"The Craft Group" plus...

Do you have to bring something to a Christmas function and you want it to be a bit cute? Butternut biscuits are placed on top of each hole in a muffin baking tray. Put in a moderate oven for a few minutes and they'll become soft. Gently press them down to form a little bowl shape. Let them cool completely. Next, fill with either melted chocolate or caramel pie filling from a can. then decorate with a mint leaf and some red M&M's. You are so clever!

Just when you think Nadia has crocheted every idea you could think of, she comes up with another original creation! Can you believe it? A completely crocheted Gingerbread house! The back door, including crocheted candy canes and lollipops! The Gingerbread man anging out at the back door. The side of the house including the christmas tree out the front. The front door. Check out the little presents! Stunning Nadia. Really stunning!

I have mentioned the Tactile quilt project to you before. A lady from our church works as a social worker with an organisation which does, amongst other things, early intervention for babies and children with disabilities. She siad they were in need of tactile quilts for the little ones to play on. The more radical the colours and textures the better. The aim is to stimulate the senses. Making blocks for these quilts is so much fun because there are no quilting rules and no need to buy anything! We used all those bits and pieces us crafters have in the cupboard that "might just come in handy one day". Well that day has come!  These quilts are great projects which have a positive impact on the little ones we gave them to. The staff and mums invited us to a lunch to thank us for the quilts. It was rather humbling. Let's make more! They hang one on the wall and the older children walk by and feel all the different textures. The possibi...

Hi at the beginning of a new week. Do you have anything special happening? I have a puppet show to perform at school to teach some social skills to the littlies. Then, on the home front the house is going into crazy mode as we have to empty the upstairs rooms to have carpet installed. It's going to be hectic but is a great chance for a big clean up of a sewing room and 2 of our kids rooms. Here are a few photos from The Craft Group last week. Elzanne is making trendy coasters using some square wall tiles, lovely scrapbooking papers and Mod Podge.  Very nice! {Tile, layer of mod podge, paper, more layers of mod podge. Allow to dry!} Here is a typical scene from our group. People helping each other.  Here Bev I is giving a few tips to Vicki who is determined to finish a project (a really pretty quilt) real soon.  I love this photo and I love how flippin' nice everyone is to each other at the group.  Warm fuzzies all around.

Shirley has a flower loom and with it she made pretty flowers galore.  They can be tricky to sew together, so she sewed them onto fabric. She still has to line it and put a backing on it and there is a funky rug! You can buy the flower loom from Spotlight stores. On their website they have some project ideas sheets for using the flowers.  I found a good tutorial of how to use the loom on the Better Homes and Gardens site. Nice gadget and pretty project Shirley!

Hi for those {few?} who keep up to date with the blog. I have been so busy catching up with normal life after the big Craft Groups 20th Anniversary that the blog just took a little holiday. In case you are wondering, my knee is doing really well. I am going to the physio and I went back to the gym yesterday for the first time. A bit of time on the cross trainer, treadmill and a few other leg strengthening machines while I watched the telly in front of me. Not too stressful! On the home front, we have our 3rd child doing their final HSC exams. I can't wait until they are over! The weather is warming up and our house is about to go into chaos as we get new carpet in the lounge room and upstairs. I am looking forward to clearing, cleaning, sorting and some redecorating. So that is my update. I should get off the computer now and go to The Craft Group! I will take my camera with me and take some new photos of things that people are making. See you soon!