Noble Park Primary School Women's Group

Wow, what a day - number three blanket is finished.  You are probably wondering what these huge blankets are for. All will be revealed in a few days.  Our deadline is Tuesday. 

I think we may have had nine  different nationalities working together today.  We arrived early at the Noble Park Primary School community room to find our volunteers already gathering.

We started by checking out the purple blanket as an example and arranging the pieces for our pink blanket.  

Decisions are made and we're just about ready to start on words

 Many hands make light work 

then there was the sharing of skills

shared work, lots of words, many languages, all about  community 

The last stitches taking place

We celebrate the end of a day of chatter and laughter and lots and lots of stitching.

A truly beautiful pink blanket and a wonderful  expression of community.  Thank you Noble Park Primary School Women's Group.  You are brilliant!

The Open Door

Arriving for our second workshop for Cultural Threads in Dandenong we  had a good feeling even before we stepped inside the Open Door centre for creative spirituality..there were pretty plants everywhere, and a lovely garden.

We showed the stitching group our green and purple blanket from Tuesday and without hesitation they took up their needles  stitching away to make our red blanket.

The pace increased

We even got some bunting made - at speed too

We went back to the studio to finish off, tired but happy 

Two down - three to go!!!!!

and the deadline is Tuesday!!!!!!!

We had lots of fun  - knit just does that to people - and we are really looking forward to meeting  the Open Door  art group on Wednesday to work on our lovely yellow blanket. 

Tomorrow is pink with Noble Park Primary school parents group - looking forward to meeting you all.

Fine in Dande....

The preparation for the  amazing City of Dandenong Cultural Threads Festival is underway.  Margaret and myself are running workshops with community  groups in and around Dandenong  to create a huge public art installation centred in  the   brand new Civic Centre. 

We have spent weeks opp shopping for blankets, sweaters and yarn.  Why ?  well eventually you will see -  - its quite fun being at an opp shop sale - not quite the scrum to get in for a Boxing Day  sale but still quite a crowd. We celebrate success.  

Today we started with the Noble Park Country Women's Association.   This wonderful group has been part of the community for at least fifty years, and not just scones and cream, they do lots of work to benefit the community.  And wow, here's an example, show and tell of the latest lovely quilts made for the Queen Elizabeth Centre for Mothers and Babies.  

These wonderful ladies then set to work stitching their words onto our recycled knitting

By the end of the session we had this to show  Bravo ladies, and thank you, we are now well on the way to one sixth of the biggest part of the installation.

And so, back to Margaret's studio to finish off .......

I believe in a relaxed approach to work....it makes everything happen faster....

WOO HOO - KNOCK OFF TIME

 

AND OUR GREEN AND PURPLE   IS PRETTY MUCH  FINISHED

TOMORROW, A NEW GROUP, AND WE'LL BE WORKING IN RED

Thank you to the wonderful ladies of the Noble Park Country Women's Association, we enjoyed stitching with you.

Bad habbits

Yes I am slipping,  slipping into the bad habbit of being too fascinated by what everyone does and  forgetting to take photos so these are just few students work - apologies to those I missed.  Love the fact that each person's work is so individual

note the tiny bee  drawn on the fabric just above the honeycomb texture, and on the side of the lampshade

front

back - note the use of eucalypt dyed fabric with sun dyed fabric

Innovation!  when a student didnt need a lampshade she used the frame to make a vessel.

Thanks ladies and gentleman, you were a great class.

Its on again folks!!!!!!!

what is ? well,  tell you in a moment.  Meanwhile here's a diversion, more vegie dyes from Melton. I'm not going to tell you what they are - you'll just have to come to a class and discover for yourself!

But there's no guarantee you'll get the same result - thats the thing about organic dyeing, its subject to seasonal and weather variation.  It makes every piece of fabric a one off - how exciting and how precious does that make every little piece of fabric you make!

Now for the class photo - my photographer's hat took over, almost that is, I forgot that you need more than  two shots per person in a group to have even half a chance that everyone will be looking at the camera with their eyes open!  It was the last thing before Sunday's pack up.  A few had already left because of other obligations......and that crazy end of class feeling had set in........

So, how many of you have had the chance to wear a lampshade on your head and dress yourself up in cushions and fabric that you have made?

If you said no then your chance is coming.....yep the class will happen again in October...see you there 

Hot off the press plus.....

  You'll find out what at the end of this blog!

Now the plus - more about the Melton workshops.

Day three, sunny and beautiful.  We  began with unwrapping the eucalypt bundles after a week lying stewing in their own juice. 

I cant begin to describe the oohs and ahs, let alone my own excitment, nature is truly amazing. Most of these are red box ( eucalyptus polyanthemus) but a few little extras had been  added like the odd autumn leaf, lemon scented gum and bits and pieces off the ground.

Wrapped in with the silk was some cotton

comparing the silk with the cotton - what caused the yellow green?

The first drying rack (one of two)

 after running out of space there was the tree

You can see some of the fruit dye as well, it was then we looked at our feet,  the grass was wet so inside for a cuppa, warmth and to dry our shoes.  To come soon , fruit and veg dyes plus the lamps and cushions from the painted fabrics.

Now for whats hot off the press - Margaret and myself have been commissioned to design a yarnbomb installation for the Civic Square in Dandenong.  We'll be working with community groups to create a yarnbomb celebration of the community of Greater Dandenong.  Its part of a month of thread related festivities, more information soon. 

So we've started shopping for raw materials........and of course I forgot my camera so its a rather shaky phone photo - but it does give you an idea.........

Yes, its a happy Margaret from a successful shop expedition.  All those bags hold old jumpers and a few granny blankets!

And we're going to need lots more - so folks if you've got the odd woolly jumper you no longer love or the odd unloved crochet blanket, its a big space and we'll love them for   you............