I Have a Finish

I was determined to complete the Wisteria coloured Corner to Corner Rug this month and it is done.  Yay!  It’s just a pity that the wisteria isn’t flowering as yet.

I ended up just finishing it with a simple shell border.

This blanket will be donated to Wrap With Love, a charity that provides knitted and crocheted blankets to those in need, with many being shipped overseas.  I attended their annual local knit in back in July, where just over 100 blankets were on display before being sent on their way.

In other crafty news, I had one more play with the design curtain before packing it away.  These drunkard path blocks were made several years ago as yet another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  The original plan was to make two cushions, but I really don’t need any more cushions.

I was recently browsing through some old Homespun magazines and noticed this on the cover of one.  The blocks finish at 4 inches, whereas mine finish at 3 inches.  If you look closely, she has them laid out in two settings - a pinwheel style withe low volume centres and then the ones with the coloured centres with the colour in the corners.  I have enough to make the centre of a quilt, or possibly a border to form part of a medallion quilt.  To make that work for a square quilt, which I quite like, would require me to make eight more of the small blocks, which is four colours.  That wouldn’t be too hard.  Anyway, in the meantime, they have gone back into their box to be played with further at a later date.  The magazine is now with them, to provide inspiration.  

I have made a start on the knitted top, but will share a photo when it has progressed a bit further.

Other Craft Progress

Not only have I been spending some time at the sewing machine, I have been working on a couple of other projects as well.

I like to work on something while sitting outside when travelling with the caravan and on our way home from our latest trip to Baradine it was the Corner to Corner Blanket.

Since we returned home I have continued to plug away with it.  This is the most recent photo, but I can confirm that the last corner has now been completed.  It is time to add the borders, which should WILL be finished this month.  I had originally bought six balls of yarn, but realised I would need more, so bought a seventh.  In the end, I needed an eighth, but of course they have now sold out of the colourway I have been using.  An option was to use random eight ply, but this yarn is a tad thicker, so it wouldn’t work, particularly on that final corner.  Fortunately, there was a ball that had some similar tonings in some of its stripes, so I was able to use some of it.

Of course, I have started yet another project.  I seem to be an expert at that this year.  I have had this linen/cotton/acrylic yarn in my stash for a couple of years.  It was an op shop find.  This is a tension swatch to see how it knitted up. There should be enough for a simple summer sleeveless top……… fingers crossed.  The plan is to start at the bottom in the blue and then gradually add some stripes to transition to the cream.  A small start has been made.  I hope there is enough yarn…..  the pattern says there should be… I do hope so.  Wish me luck.  

Spending Some Time With my Sewing Machine

When I look back at what I have done this year, it has become apparent that I have done very little stitching at my sewing machine since Scrub Stitchin’.  It’s time to get back into it.

So, what have I been up to so far this month?

Once we arrived back home from our latest trip to Baradine, my first priority was to make three shadow blocks for Betty’s group quilts.  These were July’s prompt, but this was the first chance I had to make them.  Fortunately, there was no real urgency for them.  The prompt was one to be brownish, one kid’s print and one a favourite print in blues or greens.

The next thing I wanted to work on was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for this and last month and look at the Chookshed Challenge goal of putting together the Split Nine Patch quilt top.

It was time to bring out the Design Curtain again.  How to lay out the blocks?  I ended up grouping them by colour.  Now, I have just been making two blocks each month for the last three years, not thinking about the layout.  Of course, that has meant that I have six blocks, which make up one and a half big blocks.  To make it bigger I needed to make quite a few more blocks, which I wasn’t really thrilled about doing.  The alternative was that I could use what I had to make a smaller quilt with two blocks left over.  That seemed a much better idea, so no extra blocks were made.

It didn’t take too long to stitch them together.

While I was stitching away, I continued to make some more leader and ender blocks for “Bonnie Lass”.  I had stitched up what I had previously cut out, so it was time to dig into the scrap tubs and cut some more. There are now sufficient to keep me going for a while.  

Meanwhile, while the design curtain was up, I thought I would see what it was looking like and what other fabrics it would need.  This is 60 units and I will need 396, so quite a way to go.  Mmm.  Some brighter, clearer colours are needed, as it looks rather muddy at present.  I now have 110 units stitched, so a quarter of the way there.

Let’s make good use of the design curtain, while it is adding its decorating style to the sitting room.  Why not have a look at those Rainbow Scrap Challenge fish, now that all the blocks have been appliqued?

My plan has always been to make two smaller quilts, rather than one large. So a bit of juggling to work about the best colour distribution.

Next, to add some filler blocks.  I must say that being able to play with the blocks here, rather than the floor or bed, has been a game changer.  It works so very well.  

Then it was time to add the narrow border around them.  I wanted to have them not quite the same.

Today, I have added the border to the Split Nine Patch and the second border to both of the fish quilts.  That blue batik has been in my stash for about twenty years.  I think there is enough for the bindings and then it will be all used, other than some small scraps.  That is a big win in my books.

I’m so pleased to finally have these to the flimsy stage.  Now they have been added to the ever growing “To Be Quilted” pile.

While the design curtain is still hanging in the sitting room I am going to have a play with something else that has been hanging around for too long.

Did I say that I like the design curtain……

Here’s Mr Squiggle With Lots of Fun for Everyone

Like so many Aussies, we grew up watching Mr Squiggle on TV in the afternoon.  Let’s face it, having aired for 40 years, starting in 1959, not many of us missed it.

Who is Mr Squiggle?  He is a puppet that has a pencil for a nose. 

