The RED Challenge!

In memory of Margaret we set a Red Challenge for group members. Each entry had to be RED! To ensure fair play, Karen and Ginnie came along to act as judges. They were  impressed with the high standard of creativity which made the judging very difficult. Karen and Ginnie loved the skill and enthusiasm shown by the large number of entries.

Janice had been planning ahead for Christmas with an Advent calendar and a selection of Christmas Stockings.

RED Journey was hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn that Madga had made into a scarf as a gift for a friend.

The RED bag had been felted and made into a prctical shoulder bag by Jean. Look at the buttons!

This double sided cushion was crafted by Isabel. I'm sorry, I forgot to take an image of the reverse. It was very striking, big red lips on a black background. The slip of paper had P.T.O. on it to guide the judges to look on the reverse of the cushion. After turning the paper over several times they finally passed the intelligence test by looking at the other side of the cushion.

Roberta had knitted a Red child's cardigan and hat to put in Linda's Shoe Box charity.

Practically RED! I made a work basket complete with pincushion, scissor keeper and an assortment of pockets.

Everyone loved this little Red Bear. Hand crafted by Stephanie for one of her daughters. Kidnappers were circling the table ready to pounce on this little chap.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! A camper van seat blanket crocheted by Donna as a gift. Everyone loves a VW camper van!

Thread art was all the rage in the 60's/70's when I was a very young child. Elaine's RED is stunning!

Norma used some of Lisa's yarn with a sparkle. Beautiful!

Trust Linda! The S & B button decorated letters were very effective.

Christmas is coming Lisa crocheted this Christmas stocking and added a little bell so that you would hear Santa filling the stocking!

Mats with love! Created by Caroline. Wow!

 Caterpillar and Cats! Very cute and would find a place in anyone's home. Created by Yvonne.

The Judges decisions :-

Winner of original design - Fiona Orr for Red Heart Canvas.
Winner of adapted design - Norma for the Red Shawl.

Elaine was awarded a prize for such an inventive use of yarn.
Lisa was awarded a prize because her Christmas stocking would have been Margaret's favourite make.
Janice was awarded a prize for the largest single entry showing most styles.

Many thanks to Karen and Ginnie for coming along, judging is never easy.
Congratulations to the winners. All of the entries were amazing! The talent and creativity that abounds in this group is inspiring.

Apologies to Fiona Orr because I don't know what happened to the photo of your entry. Sorry.

Thank you to Isabel for the catering.

Next week we are back to normal. Chatting, Crafting Chilling.

FINALLY, Norma announced on FB that the Grand total that the group raised for the Beatson stands at £2540. Thank you one and all! Awesome!

All Kinds of Everything!

Caroline was delighted with this very apt Wedding Gift made by Norma. A wonderful keepsake.

Phyllis created this lovely shawl with a sparkle using ICE YARN. The pattern is German Scalloped.

Lisa invited Phyllis to visit her studio and even allowed her to play with the dye pots! This scarf is hand dyed by Phyllis and the pattern was created by Phyllis and is for herself. The second picture is a cozy hat made for her darling grandson using aran yarn. The pattern is called To The Point.

Allison is very fond of using Fluttterby yarn and this baby wrap pattern is one of her regular makes because it is so soft and practical and adorable.

Norma has been busy making lots of odds and ends for craft fairs. At the moment she is very much in love with these little baby slippers.

Fran has found time to make something for herself. She was inspired by this DK yarn that her sister brought back from Turkey and crocheted this c2c shawlette. Fran has also been planning ahead for the winter and made this cowl using yarn from Woolly Knits.

Kat has been to Turkey and brought back this DK yarn to make a Road Trip shawl. Kat has had fun experimenting with colour and shape. This star blanket is stunning and is intended  for her BOX!  For those new to the group.......this means that the garment will be put aside until it is required OR you feel strong enough to part with it!

Izzi has a friend going to work in a country ending in .....stan! We can all be a bit forgetful! Anyway, Izzi made 20 pencil cases to be sent out to there as gifts for local children.

Izzi also made this magnificent quilt for Granny Janice to give to baby Christopher. Stunning!

I've been playing with hexagons and paper piecing to create a small table mat. My hands are acting up so with this I can do a little at a time.

Janice made some of the little fabric trinket baskets and is well ahead with Christmas preparations. How many weeks is it until Christmas?

Roberta has also been busy making fabric baskets and I love the way a different fabric can change the look of an item. Thes are easy and fun to make.

The Happy Hookers will be participating in the Beatson charity walk on Sunday 16th August.

The Scottish Quilt Championships will be on show at Ingliston Friday 25th  to Sunday 27th September.

We meet in Conference Room as usual on Tuesday night.

If you are considering taking up some form of exercise you may be interested in BELLY DANCING! Dance With Suraya is a group of ladies who do belly dancing as exercise and fun. They are going to strut their stuff in aid of Alzheimers Scotland at Eastwood Park Theatre on 2nd Octobet 2015 at 8pm. The show is called WHEN EAST MEETS WEST. Tickets are available from the theatre of their web site , from the box office or by calling 0141 577 4956. Tickets cost £12.50.

 Happy Crafting!

New Beginnings.

