The Art Show...

The parish art show this year was more low key than ever before but as if by magic,  ( or was it divine intervention? 😉) the money raised was almost as much as raised in other years.
The organisers decided to feature the works of indigenous artists and much effort was put into finding such artists to invite them to exhibit.
Our parish priest opening the show. Father B is himself an aboriginal.




After the show when I checked my photos I realised I'd missed taking photos of some really large works...that were very traditional and eyecatching.
The next photo was an exhibit put in the show by the teenage granddaughter of our parish priest. These pieces were part of an assessment for her art studies at high school. They were eyecatching and attracted a lot of interest...

A close up of that dress made of Coca Cola cans...

The young artist joked that it wouldn't be the most comfortable dress to wear! I agree! 😂
I knitted 2 throws to donate to the show...
The chevron garter stitch one sold on opening night. The buyer planned to use it as a wall hanging as she said that way her teenage children couldn't 'wreck it'. I didn't really mind that she wasn't going to drape it over her sofa and snuggle under it when the weather was chilly...the main thing was that it sold...which meant money in the parish 'kitty'! 😉

The inset photo in the previous photo shows both the chevron throw and also another indigenous throw that was not for sale. It just was on display as it had been made for K4BN.
The other donated throw...

The mohair one in indigenous colours sold on the Saturday. An aboriginal elder woman bought it saying that she would auction it to raise funds. She was confident she could raise a fair amount that way. ( I did hear later though that she loved it so much she was thinking of keeping it)
This year the craft stall holders were in the hall. Other years they have been in the church and the paintings were in the hall.

And I fell in love with a painting and ended up buying it. It was painted by a young indigenous artist who had entered 6 pieces of his work. There was a luminescence about the painting that I just loved!

The artist described his painting as being 2 traditional young indigenous men sitting at night thinking of their plans for hunting the next day. DsD1 said it reminded her of the Lost Boys characters in Peter Pan. And I found that it reminded me of the Kindle icon on my iPad. Lol! Different interpretations to different people.

And that was the 2018 Art Show. 

Wool on Sundays...

Before I write about yarn related 'things', I would first like to thank all those who wrote comments on my last blog post. I wrote about the health issues of our latest addition to the family and I'm pretty sure I wrote back to most who took the time to comment. But if you are reading this mamasmercantile and busybusybeejay, I wasn't able to send you a personal thanks as you are both 'no reply bloggers' which means your email address is not linked to your blog. If either of you would like me to answer your comments, if you use the email button on my page, send me an email, and then I can save your email address and use it to respond to your comments. 

Now Wool on Sunday...

Last month at Sunday Stitchers I showed my progress with my latest baby blanket...if you remember it needed a lot of focused attention and in my case...lots of 'reverse knitting' and re-knitting.

Helen's photo of me during Show and Tell...

I don't think I've done any knitting on this since this photo was taken. I always take Knitting or crocheting on holidays but I didn't think it prudent to take such a project as that blanket...lol

So I took some red, black and gold/yellow yarn and a crochet hook. You see, my blogging and also Sunday Stitchers friend, Susan had been making squares in those colours to give to me to make into blankets for K4BN. They are the colours of the Indigenous flag and items made in those colours are very popular when items are handed out to the needy. ( You probably can 'read between lines' in that last sentence) Susan also makes squares in lots of other colours and I've made a number of blankets over the years from her squares. 

So I thought I would crochet some granny squares while we were on holidays...nice and easy! Between us, Susan (18) and I (12) have made 30 squares...a single bed sized blanket when all the squares are joined.

I laid the squares out and moved them around until I liked the effect...then bundled them up into rows ready to join when I get some time.

After I started stacking up the squares, I realised I should have taken a photo. But I just took a photo of the ones left in rows...

My plan is to join all the squares, crochet around the edges etc before the May Sunday Stitchers Meet up. Just have to make some time. 😉

Once again linking with Janine's Rainbow Hare blog. Janine is also finding it hard to find time to knit a baby project. The yarn she is using looks so soft. 

Indigenous...

I often mention in this blog the term 'indigenous colours' when referring to certain knitted items that members of Knitting for Brisbane's Needy provide for distribution. But not all readers would know what I'm referring to. Australians who are referred to as Indigenous Australians, are Aboriginals, the people who had populated the country before it became a British colony in 1788. ( to be correct, the east coast of the country had been claimed as British territory in 1770 by Cook)

I won't go into all the details here in this post, but these indigenous Aussies were to suffer greatly from this colonisation. Then in the early 1970s a flag was designed specifically as the icon to represent the indigenous community. Over the years it has come to mean a great deal to them. Read about the history and meaning of the 3 colours in this flag here.

  K4BN can just never get enough items in these colours to hand out... rugs, beanies, jumpers, scarves, gloves...all get snapped up very quickly! Often, agencies involved in helping indigenous clients 'put in orders'  for items to Karen which she endeavours to fill. For the next few months the group has a challenge going to build up supplies of items in indigenous colours...all ready for when the cooler/cold weather comes. Last Tuesday at the Zillmere K&N, one of the members brought in a bag of items that she has been making for this challenge. The items are gorgeous !! Here's some photos of Pat's work...

Football shaped toy...

Aren't these elephants cute?

More toys; Blogger insists that this photo is on its side...

Some lovely beanies...

One blue teddy...

One cute red and white teddy with a tartan bow...

Now for a while I've been crocheting 15 row squares in indigenous colours...but I have only been working on them every now and then. Last weekend I had finished crocheting a deep border around the edge but still had neatening off of the 'ends' to do. So I took a photo on Monday...

On Tuesday, at the Zillmere K&N I finally finished weaving in the last of the ends...and at the urging of the other members there, I took some more photos. It was then suggested that I be in one of the photos...but to wrap myself in the throw, just like the recipients usually do when they receive these items. So that's how this photo came about...:-)

Friday Night with Friends...crocheting...

On Friday night I joined in with Cheryll's FNWF.  I ended up crocheting; just a square though, nothing fancy lol! It's been a bit hot here and I haven't felt like doing much craft at all, so something simple was called for. Only had to grab the ziplock bag with all the indigenous coloured yarns and a hook and I was ready to go. Each square consists of 15 rounds and on Friday night, I called it quits after 13 rows, so the last 2 were done today. 

Any items  made in these three colours, black, red and golden yellow are always popular when they are handed out to needy people in the community...so one square down, 19 more to make a blanket for someone :-) I love that variegated yarn from Lincraft; it's so much fun to work with.