For this Sunday only, 23rd November, 2014, there will be a tea cosy stall at the market, where the remaining Tea Cosy Competition cosies will be for sale.

It's Market Day on Sunday 23rd November, at Mulgrave Makers Market, on the corner of Wellington and Jacksons Roads. This is a fantastic market; the farmers market section is open every Sunday, and the makers market is on once per month.

Not all the tea cosies from the competition were sold at the display at Wandin in July. Since then, the Orchards Café, in Hopetoun Rd Park Orchards, has had tea cosies on display and for sale. All proceeds are donated to the Cancer Council; thanks to Cheryl and Soren at Orchards. They will continue to sell the cosies while we still have some left.

At the moment, we have raised $4450 for the Cancer Council from the Tea Cosy Competition. Hopefully, tomorrow's market will help boost the total.
To check it out, go to http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/craftacure .

 

 

Hi Everyone,

The raffle prize was a handmade quilt, featuring appliqued and embroidered teapots. It was won by Jasna Dolic of Noble Park, who purchased her ticket at the Mulgrave Makers Market; congratulations to Jasna; we hope you enjoy it. A big thank you to the ladies who donated materials, and their time and expertise, in crafting the quilt; Veronique, Peta, Shirley, Maxine, Sally.

 

 

Orchards Cafe, in Hopetoun Rd, Park Orchards, continues to display and sell the tea cosies for the fundraiser. Thanks to Cheryl and Soren. They seem to manage to sell a couple of cosies every week; at that rate, they’ll all be sold before next year’s event.

I currently have another $45 to add to the total.

Check out our fundraising total any time at http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/craftacure.

 

I’ve booked the dates for the tea cosy display for next year, to be held at the Warratina Lavender Farm again. It will run for 2 weeks, the second week of the July school holidays, and the first week of school term. That will be from 4th to 19th July, 2015. I hope to see you all there again next year.

 

As previously mentioned, next year, we’ll include a section for small soft toys; no bigger than a teapot!

During the display in July, a lot of overseas tourists came through, predominantly from Asia. They checked out the tea cosies with interest, but tea cosies are not big in Asia as far as I know. We might be able to sell soft toys to them more easily. But that’s not the only reason; a lot of people indicated interest in expanding the competition to include more crafts...so why not??!!!

 

 

I’m already looking forward to seeing all the lovely tea cosies and soft toys.

 

Thanks to you all for your support,

 

Cheers,

Lorraine

People's Choice voting

We had 260 tea cosies on display at the Warratina Lavender Farm; everyone who came to see them was asked to vote for their favourite cosy. 97 of the 260 cosies received at least one vote. We all have different opinions so it seems!
35 votes.....The crocodile stitch cosy
31 votes.....Teddy Bear's Picnic
26 votes.....Hedgehog
24 votes.....White cosy with beautiful embroidered crochet flowers
22 votes.....Black cosy with poppies
20 votes.....Hen with three chickens

Raffle draw

Congratulations to Jasna Dolic; she is the lucky lady who won the 'Teapots' quilt. The quilt was crafted and donated by Veronique, Peta, Lorraine, Sally, Shirley, and Maxine.
Jasna had ticket number 206. She didn't leave a phone number, so, if she doesn't see this online, I'll have to write to her to let her know. We called on Steve and Tessa, who were visitors to the Tea Cosy display at the Lavender Farm, to draw the winning ticket number (from a teapot of course!).
Thanks guys!

Tea Cosy Display

The Tea Cosy display is in full swing at the Warratina Lavender Farm, open from 9am to 4pm. This Saturday and Sunday are the last 2 days.
So far, $2950 has been raised for the Cancer Council. http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/craftacure is the website where donations can be made.
The People's Choice voting has the crocodile stitch tea cosy still in the lead, with the Teddy Bears' Picnic in second place, and the hedgehog in third. Two more days of voting to go!

 

The Tea Cosy display is currently on at the Warratina Lavender Farm, 105 Quayle Rd, Wandin Yallock. On a cold, wet, winter's day, we had a steady stream of visitors, who had an enjoyable day out. We sold lots of tea cosies, which people will either pick up or receive in the post, after the 13th July, when the display ends. We raised over $700 for the Cancer Council on Day 1; a great result.

Barbara Joyce with her winning chicken tea cosy. Congratulations Barbara!

