Category Archives: SASS

SASS

Wild Bunch Practice

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Damas y Caballeros, Bienvenidos a manojo salvaje! Or Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Wild Bunch.

Haa Haa Haa, well today was only a practice day, gearing up for Oklahoma State Wild Bunch Championships in 2 weeks time.

With 8months of not shooting this it was indeed a good time to give it a whirl and see what happens! Also, I got me a new $2 front sight (a $2 Aussie coin turned, beaten and ground) and at this stage it's still attached!

So we had a slight delay gettin' to the gate with a tree having uprooted itself and laying across the road. In comes the machinery to clear the way.

 

Sixteen Cowboys and one 'me' turned out to play – well we did have Krazy Kat and she did all the scoring for us, we thank you.

 

Practice was four stages and a shootout.

 

And that my friends is the day pretty much, home mid afternoon and ready to sit down briefly.

 

¡ Saludos! Cheers

Kat xo

 

Back in Oklahoma

Posted on by kathousekelli70

It's been a whirlwind 4 days as we got back into Oklahoma.

 

A few days shopping, rejoining the gym, hitting Cabelas for reloading gear, Hancocks for fabric (still can't believe it's closing down! One of my resources at times) and today…..we got to shoot again with the Territorial Marshal's.

Forty three shooters turned up on a glorious day to shoot 6 cowboy stages and for a few keen beans a short 3 stage Wild Bunch Pistol match. Good to be using the 45 again and with the new “$2” front sight we will just have to see how it goes!

Not that it looks much now, it's been cut, ground etc but yes my new front sight (for now, hopefully it will stay, it has lifted slightly) is made from an Aussie $2 coin.

 

Oklahoma State Wild Bunch Champs are on in a few weeks and we have a few midweek practices as well before we head out to End Of Trail.

Catch ya

Kat xo

 

McDowell Garment Drafting Machine

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Or Diary of Desire Part 4 – Learning never ends and I am finally getting to use the McDowell Drafting Machine that I won at the Victorian Tea two Conventions ago!

 

Squeals of delight or sheer terror, can't work out which is winning but think the squeals are taking over!

 

Looks about right. So far so good – measure, set, check measure, check set. Yep so far so good. Yes, the front bodice section is short, up to you to work out the 'skirt' part of it. Crikeys, thought it looked like something was missing. For machines numbered over 7,000 (and mine is 13,742) the skirt rule is 5″ below the waist line.

 

Check this out too. The patent markings, show various versions I assume, from 1879 – 1886.

 

Note the book says and I quote “…….It also simplifies the work that a fifteen-year-old child can easily learn to fit garments scientifically.” Haa Haa Haa better get back to it then.

Keep measuring and smiling 🙂

Kat xo

 

Saturday…What More Can I Say?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

I don't think too many of us performed at any sort of fantastic shooting ability (except for Winchester who took out first place, cogratulations) today but did well at getting up to more cheek than necessary.

With only 3 women shooting today, we got up to more no good than usual and certainly enjoyed ourselves doing so. 😉

Mostly Pearl Starr and myself giggling on the sidelines or in the background!

 

A few cheeky comments thrown in for good measure with Prairie Joy.

 

Well maybe this group was up to no good too or telling lies!

 

Jack also managed to have a short play just with pistols to check his form. He wasn't particularly happy about speed but hello! He hit all the targets AND it's still early days buddy. All in good time, all in good time.

 

Great stages again by Mad Dog Tannen, no procedural for me today, so that was a plus but still a few too many misses for my liking and 8 stuck in the rifle……ouch!!


Everyone had fun and by 4.00pm we had finished 6 stages.

Dinner, drinks and more banter ensued. Gotta love any day out on the range!

Kat xo

 

B-Western

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Miss 19 asked me one day, “Mum what is B-Western?” Well I could explain to her what it meant for Single Action shooters by way of category, dress, firearms etc but what did it really mean?

Now I also knew it related to the silver screen era, John Wayne, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and the like. So a little research got me looking further at the term.

In short, (because we don't need the full explanation on here) film production in the late 1920's and into the 1930's and 40's saw the double billing or short inexpensive films added to fill a program. Mostly due to rental of space to show a film and therefore to make it worthwhile not only for theatre goers but for the management and staff.