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, last year the National Gallery in Canberra acquired the entire collection of memorabilia of Norman Hetherington, the creator of Mr Squiggle.  They had a mini exhibition at that time and we popped in to have a look, as part of a few days away.  

Now they have a full exhibition of Mr Squiggle and Friends, so of course we had to go again.  We found it fascinating, as it was so much more than Mr Squiggle.  

It was the life of Norman Hetherington, who contributed much more than Mr Squiggle.

He dropped out of school as a teenager and attended East Sydney Tech to learn about art and cartooning.  While still studying, he worked as a graphic artist on ads for various papers and magazines.

World War Two came along and he enlisted in the army.  His talents were quickly identified and he joined the entertainment unit, where he was involved in all sorts of things.  

One was doing “Lightning Sketches”, which were the precursors to the Squiggles that made him famous.  It is a bit hard to see, but if you zoom in you can get the gist. While on service, he also made watercolour paintings of what was going on around him.

After the war, he worked as a cartoonist, a job he continued until a few years after the creation of Mr Squiggle.  

He made his first puppet in 1949, using instructions in a magazine that his father gave him.  He added several more puppets, created often from recycled materials and did shows at shopping centres and various other places.

His puppets were even featured in the first TV show in 1956.

It was shortly after that Mr Squiggle came into being.

Mr Squiggle lives at 93 Crater Crescent, The Moon.  

There was only ever the one Mr Squiggle puppet, with a few touch ups over the years, which is rather amazing.

Each afternoon he travels to our TV screen in “Rocket”.  This is the original version.

In 1975 it was upgraded to a more durable version.  Mr Squiggle fits inside, with his nose sticking out the hole at the front and his hat sticking out the top.  The front folds down for him to step in and out.

The host waits for his arrival each day with his friend “Bill Steam Shovel”, who likes riddles.

Once he has arrived and climbed out of Rocket, the host produces a “Squiggle” that has been submitted by a viewer and is placed on “Blackboard”.  Now Blackboard is an impatient fellow who inevitably says “Hurry up, hurry up” in a very deep voice.  One of his eyes opens and closes. Apparently, Norman ran out of time to make the second one work, but that has added to his character.  

Mr Squiggle then, using his pencil nose, adds to the squiggle to create a drawing of something identifiable and often quirky, and also often upside down.  

This is an actual squiggle and they had the video running of when he created it.  The reason that many of the squiggles were upside down was that Norman was working from above.

The host changed over the lifetime of the show, with Miss Pat and Miss Jane being the ones we remember.  In the later years it was Rebecca, who was the creator’s daughter.  Norman’s wife Margaret was also involved by writing the scripts.  A real family affair.

In later years another character was added, “Gus the Snail”, but we aren’t familiar with him as his arrival was after we grew out of watching.

Norman worked all the puppets and voiced all the characters, from Mr Squiggle’s quiet gentle voice, to the deep voices of the other characters.

There was an interactive section of the display where you could do a drawing from a squiggle on a screen and it would display of a wall.  

Of course we had to have a go and I chose a very simple one to start with.

Then I had another go, also simple.  I forgot to take a photo of the starting point, but I’m sure you can work it out.

There were some really clever artworks showing on the screen that some people had made from the squiggles.  Not this little black duck.

I’ll now just give you an overview of some of the other very clever puppets that were on display.

Apparently, there were about 100.  He created about 500, which are all still in existence.

It was a fantastic exhibition to visit and was so much more than we had expected.

Of course Mick had to have his photo with Blackboard, as he is known to quite regularly utter “Hurry up, hurry up” in a blackboard voice, when he is becoming inpatient.

We are really pleased we made the effort to go down to have a look.

If you are interested, here are a couple of links to see what all the fuss is about.  The black and white version is closer to what we remember.

https://youtu.be/qXxrsVQzDpo?si=2oBqgqQIgyoWrxGN

https://youtu.be/Jr0zGj-Xwhw?si=jmkR1ta4vt6fkYfl

https://youtu.be/y4TMCl5yolM?si=zkRvxyLrEdo63vRl

A Quick Trip to Canberra

Last Thursday Mick and I hopped in the car nice and early and headed off to Canberra.

The previous two days had been very wet, but Thursday was forecast to be dryer, but still quite chilly.  We did encounter several showers on our way down, but that didn't worry us.

As we neared Cowra we saw some canola crops looking stunning.  I think the colour pops even more against the gloomy sky and wet road.

The main street of Cowra was looking a picture with the trees in blossom and the banners for the Cherry Blossom Festival to be held at the Japanese Gardens.

Our next brief stop was in Boorowa for some morning tea and the blossom trees there were also looking rather beautiful.  We saw so many blossom trees, growing randomly beside the road as we travelled along.

You know you are getting close to Canberra when you can see the Tower on Black Mountain.

We were somewhat surprised as we looked towards the mountains to the south.  There was definitely a section that was white.  Yes, definitely snow on the Australian Alps.

The reason we were in the area was to visit the National Museum of Australia.  The best thing was that we discovered that you can get there without having to drive through the actual city.  Great news.

It is a stunning modern building.

The atrium has a gorgeous version of a bogong moth.

The reason for our visit was to see the Mr Squiggle and Friends exhibition. It was so worth the visit and I will have separate post about it.

After a lovely lunch in the museum cafe, it was straight back out onto the road home.

The weather was fining up and we enjoyed the scenery on the way home.  There continued to be lots of wattles in bloom.

There were still some showers in the area, creating lovely light.

We were wondering if the low level bridge would be open when we returned to Bathurst, as the river had been rising over the previous couple of days.  Apparently, it had recently peaked as it was lapping the underside of the decking and they didn’t have to close it.

It was a long day, but one we very much enjoyed.