 

 

Mary Abdulla's 'Bride and Groom'. Very imaginative!

 

 

 Some of the Red Hat Society entries, and some Remembrance Day poppy tea cosies.

Tea cosies on display

Tea Cosy display
Warratina Lavender Farm

105 Quayle Rd,
Wandin Yallock
phone 59644650

Saturday July 5th to Sunday July 13th, 9-4

The Lavender Farm has a delightful tea room; lunch bookings can be made on the phone number above.

Come and see all the lovely tea cosies.

The tea cosies are for sale. All proceeds go to the Cancer Council.
We have to keep the display intact for the nine days of the display; you can purchase any tea cosy, and we'll post it to you after 13th July, or you can collect it from the Lavender Farm.
A BIG 'THANK YOU' TO ALL WHO HAVE MADE TEA COSIES FOR THIS EVENT.

The Strathewen chook tea cosy

 

 

This is the story of the Tea Cosy Competition winner. The magical powers of the humble chook were at work once again; please read the story below; the judges were unaware of this until after the chook won. Quite extraordinary!

Congratulations to Barbara Joyce of Strathewen for her chook cosy.

 

Strathewen Chook Story - Comfort after trauma

After the Black Saturday firestorm, 29 people lost their lives in Strathewen. Residents were traumatised at the loss of friends, neighbours and the black destruction that surrounded them.

 

For three years after this tragedy, Barbara Joyce, an art therapist, organised a group of local the women to undertake a project for the children of Strathewen who had lost their school in the firestorm. Each Primary School age child was asked to colour in a drawing of a chook and then the women undertook the knitting of a life size chook. The unique drawings featured stripes, flames, dots and patterns, often in the colours of the recovering landscape. Barbara gave the children a questionnaire to fill in after 3 years and they all said that their chook slept with them in their bedroom.

 

This project brought children comfort, nurtured close friendships between the women, fostered connections within the community, assisted the recovery process and reminded everyone that they could laugh again. The chooks were an ice-breaker and a way for people to start connecting again.

 

The project was not contained to just children. Chook envy gripped the local community and proved quite contagious. People tracked down the pattern and wool, and all sorts of chooks started emerging. Many chooks were knitted for bereaved people to add a smile and comfort to their lives.

 

Barbara sees the hen as an ancient symbol of regeneration and rebirth and when the world turned black, the humble chook found its way into everyone’s heart.

( to view story on line go to: big stories small towns/Strathewen chook project or isiiad chook project)

 

Barbara adapted the chook knitting pattern for this teacosy competition. Patterns are available from sales@winterwoodtoys.com.au

 

Winners

Here they are, as voted for by our judging panel.

 

The doggy one from Ali Maciver in the UK won 3rd prize.

 

The Teddy Bear's Picnic by Kaye Whitney from Mooroopna won 2nd prize.

 

The chicken from Barbara Joyce was voted the winner!

Congratulations!

There's a special story attached to this chicken; I'll ask Barbara to write about it.

Nobody knew about the story until after the judging. Watch this space to find out...

Raffle tickets

I'll be picking up the last of the competition entries tomorrow (Friday 27th June).
The judges are all organised; Sunday afternoon is Judgement Day.
The teapots have been collected; waiting to be adorned by all the beautiful cosies that you've sent in.
So, in the meantime, I'd like to show you a (preliminary) photo of the Raffle Prize!
It's been made by some friends and myself; appliqued and embroidered by us; and quilted by the award winning quilter, Veronique Diligent.
The raffle tickets are $1 each; a book of 20 tickets for $20. All money goes to the Cancer Council. If you wish to purchase tickets, let me know. You can put the cost of the tickets directly on the Cancer Council site, http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/craftacure. Just leave me a message, and I'll let you know your ticket numbers. My email is lorraineedunbar@gmail.com.

The quilt will be on display at the Warratina Lavender Farm from 5th to the 13th July. The address is 105 Quayle Rd, Wandin Yallock; just a few kilometres east of Lilydale. Come and see all the tea cosies on display; buy a tea cosy, and some raffle tickets, have lunch or morning/afternoon tea at the tea rooms; a nice day out! The tea cosies will be on display from 9am to 4pm .

Just over one week to go...

