COW Belles back at work

Yay!! The COW Belles were back for 2011 today and ready to pick up some new challenges for this year.

Lynne and Ashley from City of Sydney council came to visit us this morning and speak to us about the possibilities of applying for a new Matching grant to expand and develop our COW Belles craft sessions further.

Our first newsletter titled  'COW Belles Community Craft Collective' outlines some of the choices and directions that our COW Belles may want to see the group move towards. We have options to fundraise at Senior's Week,  Mother's Day,  September Spring Sale,  The Michell St Fete,  The Glebe Street Fair and  Christmas. This gives us 6 opportunities to fundraise for further supplies....and coffees of course!

We can also expand our options into other crafts such as cardmaking and scrapbooking. Also possible are crochet and knitting (of which someone far more capable than me must teach!!) and the opportunity to further develop our jeweller's skills into more advanced techniques.

A great opportunity to really promote the group and our products exists with a new grant funding thing like pricelists, business cards, posters and leaflets for distribution around the Glebe community. This would let community members know COW Belles exists in the area and that we are serious!

And, best of all, a City of Sydney grant would see our community bus on the road and paid up for a whole year!!! That is really exciting as it would mean that none of our Belles would miss out!

Included in this post is a copy of our preliminary Pricelist. This is a start for us and open to adjustment in the future as we decide what products we want to focus on and the exact prices we want to have.

To finish I'd like to say how pleased I am with the continued dedication our COW Belles have for their group. A group cannot exist without it's loyal members and our COW Belles are committed to the continuation, expansion and thorough enjoyment of the COW Belles community craft sessions that we have all come to look forward to each fortnight.

Welcome back for 2011 COW Belles!

Irene

Happy New Year 2011 !!

What an amazing 2 months for our intrepid COW Belles - a franitic pre-Christmas beading frenzy saw some beautiful gifts made for loved ones and some of our Belles 'addicted' to their beading boxes have continued over the holiday period at an unabated pace!  COW Belles is due to restart on Friday 18/2/11 with a few changes from last year.

Our 2010 grant has expired and a new 2011 grant with City of Sydney is being drawn up but in the meantime the community spirit of our Belles will see them providing their own supplies and contributing to the upkeep of the community bus service which many of our members rely on for their attendance, while we wait for the grant results.

Another aspect of COW Belles 'growing up' is that the administration of the COW Belles venture is to be handed over from the Glebe Community Development Project into the hands of COW Belles members themselves. This is exciting and a bit scary too!

Some ideas for 2011 are extending our invitation for women from other Centre's in the Sydney LGA to join us. Also fundraising sales for Seniors Week, Mother's Day, a September Spring Sale, the Mitchell St Fete and the Glebe Street Fair.  The COW Belles WILL be very busy this year! A monthly market stall at Balmain's Handmade Markets and possibly an e-commerce website are also being considered.

A big push foreward for this year for our creative Belles so keep an eye on us as we expand and bring our craft creations closer to wider community recognition.
Irene

Christmas is coming!!

You know it's that time of year again, don't you?

COWBelles certainly do and this year's presents have been taken care of with a multitude of bright and spangly gifts for all the family and friends who have supported us, individually and collectively, throughout the year.

Our COWBelles have a generous nature and bestowed group-made necklaces as their gifts of farewell for our 2 lovely Sydney Uni Social Work students, Loretta and Alyssa. Not much of a bead-o-phile herself COW group member Marla had the Farewell cards amassed with signatures and well wishes, ready to go as the Uni girls chose their favourite baubles from the display.

Loretta and Alyssa were 'on loan' to us through their placement with the Glebe Community Development Project but alas the end of the year means a change of placement and we miss all the wonderful students we meet who then need to move on for the next stage of their courses.

We still have 2 more COWBelles get-togethers before we finish up for the year. Friday 3rd is a making day and Friday 17th is earmarked for a final buying frenzy at the beadshop at Leihhardt for all those individual presents to be made in the last week before Christmas Day. It will be a hectic, but fun outing as is usual with our spirited COWBelles ladies.
Irene

COWBelles + PLACEspace registration for COW

Do you know, it might take me a whole month to write about the latest updates but it's a good thing the COWBelles don't wait so long for their progress!!   

