Every March the One Straw Society and the Sunshine Coast Seed Collective hold Seedy Saturday at the Roberts Creek Hall. Once again the Sunshine Coast Fibreshed was invited to participate and this year we were busy in the weeks ahead making small items to sell as fund raisers.
Lynda, Merrily and Dorothy felted local fibres dyed with local plants and mushrooms into a number of delightful items.
They made little vases to hold seed-filled flower stems from last year’s Japanese indigo plants.
Marigold dyed wool was felted around golf balls and plastic Easter eggs to form adorable little wool pots for marigold seedlings.
Seedy Saturday is a wonderful day for gardeners and other members of the community to buy and exchange seeds and live plants.
There are delicious preserves and baked goods, healing medicines and locally grown vegetables for sale.
The Sunshine Coast Fibreshed had our display of fabric and fibre dyed with plants grown on the Sunshine Coast, local fleece and beautiful naturally dyed pieces of clothing made by members of the Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild. Deanna had filled envelopes with seeds of dye plants which we sold along with instruction sheets on growing and dyeing.
There’s always great interest in our colourful display of fibres dyed with local plants and mushrooms.
This year we had a display of cellulose fibres – flax (linen), organic cotton and stinging nettles.
Andrew and Verna demonstrated drop spindling while local sheep owner Wendy Gilbertson watched.
Andrew also spent some time spinning and plying Sally Fox’s organic cotton fibre.
Dorothy carded wool and demonstrated felting.
Some enthusiastic visitors made their own little wool plant pot.
We had a wonderful day at Seedy Saturday with lots of interest in our display and the fibreshed concept. We are blessed with a wonderful community with a strong interest in environmentally sound local sustainability. This sign at one of the vendor’s stalls expresses it well.
Heather Apple
Photos by Heather Apple, Merrily Corder, Lynda Daniells, Deanna Pilling
What a lovely interactive display you all put together! You spent a lot of time preparing the little felted items and seed packets, all of which will have created even more community interest in the Fibreshed possibilities. Well done!