It's very exciting to open the parcels that are arriving and see all the wonderful tea cosies that you've been sending in.
To be a part of the competition, the cosies need to be here by 27th June.
Judging will be on the 29th June. I'll post some photos of the judging panel doing the difficult job of choosing a winner....not something I'd like to do.....every tea cosy is special!!!
If your tea cosy arrives after the cut off date, it will still be displayed and sold at the Tea Cosy display at the Warratina Lavender Farm, (July 5th to 13th), and the money it helps to raise will go to the Cancer Council.
The official page for this fundraiser is http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/craftacure. Some people have already made donations on this page, so we are well on the way to reaching the goal of $10,000.
Thanks to everyone for your support.

Some tea cosies that have been sent in already

Some lovely ladies at "Chicks with Sticks" have been working hard making some lovely cosies to support the Tea Cosy Competition fundraiser for the Cancer Council. Here's a peek at a few of them.
It's time to finish off your cosies and send them in by 27th June; that's less than 2 weeks to go!

Beautiful lady tea cosy

Check out this beautiful vintage tea cosy, made by Bernadette. She used a pattern that she found on Ravelry, and added a lovely porcelain half-doll. Doesn't she look gorgeous!

Vintage in pink

Only 25 days to go, to get your tea cosy entries in!

This one is from a vintage pattern, published in 1935 by Madame Weigel. In the original, there was a large satin bow at the top. I've replaced that with a crochet rose, and small I-cord bow. The I-cord actually gathers the centre of the cosy together. The knitting is done without any shaping. Make a length of the garter stitch pattern; sew the lower edges for a few centimetres; gather in the centre; and there you go! Tea cosy completed! I have posted this one under the vintage patterns tab.

Louise the roadie tea cosy

Travelling north, and knitting and crocheting as we go. This is a version of the fluffy puppy tea cosy (look on the 'Animal tea cosy' tab.) This little guy (actually it may be a girl dog; Louise...) has slightly bigger paws (2 extra rows on each paw); and a fluffier face (stripe the fancy yarn with the double 8 ply yarn for the whole face). You can just see the spout sticking out on the left of the dog; it really is a tea cosy!Hope you're all working on your entries to the Tea Cosy Competition; just one month to go to get them in!

 

Roses tea cosy; a mixture of knitting a crochet....the body of the cosy is knitted in moss rib stitch. The lower edge is crocheted in shell stitch. The flowers and leaves are also crocheted, large roses around the outside and rosebuds in the centre. I'll put the patterns on the blog in the next few days. I hope this gives you some inspiration for your entries in the Tea Cosy Competition.

Entries need to be received no later than 27th June, 2014. 

Send your tea cosies to

Tea Cosy Competition

PO Box 109

East Ringwood

Victoria 3135

Australia

 

Basic cosy, version 6

Have you checked out my Facebook page? Just type Tea Cosy Competition in the 'search friends' bar.

Make up one of my patterns, one of your own, or whatever; send it in by 27th June, to help us raise funds for the Cancer Council. You may be the $250 first prize winner! Start sending you cosies in now!

Gerbera tea cosy

Click on the tab above for the Gerbera tea cosy.
I put these patterns on sometimes fairly late at night, and don't always proof read, so please let me know if I've missed something, or have written something that is wrong or nonsensical.
I hope you're all making tea cosies for the Tea Cosy Competition; send them to PO Box 109, East Ringwood 3135, Victoria, Australia, or drop them in to one of the places listed on the Info tab above.

Decorating ideas

 

Some ideas for decorating a basic knitted tea cosy.

 

 

 

 

See Crochet tea cosy tab

I've just finished writing up the instructions for the pink rose tea pot below, under the Crochet tea cosy tab.
Also, the tiny black tea pot is another crochet project; it took just a few hours to make, in between cooking and eating dinner; a very, very, quick project! Pattern appearing soon!

I've been working on some patterns for crochet tea cosies; nearly finished writing up the instructions!

There's been a great suggestion for the Tea Cosy Competition entries.....many tea cosies that are being made for the fund raiser have a story behind them.....what we'd like you to do if you do have a story, is to cut out a 5cm square of card paper, write your (brief) story, or poem, and attach it to your cosy.
The person who buys the cosy will then know the story behind it.
For example, the Oliver Cat cosy is special to me; because it's made to look like my daughter's cat; she died of breast cancer five years ago; now her cat (who is alive and well, and lives with me) can help with fund raising....I'll have to phrase that a bit better and write on a card. Will post a photo.