Two reasons to celebrate!

We had a few reasons to celebrate on Tuesday. First of all Linda successfully completed the moonwalk in Edinburgh the previous Saturday. She managed it in eight hours. Relieved that she finished as it was a lot of hard work due to all those hills. Not only did she get a medal she managed to raise about £500!

Everyone who know Helen will have been aware that she was counting down the days until her retirement. Last week was her final week and she was celebrating. Obviously with all this free time on her hands now we didn't want her to get bored. A number of us volunteered to give lessons in crafts she hasn't tried before. Helen was delighted and has said she will take everyone up on it.

Val has also been busy. Two of these bears were knitted by Margaret and myself. The rest were all knitted by Val. These bears are going off to Uganda this week. Val was also working on crochet squares for the group charity.

June brought along her grand daughter to visit us. She happily watched us all as we knitted (chatted). This is the shawl June knitted her a while back which is well loved. We also had another baby in the group. New member Laura brought her 10wk old baby along for the evening.


Whilst Linda may have been busy training for her charity walk she still managed to get this lovely crochet scarf finished for her shoe box charity. Which reminds me, Linda is still looking for unwanted shoe boxes if anyone has them.

It was quite a busy night. We had Donna working on a baby blanket. Margaret working on her through. Josephine was working on another lovely crochet jacket for her niece. Linda had started another scarf for charity. Elaine was working on some beaded jewelry. Helen was working on her white cardigan. Magdalena was working on a top for the baby. Monika was knitting squares. Isabel was working on more teddies for tragedies. Roberta was working on a baby top. Joyce was working on a cardigan. Alison was back from France looking relaxed and working on her cross stitch bird sampler. Aileen was working on her doorstop which looks about half finished now. Sheena was working on a cat cross stitch. I was working on a Sarah Kay cross stitch. June was working on some squares. Janette was knitting a scarf.

Monika - June Member of the Month

1. Tell us about yourself.

I am 34 1/2. Sometimes I'm crazy sometimes just the usual. I have wonderful son who will be 7 in August. He is the most important man in my life. I am from Poland and have been living in Glasgow for almost 3 years.

2. How did you learn to sew?

When I was a girl I would spend the evenings with my gran who would stitch our clothes. I would then start with small projects such as pot holders. My gran had very neat stitching and she taught me to sew so that no one can see your stitches. The first big thing I did was in the first year of high school. I turned an old dress into a top and skirt which was very 60's like. It was all hand stitched and no one could believe I had done it. All it cost was time.

3. What is your proudest achievement?

That I have discovered how I want to live. It happened here. I know what I next want to do and it has given me confidence. It has changed me. Now I do things, take action like the race for life. Every single thing counts.

4. What was your biggest disaster?

I wanted to sew bags for the fair. I had a lot to do to the pattern, change it to make it better, and so in the end I didn't. I prefer to do toys.

5. What other crafts do you enjoy?

I am also a knitter and I crochet. There is plenty that I want to learn to do such as scrapbooking and cross stitch.

6. Favourites -

favourite fabric - I recycle fabrics from old clothes. I usually go to charity shops.

tools - fabric shears. They prevent fraying which is great with toys. Otherwise the rip whilst stuffing.

designs - based on tilda, I love designs by Tone Finnager. They include home products such as cushions. It's my inspiration

store - hobbycraft

colours - red, navy blue. I like almost every shade of blue. Also lilac and deep purple.

craft book - Tilda - pretty Home and Encyclopedia of crochet/knitting stitches.

7. What is your future goal?

I would like to do something with toys. My own designs and adaptations. I would like to have my own space on the Internet for them.

8. What do you like to listen to or watch whilst sewing?

I like Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra. Also Sting. When I am tired and need some energy there are some Polish songs I like to listen to. Especially when it is sunny. I also like to watch Braveheart and Gladiator. I Love historical stories.

9. Any advice for other sewing enthusiasts out there?

It's good to believe that you can do something. I got this from winning the competition in October. You don't have to be a designer to be successful or good at something.

10. Favourite non craft book?

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. A friend recommended it to me. It's just so inspiring to me and saw a lot of myself in it. I am reading it for the third time now.

Good Luck Linda!

Linda will be doing the moonwalk in Edinburgh right now. She is raising money for breast cancer. Good luck Linda!

Photo shoot!

Once again June has been busy. On Tuesday she handed all of these squares over to me for the knit a square charity. That makes 140 squares handed in by June alone. She then said that she actually has made 150 so far. I don't think this will be the end as she was working on more that evening. I promise to do another count soon as we have had over 20 handed in from Aileen, Elaine, Linda, Val, Janette and Roberta over the last few weeks. Only two weeks of collecting left and then I will send them away. If anyone would like to keep going and send them off themselves I can hand over the address.

