The Sixties...

A few posts ago, I mentioned that DH and I were going to a 60s Themed Fundraiser on August 20. Part of the night was a Scavenger Hunt...we had been given a list of items to find and these had to brought in on the night. 

Gradually I found myself becoming more and more obsessed with finding as many items as we could. I contacted DD1 to see what I could borrow from her ( she loves The Sixties), asked my neighbour who has kept a lot of 'stuff', prowled Op Shops clutching our List, asked Facebook friends...and so it went on! 

It became quite a combined effort....a disco ball from our neighbour, a lava lamp from DD1, Peace Medallion from another neighbour and Ken and Barbie dolls from a workmate of DD1.

Then we had a newspaper cutting from the 1960s. This one was about DH's big brother Keith and his then fiancée buying her wedding shoes. She paid with a champagne bottle full of silver coins...a Danish tradition apparently. ( don't think it would work paying for shoes with 5 cent coins these days! Lol) this article was in an old scrapbook of cuttings that I had made in my teens.

The James Bond book was borrowed from the Library and the Phantom comic was borrowed from my brother. 

On the list were various records and we had them because DH kept a lot of his old vinyls! The cassette tape was accepted by the judge even though I know it was later than the 1960s. 

The squash racquet came from the Asthma Op Shop in Mitchelton, the fabrics from my stash ( not really 1960s so I haven't hoarded them that long!) and the macrame plant hanger came from Bargain City. The tie dyed fabric was a surprise find...on a shelf in a spare bedroom...probably from when I did a Sea themed Unit with my Year 2 class. 

Something we didn't have in the 1960s turned out to be so helpful in finding items...yep, the computer.

We also had to find examples of advertisements of the 1960s... Copper tone was one suggestion on the list and boy there was a lot to choose from! I chose this one with Annette...

But they weren't the only items that the computer and Google helped with. One of the items in the Svavenger Hunt was a model of the USS Enterprise...Star Trek. Well I quickly discovered that those people in my 'circle' we're not Trekkies...no, they were Star Wars aficionados! Not to be beaten as I suspected that having the model could be worth a lot of points....I found a cut out of the Enterprise on the Net.

It looked a bit challenging but my neighbour's lovely grandson, offered to put it all together...and I hadn't even dropped any hints either! 😃

It was a very fiddly operation...

Because I'd just printed on paper, not card, Jay devised some structures to help the model stand up...

Nothing in the checklist said we couldn't have a paper model and, as we had the only Starship Enterprise, we got a heap of bonus points. And we also were the only ones to have a Ken doll, so we did rather well and won the Scavenger Hunt! 

And we gave Jay the prize, so the family can enjoy a chocolate fondue dessert! 

And the bowl that the fondue pot, burner, forks, chocolate buttons and marshmallows are in, was made from an old record. One of the night's organisers made a whole lot of these for serving bowls...

It was a great night...lots and lots of laughs! Don't know if it raised much money for the parish, but it sure raised everyone's spirits. 

You will have to wait for a post about what we wore...it's coming soon!!! 

The Christmas Raffle...

Once again, my friend Helen and I organised the K4BN Christmas Raffle. We run 2 raffles per year as a way to raise funds which are mainly used  to buy toiletries for the hygiene packs the group hands out to the needy and of course some funds are used to buy yarn.

Our job is made easier by the generosity of members and their family and friends; firstly they donate prizes and secondly, they buy tickets themselves and sell a lot to friends and family! :-)

Once again this year we had a wonderful range of prizes; we particularly asked for gift cards to ease the costs involved in posting prizes to winners who live outside of Brisbane. We were given gift cards to raffle worth a total of $920...pretty good eh? 

And we had other lovely prizes including a number of beautiful handcrafted items...

Helen and I share the job of organising the raffle...I do the 'advertising' and keeping the prize list up to date, on both the Facebook page as well as in the Yahoo group. Helen wraps prizes and makes beautiful labels for every prize. She also did our checklists this time. 

Beautifully wrapped prize...

Labels designed and printed by Helen...

Last Monday was the day that the raffle was drawn; we had 38 prizes! These...

And all those gift cards too...

Group members had sold/bought lots of tickets!!

We had some help with the draw...here's Deb assisting Helen...

The smaller container has the names and numbers of all the prizes written on little cards...draw one prize name and then a ticket butt to find the winner of that prize...38 times.

Afterwards Helen rang the winners to give them the good news and to thank them for their support...so lovely! 

And how much did we raise? Our best effort ever! We raised $1600!!! A wonderful effort from everyone. 

The Christmas Craft Markets

Today was the annual Christmas Craft Markets in our parish. As well as various stall holders who pay a small fee for a place at the markets, we also have a few parish stalls where items are sold to raise money (much needed funds) for our church. 

Because I'm still recuperating I was excused from actively helping this year, so was able to 'swan around' as a guest! 

I saw this on one of the parish stalls...

I was immediately entranced! The price tag was $18 with funds going to the Parish...so it was a done deal as far as I was concerned...and the money was handed over and it was mine. 

