Cane Country Squares

As we are now in Stage 2 restrictions, we can see a step towards Australian life returning to normal. Unfortunately we are still not in circumstances that allow us to return to square dancing safely or legally. Gatherings of up to 20 people are now allowed but only if social distancing is maintained. To keep everyone safe, we continue to find other methods to be active in mind and body. To this end I have added a new sewing project to our website. I hope some of you find it useful. This sewing project is a shoe bag. A simple and more decorative approach is covered. Shoe bags can be used for storage at home, taking less space than shoe boxes. They are also a good way to protect your good dance shoes by carrying them to a dance rather than wearing them outside. Large dance events are often held on sport stadium floors. Many sport stadiums have rules in place to protect playing surfaces. Most only allow shoe types that will not mark the floors. Some do not allow any shoes used...

This week Rob and I had a first go at virtual square dancing via the Zoom meeting app. This one was hosted by Swan Valley Squares in Western Australia. They are running these events on Friday nights at 7:30 pm WA time (GMT +8) but this means the time here is 9:30 pm QLD time (GMT +10) The 9:30 pm start here is a bit late for some of us Queenslanders but we will be back to try more. Most of the participants were from WA but there were some joining from the USA and Sweden. The callers featured Greg Fawell, Bruce Gillett and Jim Buckingham. For the session on the 15th, we mostly joined just to see how it is done but tried a bit of the dancing. We had the laptop hooked to the TV for easier viewing but this is not necessary. It is tricky dancing with 6 or 7 phantoms but it gets you moving and makes you think. Nice to know I have not forgotten everything. With everyone having their camera and mic on you can see and chat with everyone all at the same time. The person currentl...

As we are all spending more time at home it has been good to hear from some of our dancers and how they are remotely staying in contact with friends and family by phone, emails, text or various meeting apps. We are all looking for activities to keep our minds and bodies active in isolation. Some have bought new jigsaw puzzles, puzzle or colouring books. It has also been a good time for garden and home renovation projects. I have been busy in the garden and bought a pile of fabric to make lots of new skirts for myself and other dancers. I look forward to the time when we can wear them again together. My latest project has been to make a petticoat bag. The following instructions are for the petticoat bag I have just made. You may find it a useful storage solution and use up some left over fabric after making skirts. https://canecountrysquares.blogspot.com/p/petticoat.html

Hello Dancers, I hope over the last two weeks you have been keeping well. With the latest Government regulations and legislation to help slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Australia, this makes coming back to dancing this week not viable. Unfortunately lots of sporting and social groups are affected by these measures. We just have to ride it out and hopefully we will be back dancing soon. At this stage, it’s too early to announce a future return date until the Government sees the outcomes of their measures in trying to contain the Covid-19 virus and then loosen the current laws to allow groups like ours to start up again. So in the interim, we hope everyone will stay safe and try to keep in contact with each other. To help any boredom you may have being at home, here is some word search puzzles that I have put together for the learner classes and learn plus group so you don’t forget what you have learnt. I would also like to encourage everyone to check out our club ...

Cane Country Squares started our first sewing bee session, Saturday 29th of February. Twelve ladies and two guys met to look at skirt designs or a bit of socialising. We traced patterns, discussed fabric types and costs along with dress codes, changes in traditional outfits, current trends and expectations of what is worn to different events. A few of us met at John and Sandy’s home again on the 21st to look at more patterns and cut out fabric. Jo brought along some examples of panel skirts, with and without ruffles. We also had a few second hand skirts available for those that wanted them. We shared patterns for multi panel skirts and some more challenging styles collected from past conventions. These included a 'banana' skirt and a 'swirl' skirt. To finish our projects, we will no longer all meet at Fran’s Sewing Solutions, to access her sewing machines. Some ladies are now confident to complete their skirts on their own machines at home. A few more have ch...

While dancing has been postponed, the sewing bee this Saturday will still go ahead at Sandy's place. Bring along fabric of your choice and we will help with the pattern layout and cutting. If you don't have a pattern made yet we will help you make one on the day. Latter we can arrange times for access to Fran's Sewing Solutions and help you sew your fabric together to create your skirts.

