"The Craft Group" plus...

  At our Cancer Council Morning Tea last thursday, all the ladies brought a small plate of something to share. Lorraine L brought quite a few 'somethings' to share. Her cupcakes were SO nice and quite a few were Gluten Free. Let's be honest, cup cakes are usually all about the icing (just ask my kids!) But Lorraine's were really nice to eat as well as nice to look at (or lick the icing off). Now in this blog post we would like to invite Lorraine's friend, Jane W. in the UK to join us in a cupcake!  I know Jane, it's a bit far to travel to join in a morning tea so here are a few cakes for you to choose from... And to make the whole cake experience more real, click "read more" below for the recipe and make some for yourself! Thanks for sharing the cakes and recipe with us Lorraine!

Marjoleine had a stall this weekend at an Art & Craft Festival with her new business "Five Little Toes". She makes cute bouquets containing quality baby socks. Then there are the nappy cakes and other baby gifts. She worked so hard to get ready for the stall and it looked lovely. I came and invaded the room like the paparazzi. I hope I didn't scare any customers away! Good on you Missy (and supportive Mum Elly!)                               As you can see, the stall was in a school. It was quite appropriate to have all those little toes under her banner and the 10 balloons above. Good work Marjoleine, your stall looked great (and she won the award for the best presented stall.... $100 prize! Woo hoo!!!) If you want to order a bouquet, you can contact me at: thecraftgroupplus [at] gmail [dot] com and I will give her your details.

What a morning we had yesterday! At The Craft Group we hosted our annual "Cancer Council Morning Tea" as part of the big Australian wide fundraising project, the Biggest Morning Tea . We did some Craft, then we had some announcements. Then Pam introduced her ex neighbour who is fighting a pretty big battle at the moment with Cancer. Bec was coming home from hospital yesterday and is really not well.  We couldn't ask her to come and speak but we still were encouraged by her. We watched a You Tube clip made by her church. It is just Bec talking and sharing where she sees "Home" to be. It's only 5 minutes long and is really worth watching... Click HERE to watch it. Then we read out an email Bec sent to me the other day. She said how much Psalm 139 meant to her lately. (I've added it below). If you are reading this Bec.... thanks for sharing your Hope with us. It was very touching and helps put life into perspective. It is really all about ...

Bev I. is at it again. When Wendy P had a great grand son, Bev made her this Clutch Ball (also known as a Baby Grab Ball) to give to the little man. I'm calling it an Eye Spy Clutch Ball because of all the interesting fabrics she has used. Blocks of colour are all on the outsides and inside each section is something else to look for. This makes it more that a baby toy. It can be used for little eye spy games for the toddler or preschooler too. You can tell Bev used to be a primary school teacher!  And a clever, crafty one at that! Want to make one? Check out this  Tutorial here

I found these  easy quilted cushions  on the web. The instructions maybe aren't super easy if you are not a sewer but it still looks like a good way to make some quick cushions. Let me know if you try it!

I will not accept humility as an excuse for not bringing finished craft projects along for Show 'n Tell at The Craft Group! I will also not accept the excuse that it was left at home, or sold at the last church fete. So, luckily Pam had a photo of the cute little owls she made.  She did make them to sell at her church fete and they are very cute... I was surprised they could be seen so clearly peeping out of Pam's phone screen! Oh Pam, you are nearly out of battery. Just thought I'd let you know.

Nadia was given a task. A commissioning! Please make The Craft Group a Tea Cosy! Isn't it gorgeous? Her brief was to do whatever she liked.... then add some flowers! It was quite a challenge working around the handles of the monster sized church tea pot! But she improvised perfectly and made it easy to use  with cute buttons and an easy draw string on the top. Then she insisted on giving it to us as a gift! Thanks Nadia, you are clever and generous! (I, on the other hand, am not that bright. I have the wrong website address on these photos! Where there is an @ there should be a dot. Oops)

Bev I. pieced together these alphabet blocks to make a very sweet quilt for her Great Grandson. The back has its own border full of letters and a very special backing fabric. So on the front, you can learn your A B Cs. Then on the back... you can get some chalk and draw your A B Cs on the chalkboard fabric! Then it all easily washes off making way for more literary or artistic masterpieces! What a lucky Great Grandson to receive such a fantastic gift! If he becomes a famous creative writer you can take the credit for it Bev! But if he starts drawing on his  bedspread with crayons, you should blame...um... the education system. They seem to get the blame for anything else kids do wrong!  ;) 

Hi to our newest member of The Craft Group! Trinity. You. are. ADORABLE! And the lesson to be learnt from Nadia... Don't let something little like a new born baby stand in the way of your crocheting!

You know you are special to someone if they take the time and effort to make you a stunning card like this. Ruth made this one and the flowers and their placement are just gorgeous. (my photo doesn't do it justice, sorry!) Very nice Ruth! After a little break, The Craft Group starts again this morning for Term 2! It will be so nice to see everyone again. I want to crochet some hand warmers. See how I go!

There are always different things happening in our household. Annalee, 23 has a "delicious" diary and she is trying to keep up with the weekly recipes. Yum. Corey, 18 has joined a Scottish Pipe Band. He is a drummer (on the right), so this is just another way he can beat a drum.  Our origins are in the Netherlands but we found out the kids are 3% Scottish! Their great great grandmother was a Macpherson. So a day at Brigadoon at Bundanoon was a tribute to that 3%! And Jacob is now 21! We had a fun party at home with about 80 terrific young people. Oh and my Dad is home from hospital after his broken hip and is doing really well! I took Mum out for the day on saturday and Mark and the kids "Opa sat".  Annalee did a great job. She said she had a snooze on the lounge! I assume Opa didn't try and jump up and do cartwheels while she was asleep!