These teddies were knitted by myself and Margaret for Val's boys brigade. Isabel was also working on more and has become quite addicted to them. She has another two to sew up and was knitting another one that night. Meanwhile Margaret was working on her throw and I was knitting another pair of socks.

Having been taught to make granny squares from Donna during the weekend away I decided to use that to make a blanket for myself. I finished it over the weekend. I know I have blaming Donna for a new found addiction but really I should be thanking her. Thank you Donna!

How cute are these bunnies? These are the bunnies Monika made and brought along to the fair on Saturday. She took them on a photo shoot in the local park and emailed me the photos. Monika had her member of the month interview on Tuesday and I should have saved these photo's for that but couldn't wait to show them off.

Here they are sitting together. Monika has mentioned that they are currently dating!

On Tuesday night we also had Magdalena working on a top for her daughter. Monika was knitting squares for the charity. Linda was crocheting a scarf for her shoe box charity. Linda was knitting football gloves. Dawn was knitting a beautiful baby blanket. Aileen was working on her doorstop. She hopes to have it finished before heading off to her honeymoon in a month. Laura was working on her crochet blanket. Donna was working on a lovely hooded baby blanket. Joyce was also working on one of her famous baby blankets. Helen was working on a lovely summery cardigan in white.

Last but not least we got to welcome back Gillian who is once again mobile.

Look out for Monika's interview which I will post in the next few days.

Our First Craft Fair!

On Saturday 12th June we had our very first craft fair. Magdalena's church was having it's first fete to raise money for the toddler group. We were told we could come along and take up some space. Elaine offered to look after the table as she has taken part in a fair few craft fairs. Here she is setting up the table.

Although Dawn's mum (Moira) was celebrating her 70th birthday she came along for a couple of hours to lend a hand.Both Dawn and Donna brought along a fair number of magazines and books. Elaine had also made some bookmarks which fit right in.

Magdalena made these gorgeous bootees in three different sizes.

As well as some flower boraches, Margaret brought some baby sets she had knitted up.

It's easy to see that Elaine has done these before as she came along with a lot of goodies to sell. Baby bonnets, baby toys, juggling sets, tissue box covers, hot water bottles, decorated gift boxes and mobile phone covers.

It wasn't all work though as you can see with Margaret joining in at the kids table.

We of course got some chatting in.


Elaine then put all our names down to have our faces painted.

Showing off their better sides.


Poor Monika arrived too late for the sale due to ill health but she did bring along these gorgeous bunnies. Both stitched by hand.

We had a lot of fun and were made very welcome. Hopefully we will be able to do it again. Elaine has signed up to take part in a craft fair in November. She has said she is happy to take things people have made with her. This one is in Shawlands.

Magdalena's Baby Shower!

Our Magdalena is expecting and it's another boy. Of course we couldn't let the event pass without holding a baby shower. Stephanie couldn't be there as she was on holiday but passed along this lovely little cardigan set.

I made two blankets for Magdalena (I wasn't happy with the colours in the bottom one). one was a brick pattern and the other was a plain garter stitch with a lacy edge.

Elaine made a set of baby toys. They can be thrown about by the baby and also jingle. She also made a baby hat and bootee set. As you can tell from the photo it was knitted using super soft yarn.
Helen out one of her other talents to good use. She made up a baby scrapbook. The pages are all decorated but also ready for Magdalena to fill once the baby arrives.

Margaret made a lovely vest top which she placed over a babygro. She also knitted a blue and white stripey jumper. A baby hat and bootee set and an aran cardigan.

Isabel gave a lovely hooded bath towel which will always come in handy. The other side has images of little bears.

Roberta made sure mum received some pampering with a lovely bath set. She also knitted the cutest little socks.

More bath things but this time for baby and from Linda. As well as the cute little bath toys Linda knitted a lovely blue waistcoat.

Aileen and Sheena gave these stitched Winnie the Pooh designs. The frames really set them off and Magdalena said they will match the baby's room perfectly.

More Disney characters but this time Mickey. The lovely jumper and trouser set was from Julia.

Between her Wedding planning and ending the school year Donna still found the time to crochet these lovely shoes.

Magdalena received this lovely blanket from Joyce. She confessed that after seeing Joyce knit a couple of these in the past she was hoping she would receive one herself.


Dawn gave Magdalena these lovely babygros. She also included several bibs which Magdalena was ecstatic about.

These lovely t-shirts were a gift from Val. Perfect colours for Magdalena's tastes.

Of course a baby shower is never complete without a quilted dog from Janette. The colours are stunning. Magdalena named him Freddy and refused to let him go for the rest of the night. Janette did mention that she wants to make a pink one as everyone seems to be having boys. Not sure if this was a hint to others in the group or not, lol.

Big thank you to everyone who (as always) was so generous. I think it's a safe bet that mum to be was overjoyed as she got a little emotional at one point (sign of a good baby shower).


We have another baby shower on the 13th July. This one is for Ellen, the Starbucks manager, who is also having a boy.