Ocean Inspires Creative Seachange Community

The tentacles of fun and fabric have spread throughout Seachange Toowoomba as the lifestyle resort readied for the city’s biggest event of the year, the annual Carnival of Flowers. Fingers have been busy knitting and knotting as the resort’s crafty ladies enjoyed creating a colourful display to showcase the gated over 50s community during what is the longest running floral event of its kind in Australia.

Craft group co-ordinator Anne Thessman said the group had worked hard to create an Octopus Garden at the front of the resort, all centred around a large bottle tree. “We wrapped the bottle tree in blue fabric which we tie-dyed to create cream circles and we also added eyes and turned the branches into tentacles,” Anne said. “The garden underneath has been filled with dozens of fish, shark fins and jellyfish all knitted in bright coloured wool. We also had a mermaid sitting next to a treasure chest.

“There’s about half a dozen of us in the craft group and we really wanted a project to get stuck into for the Carnival of Flowers that was also a lot of fun to put together.” She said the group set up the display in the first week of September to coincide with the carnival and also took part in helping create a special float for the Grand Central Floral Parade on September 18 alongside the resort’s gardening club. When the craft group was not busy preparing for the carnival, they were knitting beanies and scarves to help charities throughout the chilly Toowoomba winter.