An August Escape - Show and Tell

As always, there was lots of wonderful show and tell at the retreat.

Tracey had been working on the spotty dotty quilt during the retreat. Everyone admired it. Jenny was showing off her bear quilt, appropriately using bear paw blocks for the border.

Continuing with her patchwork Elmo theme, Miranda shared the outfit she just threw together for her son for Book Week.  So clever.  The farmyard quilt is Annette’s.  It won a prize at her local show.

As always, Natasha had some beauties to share.   The hexy quilt had been a long term project.  Even the label on the back was impressive.  The smaller colourful quilt was hand pieced while travelling and the New York Beauty, well it was simply a beauty.

The quilt on the left is the completed quilt that we all contributed blocks for at Scrub Stitchin’.  It will now be donated to Macquarie Home Stay in Dubbo, which provides accommodation for rural people attending medical appointments.  The one on the right was completed by Chooky using scraps.

These two were also completed by Chooky.

Di had these two to share.  She had been working on the dinosaurs at this retreat last year.  It had recently been quilted, so she added the binding this time around.  The next quilt was one she started at Scrub Stitchin’ this year.

This was my tiny contribution.  The bag was one I had started last year and just recently finished, while the basket was made from a kit I bought at this retreat last year.

Sue has recently completed the beautiful Bonnie Sullivan wall quilt, using woven wools.  This weekend she worked on making some Dammit Dolls.  They each had their own personality.

Maree had these two to share.  She had been working on the pink one last time she was at Baradine, using fabrics gifted to her by her daughter.

Linda had these two to share.  The bottom one was completed by her elderly mother.

Diane has been stitching up a storm, preparing gifts to take on an overseas trip.

Mary continues with her love of Liberty Fabrics, finally completing her hexy quilt, which not only includes new fabric, but also fabric from older clothes.  The little zippy pouch is cute, as is the little caddy that she has just made.

Gail makes lovely soft coloured quilts.  These two feature lots of embroidery in some of the patches.

Brenda has a love of sustainable stitching and has made several bags from old jeans.  The cushion was made for her grandson from her late husband’s clothes many years ago.  It has recently been returned to her to remake the embroidered panel as the original one had totally worn out.  Isn’t it wonderful when something is loved to death.  The kantha placemat was a recent project with her craft group.

And that about sums up the weekend.  I will share more about our trip to and from Baradine in further posts.

An August Escape

It’s about time that I shared about our recent trip to Baradine to attend Chooky’s second retreat for the year at Camp Cypress.

This was held on the last weekend of August and was a much smaller affair than Scrub Stitchin’.   

Chooky arranges everything for this event, including all the catering, hence it is kept smaller.  We went to the Bowling Club on Thursday night, with all other meals at Camp Cypress.  She did a fantastic job.

The event officially started on Friday, but quite a few arrived on Thursday afternoon, so that they could get stuck into stitching and socialising nice and early on Friday.  Mick and I actually arrived on Wednesday, so that we were there to help set up on Thursday.

There were a few quilts decorating the walls.  The gorgeous one on the top left is a Jen Kingwell pattern completed by Natasha.  The others are mine.

There were lots of industrious sewers and lots of socialising.  Here are just a few random photos.

There were some impressive projects in the works.

The purple one by Linda is a work of art and intricate foundation piecing.  The top completed by Miss Jules was from a fun fat quarter workshop she recently attended.

Natasha is working on using the scraps in her stash and is making this fun and colourful quilt.  Lynda was having fun playing with her Tilda fabrics.  Brenda was busy making prosperity hens.  So sweet and simple to make.

By the way, Brenda was celebrating her birthday in the days following the retreat, so of course there had to be cake…..be it just a weeny teeny one.

So, what did I get up to?  Not much, actually. I didn’t take my sewing machine, as I was still in recovery mode and not to use an iron or rotary cutter.

I did manage to finish the slow stitching on the panel I had started.  The bottom photo shows what it should look like once it is made up into a pouch.  It is currently sitting in its tub waiting for me to work out how I am going to proceed from here.

Once that was done I actually brought out the Anni Downs pouch that was our project at Scrub Stitchin’ in 2024. I had only made a tiny start and wasn’t happy with what I had done.  This time I made a small start on the wool applique.  I do hope to have it completed before Scrub Stitchin’ next year.

In the evenings I did a little of the crochet on my corner to corner rug.  So, for three days, it wasn’t much to show, but that doesn’t matter.  The event is all about friendship and catching up, and I did plenty of that.

Of course there was impressive show and tell.  I will share that in a separate post.

As always, we loved our time at Baradine and  catching up with all the girls.  Now to wait until April next year when we can do it all again.  Bring it on.

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