Greetings all Cane Country Squares members and friends, It is with great sadness that we have decided to suspend all square dancing after Tuesday 17th March for two weeks with a proposed recommencement of Tuesday 31st March. With the new developments announced Sunday regarding restrictions for international visitors, mass gatherings and “social distancing” we feel we should take this action until we can get more information and clarity. The last thing we want to appear to be doing is creating panic so this is just a temporary measure until we can get more information. Like many of you, I would like life to go on as normal but while things are uncertain we believe we must be seen to be putting the well-being of our members and dancers first and taking no chances. One reason the government is taking this action is because other countries admit they did not take action quickly enough so for the present time we must take their word for it. We have been sent information from The ...

Friday 13th of March 2020 was our 37th Birthday celebration with a shared buffet meal and a black & green theme dance. Our club banner was on display and the hall decorated in the theme colours. Old photo albums also came out to show some of our history. The meal was a great success with lots of options for our main and dessert courses. Thanks to all. Dancing started at 7pm with Matthew calling to suit different levels from brand new beginners up to Plus learners. It was fantastic to see everyone dressed up to match our colour theme. Some had made their outfits especially for this night. Black came from the date being a Friday the 13th with Green added as a colour from or Cane Country Squares logo. It was lovely to see the entire Mills family dressed in matching outfits. 'Dolly', last seen at our Christmas dance, also made an appearance dressed in black and green. There was a few extra treats for a quick supper break to go with our club birthday cake. Thanks go ...

On Saturday 29th of February twelve ladies and two guys met to look at skirt designs and patterns or a bit of socialising. We discussed fabric types and costs and the need to overlock or zigzag stitch some types more than others to stop cut edges fraying. Current convention dress codes, the changes in traditional dress and expectations of what is most commonly worn today became an interesting discussion. I have attached the current National Dress Code as of April 2017 for those that want to read it. It is interesting to note it doesn’t state a requirement for a petticoat (just discrete underwear). This will suit new dancers that are yet to buy one or prefer a plain slip to the extra ruffles of the petticoats that started trending in the 50s. The other interesting point is closed toe shoes are not mentioned, although this has been a long standing expectation or tradition for ladies. I admit it is safer to wear closed toe shoes. It is not uncommon to clip your own or others fe...

More dancing time ahead for everyone. Our February beginner class from 2019 has been invited to move on as Mainstream Learners with our Friday Night Dance Group. Brad and Johanna have been looking to be challenged even in the early stage of their learning. Both regularly change which side they dance on and this week Brad had more fun by adding 'skirt work' to his skill set. For our last 'come and try night' a number of ladies came dressed in full square dance attire and bought in a few examples of skirts they had made. Our brand new learners for 2020 are ready to continue with the 'Club 50', 12 week program, from this Tuesday. The Tuesday mid year class from 2019 will be focused on getting to the Mainstream level to attend bigger dance functions and possibly the next QLD Convention.

Welcome back to everyone at our regular dance nights of fun and fitness with music. It was great to catch up with familiar faces and friends while getting back into the exercise of body and mind. We look forward to many more dance nights and events ahead this year. Tuesday 4th February was our first beginner class for the year. Our enthusiastic learners from last year remembered most of the movements, without too much trouble, with a lot of smiles and laughter. It was a pleasure to see four new people try modern square dance for the first time. Thanks Matthew, we all had a really enjoyable night.

OK, so not everyone is into square dance and Dr Who. Go crazy with your own colours and feature fabrics. This style of skirt is very traditional with the bottom frill and added lace but also gives you lots of scope to add your own flair. The base pattern starts with the multi panel skirt already described on our website. The panel length is cut shorter than 50cm with the frill added to make the rest of the length. You will need about three metres of fabric for this pattern. This can break down into two metres for eight panels, the frill and waist band and one metre for eight contrasting panels. It can be broken down further into half a metre per four panels to create more variation.  The cost can be kept very low by using Top Pop Poplin, a poly cotton blend. A feature fabric and ribbon is not necessary. You can still make a great looking skirt from a single plain colour or use multiple plain colours.   Some designer fabrics are pricey but not so bad when yo...

With our break from square dancing and some great new year specials on fabric, I have made myself a new panel skirt and some men's scarf ties with some remnant fabric. If you want to have a go at making your own, follow the page link to get the scarf tie pattern and instructions on how to make them. The fabric I choose for my skirt is cotton with a pattern that will suit the Floral Fiesta theme at the 2020 QLD State Convention in Hervey Bay. The large design of the Eiffel Tower forced me to divide my panel skirt pattern into sixteen parts so the design would be upright all the way around the skirt. To do this, start with the four panel instructions and then divide the quarter panel into another four pieces. Find the instructions for making a panel skirt here.