It's a Wrap!

So a few months ago Helen started up giving raffle tickets to people who completed projects. Each month there is a lucky dip and the chance to win a wee prize. Isabel won the November dip but she was away. Back for her last day we re-enacted the moment.

Seriously, the stage is missing a truly great actress. Isabel was delighted to be a winner and was lucky enough to pick out a ball of yarn that will knit up into one of these fancy scarves. Isabel does love a scarf (even if she loses them) so it was good that she picked out something that she would use. Helen was the December winner and picked out a pin cushion.

Janice has been going to quilting classes for a good few weeks now. It's with the class she has been learning to do her large squares to make a quilt for herself. She also learned to make these beautiful glass-stained Christmas hangings. The Christmas tree was the one she was taught in class. As she had some Christmas fabric she decided to make another and designed the stocking herself. Very impressive.

Janice also has a new addition to the family. Her son recently got engaged. Not wanting her to feel left out she has made her future daughter in law this lovely Christmas stocking.

Her son also couldn't be missed out and she made him these Christmas minions. These were actually requested by her son. Love the bells on the tops of the hats.

Norma has been busy working on a commission. A friend of hers asked her to make a crochet bag. The bag was to be done in cotton and Norma isn't a fan of crocheting in cotton. However she managed to get it finished. I think it looks stunning. The lining matches the colours exactly. If her friend isn't happy with it I know a good home which would happily take it in!

Norma seemed to have a finish every five minutes on Tuesday. These beautiful baby blankets are for a friend and she finished them on our last evening. The deep pink is my favourite. The boldness of the pink is set off by the black edging. It makes a nice change from lots of pastels.

Fiona also had a finish. She finished this gorgeous baby blanket for a friends wee boy. The yarn is super soft.  It will make a fabulous blanket but it can also see baby using it as a play matt. I love the little flecks of dark blue throughout.

Helen is making sure that she stays warm this winter. She knitted up this cowl so that she could wrap it beneath her jacket to stay warm. It can also stay on when the jacket comes off. Love the colours! Also it's nice to see Helen knit something for herself for a change.

Margaret has been busy too. Her last cross stitch card was revealed. She stitched this gorgeous owl card for myself. I do love an Owl. I may have to find a wee frame for it once Christmas is over so that I can hang it up next year.

She is also continuing with the baby knits until she uses up all her baby yarn. This is the latest cardigan to be done in the pink. Like the others she has done over the last few weeks, it is for the hospice charity shop.

I have also been busy getting Christmas presents ready. I needed help in thinking up something I could make for friends when Lisa suggested mug cosies. This is what I cam up with. I filled it with hot chocolate and chocolates. Then decorated it with a little cross stitch tag.

I also have the last of our bucket lists. If there is anyone I didn't get round to I apologise. It's been a busy few weeks. Plus there is always next year. This list is longer because I forgot to list some of the previous weeks. The lovely Helen went round asking the question this time as I was giving a little impromptu sock lesson.

Lyn - Learn to knit socks, dye yarn and finish the snowman I started a year ago. Also would like to do more sewing

Fee - learn to do more sewing, taking up knitting without tossing it and finish everything I have started

Fiona - try to move on from blankets and scarves and actually do something I have saved or bookmarked.

Lisa - knit socks, master amagurami

Carol - amagurami

Janice - knit socks and learn to crochet. Finish my quilt

Stephanie - learn to crochet, learn to do applique with Val

Noreen - knit socks and learn to crochet

Norma - learn to knit socks, learn to sew and quilting

Susan - I would love to learn tatting. I've seen it done on TV and I'd love to give it a try.

This post is over a week late but that's us done for the year. We are back on the 7th January. We are having a swap night then so bring any unwanted craft items and you might get inspiration or pick up something you like. I will also be starting sock lessons that night.

Until then I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and an amazing New Year!!!!!!

Bucket Lists and Festive Knits!

We were back to our usual busy evening last week. Was nice to see so many come along, especially since we finish up soon. Quite a few people were hastily working on projects for Christmas as the time has been flying in.

Helen though, has been steadily working on her quilting. She finished this beautiful stained glass window piece. If you look back to last week Stephanie said that she was never doing another one of these. Helen said the same thing. How long do you think before either of them cave or move onto something even more complex?

While we are all awaiting Christmas, Helen is awaiting another arrival. She knitted up these beautiful cardigans and hats for a friend who is expecting her first baby. The designs are gorgeous!

Roberta has been back into the crochet. She made this beautiful large granny square blanket. I love the fact that it's mainly white with small hints of colour through it. I am hoping that my memory is correct and that she is keeping this for herself. I know I would be keeping it if it was me.

Roberta also knitted up this lovely elf. I feel festive just looking at him. The pattern was from one of this months knitting magazines. I think it's one of Alan Darts patterns (looks like an Alan Dart pattern).

Margaret had some yarn left over from another knitting project. She decided to use it to knit this lovely hat and cardigan set. I love the little apple buttons. They go perfectly with the set. This will be passed on to the hospice charity shop in the new year. Margaret plans to knit a few more items before handing it over.

Elaine has done a first for our group. These festive little jumpers are for dogs! I love a Christmas jumper so I'm not lying when I say that I am jealous of whatever dog gets to wear them. Think the snowflakes are my favourite.

Noreen is working on a project for a neighbours little girl. She is getting a boy doll for her Christmas. Turns out boy dolls clothes are hard to come by. So the lovely Noreen is making some (which will be far superior to shop bought anyway). These adorable dungarees are the first of a few items she plans to knit. I love the wee pocket on the front.

Stephanie picked up this yarn online. She liked the look of it and thought it would make an unusual scarf. It doesn't have a brand name and just comes as you see it in the first photo. Sadly Stephanie spent the entire night trying to unfankle it with the help of the lovely Janice. Even then she still had a bit to go by the end. I am sure though that it will look amazing when knitted up.

