5/18/2013

In memory of Kathreen Ricketson
































































































I was stunned to hear about the tragic deaths of WhipUp founder Kathreen Ricketson and her partner, Rob Shugg today. The couple was on vacation in Australia with their two children. She was writing a book about the family’s year-long travels around Australia and I had been following her fascinating blog just hours before her death.

“The book is not just any old travel book,” she wrote in a recent online post. “It will be part on the road memoir, part family camping adventure how-to, but mostly it will be a whole bunch of fun projects that can be done in a day or a weekend by those who want to get away from it all and reconnect with their families.”
The family left their home more than four months ago, with Kathreen regularly sharing photos of their travels with her online audience of more than 5000 Twitter followers. In one entry, she said the couple were home-schooling their children and described their visit to the Ningaloo area as a “dream come true”. On Wednesday afternoon shortly before she left for that tragic swim, she posted the picture at the top of this post - a bag she crocheted out of plastic grocery bags while sitting around the campfire.

Kathreen was a cornerstone of the crafting community. Since 2004 her blog: Whip Up has inspired countless people and her legacy will live on as that site will continue.
Via Craftnectar:  The way she would want to be honored is for all of us to try new things and challenge ourselves. She’d want us to plan fun activities with our kids and live big, adventurous lives. She’d want us to cherish our friends and make beautiful things from even the most humble materials.
The beautiful photos above are some of the ones Kathreen shared recently from their trip.

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