Last Friday 5th Nov. saw the frantic and colourful bedlam that is the COWBelles creative morning tea sessions, break out again at the Old Firestation as 10 Glebe COW and 5 Waterloo Spainards descended into a flurry of prolific bead-making.

Necklaces, earrings, bookmarks and spectacle holders were created at lightning pace and much cooing of admiration followed as the ladies modeled their latest design.  And of course, continued justice was done to Hopestreet's coffee and cake!

A warm camaraderie has developed between our Glebe ladies and our new Spanish friends as the sharing of craft activity and the inclusive Glebe community atmosphere have transcended the language barrier and  initial uncertainty of new acquaintances.  The group is a pleasure to be part of and some wonderful photos may be seen by clicking on the Events in Photographs links at left.

News for COW  is the addition of the COW social action group and COW blogsite to the new community recognition and resources site called  PLACEspace.org.au. The website is a collaborative service provided by TAFE Ultimo and the Federal Government with a vision to connect people, organisations and learning opportunities into one resource location.  Our group may be found by going to   www.placespace.org.au  registering your name, email contact and a password and scanning the Groups list.

If that seems like a lot of detective work then click on the link below for a very quick shortcut!
http://www.placespace.org.au/index.php?option=com_community&view=frontpage&Itemid=183

It's COWBelles Friday again this week and some discussion is due for our continued meetings next year.....yes, alas,.... our funding has come to the end and decisions must now be made to self fund or finish up. Know which I would prefer and I suspect all our COWBelles will be of similar mind, so thinking caps on and many ideas to consider as we enter this next phase of  COWBelles craft.
Irene

Our new Spanish friends......yay!!

What a FUN day at COWBelles last Friday!! I thought the Old Fire Station would burst at the seams with so many people in it!

I phoned Community Worker  Edith the day before and she told me the Spanish ladies were a little unsure of meeting our COWBelles, so 4 ladies of the group of 12 would be joining us for our craft morning to 'check us out'. I wondered if  they might not like us but whatever the uncertainties were on either side, of course there was no need to worry at all.

4  ladies arrived on the community bus with our regular COWBelles so I'm sure they had already discovered how open and friendly our Glebe-ites can easily be. Then we were delighted when another 4 ladies joined us as well.

The COWBelles and our Spanish guests were a little reserved at first, but within half an hour conversations sprung up and the lure of all those colourful baubles worked their magic. The tables spanning the length of the room were laden with colourful trinkets and the babble of noise was punctuated with gleeful bursts of laughter.

Photos of our day can be seen through Events in Photographs at left.

At the end of our morning social craft session there were hugs and genuine smiles as our guests were leaving and we knew we had made some new friends. They promised to come join us again in a fortnight when we next gather at the Old Firestation in Glebe and we greatly look forward to seeing them.
Irene

COW at Homebush today!

It may be nearly a month since I last wrote about our jewellery making but the Belles have been busy nonetheless!

Last session our COW Belles ladies were in full swing with new beads, new techniques and new creations after our visit to the beadshop at Leichhardt. Not to sit on their laurels for long, the Belles were out in force at Homebush today checking out the Bead & Gem Expo for more new beads, more new techniques and the inspiration for more new creations yet to come.

Alas, no photos were taken as I had my face in every stall, beady-eyed on beads, and forgot!

Yet, not all is lost, the return journey saw us stop at the Dairy Bell ice-cream factory in Australia St at Camperdown and a photo was to be had of several hot, tired but smiling COW, and one ever-serene Geoff, thoroughly enjoying the factory wares.

Its back to our fervent beading next session and the launch of a new phase in our jewellery making as we welcome the Waterloo Spanish women's group into our creative community.

Looking foreward to it.
Irene

The Spanish are coming!

COW Belles is expanding it's welcome.

A decision was made sometime ago to open up COWBelles to other women outside the local area and the invitation has been accepted by a lively group of older women of Spanish background, regularly meeting at Waterloo and also looking to expand their horizons.

Yesterday Bec, Loretta and myself met the Spanish ladies and their Community Worker and translator Edith. The ladies were excited by the chance to join other women for craft and conversation. 'Conversation' will be a patient yet pleasant challenge as the ladies' primary language is Spanish and COW has no Spanish speaking members - yet!

The Spanish ladies were intrigued by the notion of COW as a social action group. This idea seemed new to them and the concept of 'group action' at the local, state or even national level appears to be something that COW may one day be able to offer alongside the cake and craft social setting.  Our Spanish guests are of course under no obligation other than to enjoy our hospitality.

