"The Craft Group" plus...

After a long Summer break, The Craft Group is on again. We had a lovely morning tea for everyone to enjoy while they enrol. There was some crafty inspiration… (I'll show you Elly's wreaths in another post soon) We had coffee, tea, yummy treats and little gifts. Always little gifts! Here is this year's "WELCOME" gift. A snap lock bag containing... A welcome message, A little bag of seed raising mix soil. 25grams to be precise! A little Christian message card, a paddle pop stick saying "Bizzie Lizzie" and a little packet of seeds*. On the back of the welcome note is a list of the dates for The Craft Group this year and a poem which I will share below. When Mum has to get something ready for The Craft Group, the family is usually involved. Annalee is happy to help packaging up the gifts while watching a DVD on her laptop. Note… One ear peeping out of the ear phones because I kept saying things, even ...

A project a day! Well, this is the final day sharing with you for 14 days straight a project that has come from The Craft Group! Being Sunday, I thought I'd share something with a bit more of an eternal perspective! (I know, that's big!)  Every morning we have a short "Thought from the Bible" while we enjoy our morning tea. Each term we have a different theme. One term a little while ago we looked each week at a different reason to follow Jesus. Some people may say this is a personal thing and it is. It is between you and God. But God has not just left it up to us to guess what Jesus is like and guess why we should know Him. The Bible is full of lovely encouraging reasons why knowing Jesus personally is a very real, wonderful and life saving thing! For our talks, we looked at one line each week from this devotional excerpt by Roy Lessin. Project 14: 10 Reasons to come to Jesus Click HERE to read what the Bible says they are.

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 13: Patchwork bags by Elaine T Elaine has been our patchwork teacher for years. She just keeps coming up with projects for ladies to make. Over the holidays she purchased 2 bag patterns and made them up to show anyone who would also like to make one. Sorry the photo is not all that clear. They are patterns from  The  Riverdale Collection  by Sally Giblin. "Mrs Pickle" and "Little Princess". We had a lovely morning tea last thursday and this thursday "The Craft Group" starts up again for the year, so there will be many more lovely things to show you!

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 12: Nappy Cakes by Elly & Marjoleine The enterprising combo of Elly and her daughter Marjoleine have taken the idea of a nappy cake and perfected them. They are for sale through Marjoleine's business,  Five Little Toes . Some even have a bottle of wine in the centre. Not for the baby of course! Nice work E&M!

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 11: Portuguese Pumpkin Jam by Lorraine People offer to bring something for morning tea at The Craft Group which is generous and lovely. Lorraine brought scones topped with this jam which had everyone talking. Your eyes told you to expect the taste of apricot jam but your tastebuds did a little dance when realising something was different. Nicely different! And it is not hard to make…. go on, try it. Portuguese pumpkin  jam . (Makes about 3 litres) 1.5kg pumpkin (weighed after peeling), diced.                                           ...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 10: Mending by Judy You may mock. You may feel uninspired but here at The Craft Group we are very real about our craft! Judy D knows a good productive morning when she sees one! She spent her time chatting and re-hemming a pair of trousers. A nice big fat hem on a pair of school uniform trousers for a growing boy. Bam! Done! Tick it off the list. This reminds me of something. It is hard to fall into the trap with craft to wonder more about what others are going to think of our project than what we actually think of it ourselves! Some of the best pieces I've seen are the things that people make because they love it themselves. And some of the 'worse' things are made with the same attitude. But you know, it doesn't matter what anyo...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 9: Decorated jars by Julieanne F There are plenty of creative ways to give a gift and not spend a fortune. Julianne decorated these jars and planned to fill one with little bits of rolled paper each containing an encouraging Bible Verse or thought. They could also be filled with chocolates, home made biscuits or buttons! (Love the quilt captured in the background!) Be thoughtful. Be Creative. Thanks for the ideas Julianne :)

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 8: Patchwork cards by Elly, Pat, Cheryl, Rita etc There were so many little squares around, I can't remember exactly who was making these cards. Elly showed them the idea and everyone cut squares with a paper puncher until they were coming out of their ears. Some ladies found these cards therapeutic, others were sent mad by the little darling squares which flew around at the slightest draft of air. But all agreed the end results were stunning.