Western movies were said to be the most predominant in the 30's and accounted for 25-30% of production. Therefore the term, B-Western!

However, costume wise, it is all about the smiley pockets, piping, fringing, different coloured cuffs and yokes, bright coloured fabrics, embroidery and a little bit of bling thrown in for good measure.

There are many fine examples of such with the most revered being those created by Nudie Cohn. In particular to the country music artists over many years.

I found these little gems on some Grand Old Opry dvd's borrowed from 'Emerald'. Priceless! I'm sure I recognised one outfit on a DVD that we saw at the Ryman Auditorium when we were there in 2014.

This one of Ernest Ashworth wearing his 'Talkback Trembling Lips' outfit that matched his song! What a classic! Blinged up bars of music, the writing and of course the lips across it.

 

I think it was this one of Porter Wagoner's we may have seen at the Ryman or at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

In the realm of costuming I have completed a few B-Western outfits now and think there will be more to come.

Here is 'Lil McGill' from Texas, in her Annie Oakley inspired outfit (as worn by Gail Davis in the tv series of Annie Oakley in the 1950's). We saw the original on display at the Oklahoma National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame and it just had to become an outfit for Lil! She won best dressed B-Western Lady at the 2015 US Nationals – Winter Range, 2015 World Championships – End Of Trail and then the trifecta, 2015 South West Regionals – Red Dirt Rampage.

(2nd Place, Sonora Blaze, 3rd Place, Paniola Annie)

 

Our Aussies can be partial to a bit of B-Western flair as well and when 'Katie Younger' and 'Robb and Co' hit the USA in 2015 they wanted an Australian themed get up. So National emblem and flower with kangaroo's, Southern Cross and the Australian flag were the order. They won 2nd Place Best Dressed Couple at the 2015 World Championships – End of Trail. Katie has the first B-Western outfit I ever made in a red and black combo.

 

'Sonora Blaze' from Colorado also required a show stopper and we got to doing this Dale Evans inspired number but in the turquoise instead of the original coral colour. Sonora won 2nd Place Best Dressed at the 2016 US Nationals – Winter Range.

 

'Flat Top Okie' from Oklahoma, required a shirt to match the boots he'd bought and after searching for the right colour fabric came up with the perfect match! Add in some custom styled design and a little bit of bling and there you have it.

 

And so we come to the latest creation in this genre. Another beautiful outfit for 'Lil McGill' with bits of a Patsy Cline outfit and inspiration from Annie Get Your Gun costumes for Betty Hutton, Lil will be the ultimate ray of sunshine getting around the range in this number! There are a couple of things left to do, like pearl snaps, embroidered triangles for pockets and careful trimming of embroidery threads but I can't wait to see this one decked out with Lil's final touches!

 

Bling it if you can!

Kat xo

P.S. Weirdly, I am looking forward to more smiley pocket experimentation, I think I nailed it on Lil's skirt. Have to do pockets on shirt now!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

http://www.nudiesrodeotailor.com

 

Chance For Practice

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We found out that a cowboy club match was happening up at Belmont near Brisbane today. So with a chance to get in a practice and the last shoot for Jack for a while we decided to go up to the Metro.

Just a straight forward range, set up with a couple of stages, there were 9 of us turned up to shoot 5 stages with Carter Moss.

Here are the results from today, a good win for Jack! (aka Ricochet in Aus)

 

Good luck to all the Aussie's heading over to New Zealand for the Trans Tasman, Duel Down Under. Kick some butt and bring the trophy back home!

Kat xo

 

 

Gold Coast Gamblers Club Champs

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The beginning of Feb saw a group of Cowboys and Cowgirls get together for the Gold Coast Gamblers Club Championships for 2015.

It was a hot and humid day for the 23 that showed up for some fun and action.

 

Five stages were shot and then it was time for pack up, dinner, bragging, drinks and awards.

It came down to inlaws and outlaws – seeing as there were some that weren't club members.

Jack and I were both awarded our trophies for our category wins in the Pat Garrett Champs. For the Club Champs, Jack finished 2nd in Seniors and 8th overall. I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler and 2nd overall.

 

As usual it was lots of fun, laughter and having digs at each other.

