Events!

 
Here I thought I would showcase some of the other things we have done over the years. Tonight, as you all know, one of the things we are doing is have a swap night. This has proved popular since the first time we did this. People bring along their odds and ends and we all swap. Simple as that. What no one wants always goes away to Roberta's charity shop. In the past people have discovered new crafts to try. Sheena got a lovely crochet kit and Isabel tried her hand at cross stitch for the first time. We have maybe one or two of these a year.

A couple of times we have also taken part in National Knitting day. This has been in connection with Hobbycraft on the park. It's always a good way of getting new members interested and of course to stock up on stash.

We have also taken part in a craft fair in order to help raise money for Magdalena's toddler group. That was a fun day too and if you look closely you can see we all got our faces painted.

Since we moved into the managements suite we have taken advantage of all that space. Not just by bringing in bigger projects or by running classes. The first year there we had our first Christmas part and we have had one every year since. They are always good fun and there is always plenty of goodies to eat.

Not everyone can make Gartmore. Either because they have other expenses or because it's hard to get away overnight. I think it was our Izzi who came up with the idea of spending a day in the conference room crafting. She had offered to teach people how to make drawstring bags if some of us brought sewing machines along. We have two of these a year now and Izzi has given us a lesson in almost everyone. Even then people have brought their sewing machines along and she has helped them.

Our first craft day we also had a fantastic Japanese patchwork demo from Carol. It got quite a few of the group members interested in having a shot. Helen also showed us how to make Japanese bags. Those were great fun and quite a few of us went on to make more.

We then had a Christmas themed craft day. Elaine showed us how to decorate cupcakes which went down very well. Helen had us making Christmas cards. Izzi showed us how to stitch cute stockings and Alison taught us the fine art of napkin folding.

The following year we did it again. We had a sewing lesson from Izzi, a scrapbook lesson from Anthea and delicate crochet lesson from Magdalena. Val also came back for the day and she showed us how to do Sashiko. She even had little kits made up for us.

The last craft day we had was another Christmas theme. We had a crochet lesson from Donna as she got us making crochet Christmas decorations. Elaine had us decorating cookies and turning them into Christmas trees. We also had another napkin folding demo from Alison. There was no lesson from Izzi as it was about time she sat back and enjoyed the day. However, it didn't stop her from helping people out.

We have another craft day planned for this Saturday. Izzi is going to continue with the bag lessons she has been giving over the last few weeks. Other than that there is no lessons planned for once. Should be a nice relaxing day.

I am sure there will be more events coming up this year. We always love to do new things. Meanwhile, I have just two more nostalgia posts planned. One on our charities and another on some of the crafts that the group have been obsessed over. After that I will start up dating on how our celebrations have went. Looking forward to it.