It's also that time of year when the Christmas fairs start. Magdalena had her first one on Saturday there and from what I hear it went very well. Elaine and Norma are sharing a table this Saturday (7th December). It will take place at Airdrie Town Hall from 11am to 2pm. So if you want to pick up some special gifts pop along.

I managed to get a few more bucket lists from people too which I will list in a second. Tuesday 3rd December is our Christmas party. There will be prizes, nibbles and a secret Santa game. It's always good fun and I will actually be able to make it along this time. The last time was at our first Christmas party. Should be a good night although busy. We finish up the following week and I will be able to squeeze in our last member of the month interview before we break up. Don't fret though as we are back on the 7th January.

Helen - Next year I plan to learn to crochet so that I can use my shiny new hook. I also want to make mug rugs and to do a bit more Sashiko

Yvonne - I want to learn to crochet, to knit socks and to knit mitts

Roberta - I plan to learn to knit socks and to knit some Santa slippers (slippers with Santa's on them and not slippers for Santa in case you are like me and wondered).

Ally - I plan to finally do something with the James C. Brett mohair that has been lying there for a good few months.

Caroline - Finish Ally's 50th birthday present (Ally's 50th was this year).

Izzi - I would quite like to take a course in millinery. I don't wear hats but I used to enjoy making dolls hats.

Fingers crossed I get more bucket lists from people this week.

Happy Birthday!

Not our birthday this time. It was the birthday of lovely Noreen. Jean had brought along a cake which we brought out and sang to her. Much to poor Noreen's mortification! We hope she had a lovely evening though.

Margaret is knitting some baby items for a friend and finished this lovely baby hat and cardigan set.

I finished a sock. No, not socks, a sock. Magdalena asked me if I would mind knitting up the partner to a sock she had done herself. It had been so long she couldn't remember how. I was rather pleased that I managed to get them to match.

Lisa crocheted these beautiful baby blankets. The white, pink and orange is done in her own yarn so needless to say it's my favourite. She did this whilst waiting in the car doing the school run.

A number of you may remember this. It is in fact the logo to Magdalena's Stitching A Rainbow. For those of you who might not know, Magdalena makes children's quilts to order. This quilted logo is perfect for those gorgeous quilts.

She also finished her mood scarf. I am more than a little bit in love with this. The idea behind it was that each day she had to crochet a row. The colour she picked out had to match her mood. Hence, a mood scarf. It was doing this that Magdalena learned how to do crochet without the foundation row. The reason being that she didn't want the foundation to be classed as one row since she was only to do one each day. She also used variegated yarn as she said that her mood would change through out the day. The end result is gorgeous. Although Jill did say it would possible be interesting for a psychologist to analyse.

Esther had another finish and it only took some wheedling for myself to get her to show it. Her granddaughter is going to be the best dressed with all these cardigans and sets she is knitting up. This latest is gorgeous. Love the fan pattern and it is certainly beautifully knitted.

This beautiful hat belongs to Kathleen. I love the style of these hats and Kathleen always adds a little something to the front to make it extra special. Kathleen is thinking of having a go at craft fairs eventually. In the meantime though she is going to start up her own facebook page. So look out for that.

Jean has also been busy. This time for Christmas. She knitted this angel which came free with one of the knitting magazines. I love the detail. These angels definitely have character.

Stephanie has been back at the sewing again. She stitched up this lovely patchwork bag. The colours go so well together and it looks fab. Definitely something to be proud of.

You might think you have seen these socks before and in a way you are right. These are slightly smaller than the pair I showed a few weeks ago knitted by the lovely Isabel. This pair is going to her smaller grandson for Christmas. Her grandsons loved the fact that she had knitted herself Christmas socks and asked for some of their own. Hence Isabel's knitting frenzy.

This gorgeous blanket was done by Elaine. I love how a simple granny square can look so different just by switching to variegated yarn. Each of these squares look so different as a result and the effect is fab.

Despite being unwell last week Audrey has been busy. She finished stitching the gorgeous Santa cross stitch. Just in time for the Christmas season.

In getting ready for winter Audrey has also finished knitting up this scarf and hat. The scarf is beautifully done in lace knitting. Whereas the had is a lovely, chunkier knit.

If you were lucky enough to make the Christmas craft day you would have been able to take part in Izzi's lavender sachet lesson. She brought along a shoe box full of lavender sachets she had made up with the leftovers. These are so lovely and they smell amazing. Izzi was selling these ones to contribute to Lyn's charity. Alas they all sold out to the group within seconds.

You might remember Laura's hat from a few weeks ago. She has knitted up another one in reverse colours. I just love the design. I also discovered that Laura is charting her own fair isle design. I look forward to seeing that.

She also knitted herself a scarf. I love the colours and love that it starts with and ends with the same colour pattern. It's also extremely soft and cosy.

I have also been asking people what their bucket list for next year is. That basically means, what do they want to achieve next year. So each week I am going to post a wee list of what people say.

Isabel - love to learn to do traditional embroider and finish my advent calendar.

Elaine - Finish a cross stitch I started when Amy was 4. I also want to do something with Sashiko

Margaret - Finish the fairy cross stitch I started at Gartmore and the Christmas cushions from a few years back. I also want to try Japanese folded quilting.

Karen - I want to learn how to make a mug rug and learn to do tunisian crochet

Audrey - I plan to learn to do cables and to crochet better

Dawn - I want to make a granny square blanket for myself and socks for myself. Next year I plan to make things for myself for a change.

There will be more of that next week. I also did our member of the month interview. So look out for what Janice has to say as well as some photo's of her fabulous work.