There is a feeling of anticipation and welcome in the COW Belles today as we wait to meet our new guests on Friday 8th October and discover that coffee, cake and craft can surmount any cultural barriers we think we may have.
Irene

Belles Beadshopping!

What fun!!!!

10 of our intrepid ladies boarded the bus last Friday morning and headed off  for serious investigation into the huge beadshop on Parramatta Rd at Leichhardt . With much relief for our fabulous driver Geoff a parking spot was patiently waiting for us right outside the front door! Ladies spilled off the bus and straight into gasps of delight when the door slid open and an 'Alladin's Cave' of colour and sparkle greeted them.

Glebe's COW Belles prowled the shop mixing and matching colourful baubles and picking up crimps and pliers to make the wonderful creations planned for their family and friends. They trundled with baskets or careened with small trolleys and sheepish guilty smiles gave testament to 'buying a bit more than I planned to'.

90 minutes and a couple of hundred dollars later, tired ladies engaged in excited conversation climbed the bus steps for the journey back to a well deserved coffee at the Old Firestation, poorer maybe but definitely happy!

Can't wait to see the new jewellery to be made from today's outing and it was unanimously agreed that another bustrip to the beadshop was in order before Christmas gifts were due.

Photos of our visit to the beadshop can be seen at right in the Events column by clicking on the link to our webalbum.

Irene

COW Belles outing

OMG!!! only 2 sleeps to go!! The fabulous COWBelles of Glebe are out for the day and loose in Leichhardt.  A morning trip to the huge Beads shop on Parramatta Rd is planned for this Friday and our COWBelles are excited.

Several of our budding designers are raring to go and pick out the kinds of colours and styles they really want for their creations. Often in our morning tea jewellery sessions a question arises for a style or coloured bead or bauble we don't have and a faint sign of dissappointment crosses a face when the answer is 'no, I'm sorry, we don't have that'.

Come Friday that will be a thing of the past as 12 or 13 of  COWBelles fun, feisty and friendly competitors huddle onto the community bus to Leichhardt and spill into the colourful ailes in a frenzy of possibilities and delight.
Though one must give thought to the wonderfully 'sage' Geoff, our community bus driver, who will load the bus with Glebe's 'giggling gerties' and embark heroically on the task of safe transport - actually a pleasure with someone so gracious and caring!

The last 2 sessions of COWBelles has seen some genuinely wonderful earrings, bangles and necklaces, as the slideshow at left gives testament, and the volume of work created in a session can be quite extraordinary!
The group has already seen it's first sales and an opportunity to show off it's talents at the recent fundraiser lunch hosted by Hopestreet.
The jewellery sparkled next to the sassy pink door-snakes and a chance to appreciate the commitment and imagination of the group was a welcome opportunity.

This week COWBelles will be shopping but watch out! for next fortnight's session when all the new jewels will surface as our wonderful ladies vent their creative energies!!
Irene

COW Belles progress 2

Hi,  again!
Another great COW Belles last Friday as our community COWs learnt a new skill. We focussed on making earrings this week using metal pins known as 'eye pins' and another type called 'head pins'. Eye pins have a loop at one end and head pins a flat end similar to sewing pins. Both make earring dangles so easy that some of our ladies where shown how to use them once and then were off in a flurry of new creations!!

Colour combinations were imaginative and the all metal earrings were very stylish. Small. black display cards showed off the earrings in a sophisticated  manner and all the ladies agreed that their work was becoming more professional with each session! Several opportunities exist for fundraising sales this year and the ladies are looking foreward to marketing their work and highlighting their new found skills to the community.

Another surprising, and delightful, conversation began with several ideas for making COW Belles a very long term project and finding extra finances when the City of Sydney grant expires. This is an example of the long term planning and drive Glebe's Concerned Older Women are known for when they have a unified vision for the group. Ideas danced around the group until Bec had to reign in the enthusiasm for the arrival of the representative  from the Older Persons Legal Network.

Funding exists for COW Belles into early 2011 and it will be good to hear all the COW Belles ideas for funding the activity beyond our grant dates. If the jewellery making to date is an indication of  COW's determination, ability and imagination then the future of COW Belles is well assured as a long and happy program in this wonderful community of Glebe women.
Irene