Jillian wanted to learn to quilt, soooooo she bought a book, Jelly Roll Quilts and some fabric and just dived in. Admittedly, Jillian has sewing experience but quilting is a different way of working. Undaunted, Jillian brought the quilt top to the craft day and picked Izzi's brains on how to complete it. The finished quilt is stunning! Just my colours. I would happily adopt it! Well done Jillian.

Janice is getting a little excited about the impending first grandchild. Now she has made bunnies and bibs to welcome the baby into the world of the Taggarts.

Norma is always busy with several projects on the go at the same time. The Granny Ripple is a new adventure for her and I just love that colourway. She used Robin DK from Watt Bros who had a special offer of 5 balls for £5. Her second finish is a pompom baby seat cover. Both blankets are for her stash.

For the blue and white star blanket Norma used ALDI yarn and trimmed it with Snowflake yarn. Beautiful.
The corner to corner blanket has been done in Merry-Go-Round and trimmed with Jester.

Fiona Orr has come on leaps and bounds with her crochet. This week Fiona completed a star blanket by following the Crochet Crews pattern for the Five Point Super Star Afghan on the internet. She used Ice Gumball that she purchased from Norma.
Fiona's second finish this week was the Road Trip shawl from For the Love of Yarn's Shawl Along Box.
 Zoom in and you will see that the shawl yarn has a sparkle to it. Fab!

Stephanie has been up to her tricks again and doing things in miniature. This pretty doll in a crib has been a secret project, The little doll has a knitted dress, headband, pants and socks. I particularly like the the little cover made with eye-lash yarn. Can you believe that this little set is for her box?

Lyn has been busy making this lovely C2C blanket with yarn given to her by her lovely daughter Fiona. Such a kind daughter!

Isabel quilted this table mat at Gartmore. Magda took her under her wing and made her do it! This was Isabel's first encounter with quilting. Apparently, it was traumatic! Which is a pity because she still has 6 place mats to make!!!!!!!

This is my finish. I'm struggling to do things at the moment due to carpal tunnel but I did take part in Elaine's class on decorating mugs using hot water and nail polish. I'm well chuffed with my finish.

Fran made some Bonding Squares for the charity Emily's Star. The squares are for babies in Neo-Natal. Mum takes one square and baby has the second.Then the squares are swapped over every 12 hours  so that the baby ends up with a square with Mum's scent on and Mum has a square with baby's scent.

Elaine will be taking deposits for Gartmore 2016 whenever she has recovered from this years.

Swati is still in India visiting her mum.

Caroline and Linda plan to do a 10k charity walk to raise funds for the Beatson in August. If you would like to join them or make a donation please speak to Caroline or Linda. Dig deep people, this is a worthy cause.

Happy crafting

Craft Day, 25th April 2015

Lisa gave an inspiring talk about how she juggles her day job as a graphic designer in her own company, a mum of three and  mastermind of For the Love of Yarn. It all started with a bout of repetitive strain injury while crocheting....after a little investigation Lisa fell upon the idea of customizing crochet hooks so that they were more comfortable to hold. The hooks were a big success! Then Lisa became frustrated because she was unable to find colours of yarn that inspired her. Being Lisa, she decided to dye her own yarn! The yarn 

idea flew and many crafters wanted their custom colours. Now, Lisa runs yarn clubs that are themed. the boxes include, yarn, matching hook, a pattern, and a free gift.

This is a family business. Lisa designs the hook, the dyeing of yarn, making buttons etc. Husband winds the yarn into yarn cakes etc. Everyone assists with filling the boxes. 

One day, six year old Callum told his Mum that he wanted to make pennies for the sick people. Being a talented boy he began to custom a range of hooks for sale. Lisa is allowed to place them in the oven to set. Callum has his own Face Book page and has raised £2000 for his charity, so far. Four year old, Kayla May creates buttons for Callum's fundraising. Talent clearly runs in the family. I wonder how Miss Bella will shine when she gets older? Watch this space!!!!!

Isabel agreed to organising the catering. She found this amazing table cloth at Aldi and assembled a range of nibbles and drinks. Well done that girl! The gluten free stuff went down a treat.

Izzy completed some dresses for her charity that sends cotton dresses to Africa. Anyone found sitting about doing nothing was asked to sew on some buttons. The dresses will be well appreciated.

Anthea was spinning grey yarn with a silver thread for Magda. This is a big assignment and has to be completed before we go to Garmore.

Elaine is full of good ideas. This time she gave a demonstration on how to make some face scrub which was then scented with lavender or lemon and presented inside a cute jar. Well, that's Christmas sorted!

Alison was crocheting squares together to make a blanket.

Paula was working on these amazing granny squares. I can't wait to see the completed garment!

Donna was working on a sewing kit that was from a Kath Kidson book. She also brought in a quilt she has been working on for her niece.

Janice started the baby bag for her daughter-in-law. Look at the picture! The girl loves Spiderman!

Linda was knitting a baby blanket using Sirdar Squiggle super chunky.

Morag was working on a baby shawl using yarn from poundland.

Jillian was working on her first quilt. The design is taken from a book on Jelly Roll Quilts. I was really taken with the colours.

Caroline has been experimenting with crocheting flowers.

Isabel brought some fabric to be made into a table mat. This is one of her adventures in retirement!

Elaine was working on a knitted corner to corner shawl.

Lisa started a skirt for Kayla May.

Dawn was in the process of doing a blanket.

Patsy was being tutored by Izzy to create this fab quilt top.

A big thank you to everyone who came along and made the day a success.