A few more purchases...

A wreath made with 'scarf yarn'. I've bought one of these from this stall holder before...

A 'burp' towel bought from another stall holder. Nearly every baby in 'my circle' has 'spat up' on one of these lovely towels draped over a mum or dad's shoulder. This one is for DH's grandchild arriving in early February. 

A bag?

Open it up and there are little dolls inside.

The idea is for the children to use the dolls to tell a story...

Good for travelling. Over the years I bought a few items from this stall holder and all items were loved by parents and children alike. 

So that was my Saturday morning.

Signs...

I forgot to put this photo in my last post. It is the sign at our church which is on a busy road. Apparently the spelling mistake is deliberate. Paul, our wonderful quiz master was responsible for this sign...

We had the best roll up in years for last Friday's Trivia night...now I wonder was that because this sign does get attention?? Lol. 

That raffle...

Yesterday, after months of working behind the scenes, we had the drawing of the K4BN Mothers' Day Raffle, one of the two fundraising ventures that the group does each year. 

We had 33 prizes...here they are lined up in order, ready for the draw...

My co-organiser Helen, not only wrapped the large majority of the prizes, but also made these wonderful labels for each prize...very professional! :-) great job Helen!

It took quite a while to draw all 33 prizes but that was just the beginning of our next lot of work...we then had to organise how the winners would receive their prizes. In the next photo Helen and I are looking through our lists and organising where, when and who for delivery of prizes. 

Luckily most of the winners attend the various Knit and Natters so many prizes could be handed over that way. Some will be delivered personally by members and a few will go by mail. We don't have the final total of monies raised from this raffle, but we estimate it would be somewhere over $800...very pleasing and a great help in buying toiletries for the 'hygenie' packs that the group distributes to the homeless, those in women's refuges and any other needy group. 

And look who won something! 

 

And 2 of the lovely ladies from Sunday Stitchers, Marilyn and Maureen also won a prize. This group are always so supportive of K4BN, so it was great to see some of them win something. 

Tut tut...

My friend Helen and I are once again in charge of the Knitting for Brisbane's Needy 's (K4BN) Raffle. We had a very successful one last Christmas and our Mother's Day 2015 is doing pretty well too. Helen has been busy wrapping the 33 prizes and as the draw is next Monday, we have been anxious to get all the ticket butts of tickets sold so far, and get them folded and into our covered bucket. 

Last Tuesday we were given hundreds of butts from tickets sold mainly at the various Knit and Natters. Helen had asked for the used ticket books but a certain kind person wanted to help us and had removed the staples and then 'folded' the ticket butts. 

These had then been placed in a large plastic box from which we planned to transfer them to our bucket. ( our bucket for the draw is one we are recycling...it originally contained hundreds of lollies that we packed into Christmas stockings for distribution to the needy last Xmas)

Now back to that box of ticket butts... I took the lid off the box...

And what I saw made me tip out the contents...the tickets had been screwed up a bit...might make it hard/unfair to draw tickets...

So Helen and I smoothed each crumpled ticket and then folded it neatly...

We are starting to fill the box again here...

And just as well we did smooth them out as we found a lot of cases where 2 tickets had been screwed  up together! All fixed now and ready for Monday at Scarborough Knit and Natter. 

Last weekend...

The weekend action started Friday night for DH and I...the annual parish trivia night! An evening of fun, fundraising, friendships and laughter. For a few years now our team has been beaten for first place by just a point!
Each team brings along some nibblies for their table...the glass platter in front is the one that I prepared :-)

 We were a team of 7 and we called ourselves 'The Jimmies' as we were all from St James...
The team below were a family so ages ranged from toddlers to grandparents...

 Hmm...what are these people up to??? It's a game of 'Heads and Tails' ; to play, you need to put a gold coin in the baskets being taken around...more funds for the parish! The man in the striped shirt won the first game!

Here is Paul our quiz master extraordinaire...9 rounds of questions with 10 questions in each...

 Time for supper now...

 Here's DH bringing back some coffee for us...

People still lined up to load up plates with cakes, slices and other sweet treats...

Pretty soon we were at the end of Round 9...

 Neil, one of 'The Jimmies' team reacts to the latest update in the scores...

We've won by 11 points!!!

 These are our prizes!!

 Tidy up time...everyone helps in some way...

Dishwasher is fully stacked and running...

Some items get washed by hand...

And that is Adrian who just wasn't fast enough dodging the camera! Adrian is a retired teacher as well; he taught in the school just over the hill from my last posting.

Saturday morning DH and I headed to Nambour to attend the Sunshine Linus Quilt Show and Open Day. This was such a marvellous event, I will write a separate post about it. Here's a little preview...

We ate a delicious morning tea that was included in our entry...

 I shopped ...

 And I was absolutely enchanted/entranced/enraptured by the quilts on display in the church adjoining the hall...their beauty, workmanship and just the sheer number of them!

More next time...promise!