Demo Time - Plastic Bags.

Before she went on holiday, Magdalena had been doing some crochet with plastic carrier bags. It had us all curious. Five minutes before home time she tried to explain to us how to cut up the bag in preparation. Not easy in just five minutes. So now that she is home she kindly gave us a wee demo.

We all brought bags and scissors so that we could join in. It involved the cutting away of the bottom and handles and then folding.

It was then cut much like you would cut to make a Chinese lantern. Magdalena then demonstrated how to ensure that you end up with one long strand of carrier bag.

It really does work. You can see Magdalena here rolling up her now carrier bag yarn.

Everyone managed it successfully too.

You can see here our hard work paid off. I will say though that if you want the full carrier bag to ensure that it isn't torn somewhere before hand. Otherwise you end up with a smaller ball (voice of experience here).

Elaine started working with it straight away. It has quite a nice effect. You could also collect other bags to give it a striping effect.

We had some finishes too. Our youngest member had her very first finish. You can see Amilee here proudly showing off a lollipop she made with her craft kit.

Janice has been growing some tomatoes and brought some of them along for Helen. Margaret has also been growing tomatoes but they don't last long enough to be brought in.

Janice also finished this lovely baby jacket. Everyone has liked it so much that there are a few people planning on knitting one up.

One of our newer members, Audrey, had been wanting to knit socks. She is primarily a cross stitcher but she does knit too. As I was already teaching sock knitting a few others and a different pattern I was only able to talk her through a few bits with Dawn helping her with the rest. Not that she needed it. From me all she needed was some advice about the heel and a week later there was a pair of finished socks. They look fantastic. Looking at the toe you wouldn't know this was a beginner. Very impressive!

Carolin is going on her Caribbean cruise soon and has just finished a smaller bag to go with her beach bag. She used the same flip flop fabric and adorned it with buttons. Unfortunately her sewing machine went to sewing machine heaven in the process but it didn't stop her from getting it finished.

Jean also had a finish. She made this lovely card for me. Knowing my love of camper vans it was perfect. Thank you Jean!

Roberta has been busy knitting up baby hats. Well, the first three were done in crochet and look lovely. I especially like the flower. The rest are little preemie baby hats.

I also had a couple of finishes. I stitched this little owl hanging. It came free with a magazine and was supposed to be a keyring. However, I decided that I wanted it as a little hanging instead and I chose not to stuff it. I also finished my last pair of mosaic socks. These ones are for my dad.

Next week we have another busy one. We are having a show and tell. Just a fun way for everyone to bring along finishes they are proud of and let us all have a nosey. There will be no judging as it's just for fun but there will be a raffle with some prizes.

Time For Something Different!

Meet Yorick. Yorick belongs to Fiona and he is the holder of the sunglasses. He even has a pair of Ray Ban's. Fiona decided it was time he had his own hat and made him this one using crochet. I sense we have another member here who loves purple.

Jean brought along something else she learned whilst attending beading workshops at Gartmore. She made this lovely broach. I love the colours. The broach design does have a name but I'm afraid I forgot to write it down. It's always nice to see other talents though.

Speaking of the multi-talented, Freya has been at it again. She has now turned her hand to sewing decorations. How pretty are these? Whilst we are on Freya I need to apologise for getting one of her favourite crafts wrong. I've been calling it decoupage but it's actually decopatch. Lyn corrected me last week. Sorry Freya!

For the last few weeks or so I have been working on this pink Dalek. This is for my sister who picked the colour. She has a lot of sympathy for Daleks and has called this one Colin.

Norma is just back from Inverness. Whilst there she visited a yarn shop and the lady there taught her how to cast on using the pom pom yarn. The end result is this lovely baby blanket which is for a friend of Norma's who is expecting. She even made the ribbon flower.

Margaret is still busily knitting for friends about to become grandparents. This cabled cardigan is the latest. Even has some cute cat buttons.

Lyn's event with the famous Stephanie Weightman went very well. As a thank you Stephanie made this gorgeous card for Lyn. I think this will have pride of place in Lyn's home.

I am sure you are all excited to learn that member of the month is starting up again. Our Stephanie will be the first victim and I will be interviewing her on Tuesday. So look out for that.

Christmas Craft Day Part 3.

This was our impromptu demonstration. Dawn was showing Donna how to use embossing powder when stamping. So of course we all had a look.

First you used a clear ink pad and place the stamp on the card. You then gently sprinkle embossing powder over the wet ink.

Take away the excess powder and you should be left with an image as demonstrated by Dawn.

You then carefully heat the powder until it has a sheen to it.

Voila! One finished stamp with a metallic sheen. I have to confess I always wondered how that was done. Gives it a professional finish.

We also had some sewing lessons. I think you have already seen this one of Isabel being taught by Alison. Izzi was also up there at one point helping Donna and her sister Julie.

Zuzanna also wanted to have a go so Alison gave her a hand as she practiced on some scrap fabric.

This is what Donna and Julie have been working on. I think this is more Julie's project. Donna plans to stitch an advent calendar for baby Abigail.

Freya brought along her decoupage kit and I couldn't resist taking a photo as she worked on it.

 Here Freya is helping to show Zuzanna how to do it.

In between people were working on their own projects. Lots of knitting going on but a few non-knitting projects too. This is Caroline's set up. I was impressed with how organised she is. These are packs she set up so that on the day all she had to do was sew them together.

Izzi has also been working away the last few weeks for a friend. Her friend has a dolls house and previously she stitched a rug for her. Now she is working on a carpet. I had to take a photo because of the intricate details. Would you believe that Izzi hates cross stitch? I can't wait to see it finished.

Just one last post to go, I promise. That one will contain some finishes.

Warning! This Post Contains Lots of Finishes!

 Yep, we have a lot of finished projects this week. First off Magdalena had finished quite a few. The first is a lovely pink top for her daughter Zuzanna. As you can see she loves it as pink is her favourite colour. She also finished crocheting some pot holders which look fantastic. I would be worried they got dirty. Lastly Magdalena finished this lovely quilt for her youngest son. I love all the images on the fabric. He loves it so much he has been using it already.

Freya also had some more finishes for us. She is loving working with decoupage. She finished decorating this giraffe and this lovely box.

Miriam has been mainly working on cross stitch but she also tried her hand at knitting. This is her first attempt at it. Pretty impressive I think. She even managed colour changes.

Alison didn't get the chance to make bags at the craft day. So because of that and as a thank you for saving her scissors, Izzi made her three lovely bags.

Alison also had a finish herself and again this is from craft day. She finished the crochet sampler from Magdalena's crochet doily lesson. Looks lovely in pink.

 Linda finished knitting these lovely cowls. At one point I thought people were going to wrestle her for them. I love the buttons added to them. These are going into her shoe box charity.

I don't know if you remember but Donna had a card making kit at Gartmore last year. She got it out last week and finished this lovely card. She hasn't decided who it's for yet but whoever gets it is going to love it.

Dawn Marie finished her second pair of socks! These are for her mum and as she already had them on her feet Dawn kindly allowed me to copy her photo of them (can't blame her mum). I love the colours in them. Fingers crossed Dawn will make another pair but this time for herself.

I kept going with my crochet lesson too. You can see Margaret here working on crocheting her squares together.

Margaret has actually finished enough squares to put together her cushion which is why she was putting them together.

Dawn Marie also had a finished square. I love these colours. Will look fantastic when they are all stitched together.

Roberta had missed the lesson the week before because she was being taught scrapbooking from Helen. So she started one on Tuesday there and finished it too. She kept to the same yarn which was a variegated yarn. Made for an interesting effect.

Elaine also finished her square. I love the black and white together.