Temari Booty

This week I made a bunch of temari bases. I have a cream shade of over-locker thread that I really like using, but being down to my last cone, I headed down to my local Textile Traders store in Myaree to stock up on more. 5000m spools of over-locker thread sells for about $4 at Textile Traders but I was surprised to see these spools on special for just $1.95. BARGAIN BARGAIN BARGAIN I had to read the sign twice before the price registered in my brain and then I found a basket and filled it to the top with 26 cones of thread.

This store has recently gone bagless (more stores are promoting reusable shopper bags in Perth) and I realised I had forgotten a bag of my own so I found a really nice piece of fabric (on special down to $2.5 for 1.5m) to use as a makeshift Furoshiki. The shop assistant thought I was mad when I undid the fabric, laid it on the counter and started piling all the cones onto it. I explained it about Furoshiki as I tied together the fabric corners to make a bag and she then saw what a good idea it was. She did say it reminded her of an old swagbag , you know the type that Swagmen* would tie onto a stick and carry on their shoulder.

Swagman's version of Furoshiki

I think I might actually use this new fabric to make some proper Furoshiki. If you want to make one too here is a tutorial.

* An Aussie Swagman is probably equivalent to the American Hobo of the 1920's and 30's. A swagman was a transient labourer that travelled by foot to seek work (usually sheep shearing). The name is derived from the blanket (swag) he would carry on his back. The unofficial Australian Anthem is Waltzing Matilda which is a story about a swagman. Hearing this song is almost guaranteed to get any homesick Aussie misty eyed... some of us don't even need to be outside Australia for that though.