Congratulations to the overall Club Champions (the inlaws) for 2015 being Mad Dog Tannen for the Men's and Trixie for the Ladies!

 

They deal in lead friend,

Kat xo

 

Guerilla? Or Just an Outlaw

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Jesse James was one of the most famous or infamous outlaws of the American west – robbing stage coaches, banks, trains, and leader of the James-Younger gang.

Why am I talking about Jesse James you might ask? And where does the guerilla bit come into it?

Well, once upon a time, in a land far far away….lol, no simple really. Jesse and his brother Frank James were confederate guerrilla's (also known as bushwackers). Road Runner, fellow Okie when we are there, requested a Jesse James guerrilla shirt.

With eyebrows slightly raised, of course I accepted the challenge and had him send me a picture. (As seen below)

 

Not hard really, finally found fabric that would drape nicely in the required grey, a simple black bias binding should work and found some studs that could replicate the trim.

It came time in the book to get onto this one and so I fiddled around with a pattern and created the very simple oversized guerilla shirt with slanted rounded pockets. Ta dah! Road Runner's guerilla shirt.

(Hmm they could actually have had more slant on the pockets now seeing it on the mannequin, noticeable when it's laying flat)

These shirts with their pockets shaped like that apparently made for ease of carrying extra ammo and accessibility to it. (so I've heard)

Personally I'm thinking that if you are galloping around on a horse at break neck speed you might lose it but then I thought about the drape of the fabric and figured it might well stay put due to the weight of the ammo.

The guerrilla shirts were often made by wives or sweethearts, some were elaborately embroidered, some plain, some with a placket and collar, made from various fabrics and patterns. According to civil war websites the shirts originated in Missouri but were similarly worn down through Texas.

Here are some more examples worn by the Duvall brothers and Bloody Bill Anderson.

 

All very different indeed!

And the whole guerrilla story with William C Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson is a tale for another day.

Cheers

Kat xo

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James#Quantrill.27s_Raiders

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/civil_war_history/v058/58.2.beilein.pdf

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-guerrilla-shirt.26529/

 

Australian Nationals 2015

Posted on by kathousekelli70

A quick trip to Harrington, catching up with an old friend from school (Heidi was the cool friend with red gym boots!) and we made the trek south again to Newcastle staying another fun filled night with a certain little princess sporting her new Frozen dance skirt.

Monday we headed to the range and over the next few days got stuck into 'building' in the bunkhouse. We finished lining it with timber panels, beading, installing shelving and a new corner to the existing, sort-of-a-shelf. We made and installed coat racks, cutting 3 from the old one and making another 5.

The sewing machine also came in handy for hemming curtains for the window, dressing room and showers.

 

We got the guns back into our hands and got the muscle memory happening and seemed reasonably happy with a practice. Things were looking okay.

Come Thursday the campers are definitely rolling in and the fun is beginning, side matches and Warm Up match were held on a particularly warm Friday! 42C/108F

Beers, catch ups and posse marshal walk through was done and dusted.

94 shooters fronted up Saturday and Sunday with, thankfully, cooler and sensible shooting weather days. 6 stages held each day. Movement, reloads, and good stage design.

Don't know what it was though but with only 2 clean shooters for the match, the rest of us had too many misses!

However, we had a great Posse and paired up with Posse 4 we had as much fun as you could get! Posse 3 and 4 – myself, Jackaroo/Ricochet, Chuckwagon and my Margarita Sista Pearl Starr, Gopher, Squints, Kitty Pearl and Sidewinder Sam, Dam Sam, Walker, Tom Mix, Henry Moon, S.O.B., Hoodoo Brown, Tin Star, Black Jack, Holy Ollie, and Sodbuster – if I have it right. (First time I haven't taken a photo of our posse list so I did get it right)

Saturday night we had the shindig and gambling.

 

Then Sunday it was all over bar the shouting. Jack finished 1st in Senior and 6th overall. I finished 1st in Lady Wrangler, 2nd Lady and 8th overall. There was 1 rank point and 0.07sec between Jack and I.

Above photo's courtesy of S.Sedger.

A big congratulations to RC Shot and Jazzi Jess, Men's and Ladies Overall Champions for this years 2015 Australian National Championship!

Congrats!

Kat xo