for a new parliament house and when construction began. The photo below is taken from the new looking over the old towards the War Memorial and Mt Ainslie, site of cross country runs when I was in highschool.

from parliament house

Parliament house is now 26 years old and its modern design is very different to the old parliament house opened in 1927 and the Canadian houses of parliament rebuilt and opened in 1926. Today I walked around inside for the first time. It is an amazing building filled with beautiful wood, stone and architectural features.

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Above is the members hall featuring marble pillars designed to look like gum trees.

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The colours in the senate and house of representatives are the traditional red and green also seen in Britain and Canada but the Australian red is more of a red-ochre and the green a grey-green seen in the plants and rock of the Australian bush.

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I didn’t take a photo of the outside but you can see several views on the education site here.

Colours of Australia

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I’m in Australia visiting my family and enjoying sights and sounds I haven’t seen for a while. Three kookaburras posed briefly for me.

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The sky is still blue; the grass is green but the tones are a little different. And of course gum trees are everywhere.