It's Sunday, and so I will share something different. It is not a craft, it is a "Thought for the day". Each morning at The Craft Group we stop and have morning tea, announcements and someone shares a little 4 minute thought from the Bible. Here is a talk I gave a little while ago… Project 7: Are you good at decision making? Wouldn’t it be great if we could make the right decisions all the time? Throughout our lives there are many forks in the road where we have to decide which way to go. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know which way is the RIGHT way to go? Unfortunately I am not like that and I don’t know anyone who makes the right choices all the time. We have our heads too full of fear for the future, or greed to want the best. Sometimes we are too anxious about getting second best. We worry about what others will think of us. We worry about hurting others’ feelings or of having our own feelings hurt. Sometimes our heads are in such a muddle or we feel so depr...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 6: Crocheted Tea Cosy by Nadia There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that Nadia is such a super clever crochet artist that she can make anything from a ball of wool and a crochet hook. At The Craft Group we have a big teapot and Nadia custom made this tea cosy. (I have featured it before HERE .) Now it is time to tell you the bad news. It is missing!   :( We have no idea where it could have disappeared to! Keep your eyes peeled for it. If you accidentally put it in your craft bag, you can return it onto the Craft Group trolley and I promise I won't lay charges and will call off the police search. Just joking. I just want our tea Cosy back! [insert sad sobs here]. I'll tell you if and when it returns, or you might hea...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 5: Mitred Granny Squares by Janice Crocheted Granny Squares are in again and, as with all come-backs, there are clever variations. These mitred* squares are eye catching and can look stunning depending on the colours used. Janice made this green one which has a lovely 3D effect made by her use of various tones of graduating greens. It looks stunning in a whole finished rug. (*also spelt 'Mitered', depending on where you live).  Janice is then working on some other squares using bright coloured stripes, giving the finished product a completely different look. Nice work Janice! If you are feeling inspired, I found a lovely tutorial on how to do this version of a Granny Square. Click HERE to go to the "Crochet Again" b...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 4: Bed Runner by Bev, for Cheryl A beautifully made bed is a wonderful thing.   Cheryl says she likes to change her bedding around and has a Summer look and a totally different Winter look.  What a great and inexpensive way to redecorate the bedroom. This picture is not Cheryl's room but this is, (for those who are ignorant of such things) a "Bed Runner". I don't have pictures of Cheryl's bed, so add this photo and the following photos together in your mind and you will 'see' the end product. Cheryl C is a lovely card maker. Bev I is a lovely quilter. So Cheryl commissioned her friend Bev to make her the following bed runner. Great idea hey? Sharing gifts and talents! Seeing it on the end of our craft table doe...

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 3: Gift Posie by Elly . Elly is so creative and resourceful. She and her daughter Marjoleine find amazing projects on the internet and change, adapt and perfect it until they get it just the way they like it. This is from a while ago but Elly made this lovely posy for me. It contains chocolates, Christmas decorations and specialty tea bags. Clever hey!?

A project a day! I have so many photos of lovely things which have not yet appeared here on the blog. So, I am featuring a new craft item every day for 2 weeks, all made by ladies at The Craft Group. To continue… Project 2: Baby singlets embroidered by Elaine T . If you want to create items that people love to receive as gifts, embroider baby singlets.  So lovely! Especially for Aussie babies who often will be in just a singlet on these lovely hot summer days. These were embellished by Elaine T, our multi talented Quilting teacher.

A project a day! I have so many lovely things that ladies have made and I have not put them here on the blog to show you. So, I am going to feature a new craft item, made at The Craft Group, every day for the next 2 weeks! Here I go… Project 1: Bullseye Quilt by Bev I. We have seen quite a few bullseye quilts created here at The Craft Group (just type 'bullseye' in the search box on the right to see them all). Bev made this one. I love the fresh white and red colour theme. (I am so over all things beige.) She is so generous. She donated it to us and we auctioned it off last Christmas and made over a hundred dollars for supporting women in underprivileged situations overseas. Thanks so much Bev!

This looks so impressive, I really must try it. Hmm, not sure when. You try it and tell me how you go. Click here for great pictorial instructions. Pastry folding AND… I have so many nice things to show you. Things made by the clever ladies at The Craft Group. So, starting on monday, I am showing off one project a day! You will be inspired for a craft filled year.