Phew! It Was Warm

 At group this Monday, the heating is certainly working fine! 

Despite that Carol was modelling her new crocheted cardigan. The design was from a favourite knitting pattern that she had made but decided that she would have a go at making the same style in crochet .  She has certainly made it look easy!

Well Done Carol!

Kathy too had been busy. She has used the template for the "Hussuff" that the ladies used last year, but used a smocked sampler for the front of the piece

 and added pockets inside and this will be used to store her crochet hooks.

 And - remember the 20 year old bag of hexagons that she found when she moved house?  Well, she has now made a lovely pouch for her IPad and a little sewing pouch too.
                                

 Angie was cracking on with her paper pieces ready to sew them into her project

lovely William Morris prints

 Alison was sewing a panel that will go into a Summer wall hanging

 Bridget is working on the same hanging, but this time a different block

 Barbara has finished piecing her Half Square Triangle units and is now adding the borders

 Liz is adding appliqué to her secret block

 Jackie and Eileen are getting a start on Linus quilts for our next all day

 Those tiny Shoo Fly blocks of Kay's are coming together in her project

 Ena has inherited a couple of Box kits and is busy sticking her fabrics down

 Shirley was sewing together some crochet flowers

a hat?

 Ellen is working on a pretty Easter design

 Maureen is still  nearly done with her crochet shawl

 Carole has started work on a printed cross stitch panel.

 Glenys too is on the embroidered piece 

 Muriel was back with us and is working on her foundation pieced purple quilt

 Barbara had found these lovely Giraffes and is appliquéing onto another Linus quilt 

 Hand quilting to finish this sampler style quilt

 Therese (who was so warm she sat all afternoon in just her vest!) has worked this cat panel

 Another "Hussuff" being sewn - I'm not sure who this was, but as she's behind everyone else I think it must be Linda?

nice stitching though!

 Janis was sewing her hexagons together

such pretty prints

 Lynda spent most of the afternoon chatting and only managed to sew this one stitch before it was time to pack away!!!

 Annette is embroidering another panel that will be added to her quilt. She and some friends are meeting up and doing this in their group.

And the ladies in our group who are taking part in the Mini Mania Challenge brought in their Dec/Jan project . This time it was to make a Mini Sampler

Lynda's Mini that she has made into a cushion

L - R Carol, Jo, Angie and Lesley's

 All so different .

Anyone can join in this Challenge Group if you fancy joining them - pop over to get the February Challenge details. 

A.G.M. Thanks and Stuff

Well, I forgot to time it but I am pretty sure that it only lasted about 15 minutes!! But a necessary piece of business for our group.

Finances are looking good.

Thanks were given.

Committee re elected.

And on to another year.

Alison has begun to stitch the outfit for a new doll that she is making. She was really happy with the workshop that she had attended. We will see this progress over the next few weeks.

the beginning of the bonnet

A baby doll

 Annette was so impressed with her first crochet hug blanket that she is making another for her expected grand twins

the next one will have a Ted head

Bridget has started on an embroidered panel for a patchwork wall hanging 

 Remember those old paper pieced pieces of Kathy's?

they're coming on!

 Elaine is making a little bag

 And had brought her lovely Teddy in to show us. Made from Plush material lots of ladies would like to do one of these.

 Sue has at last finished her version of the Hussuff that was started 10 months ago

pocket for scissors

the outside

 Dianne was adding a stalk to her Tea Cosy as she thought it looked a bit lop sided

Eileen was appliquéing down a pretty Dresden Plate

 Pauline's embroidery has progressed well

Chris is busy knitting hats for the shoe-boxes.  Last year 1370 were sent off, so her needles will be kept busy. 

though she does knit in an unusual way .......

 Kay is hand piecing these tiny Shoo Fly blocks

Shirley is ready to make these fabrics strips into this little bag 

June was quite pleased with this lovely piece of embroidery 

and so she should be

 I am surprised that this is the first "Frozen "project that we have seen and Val was stitching it with a few  misgivings 

but the children love it

 Ann has broken out her stash of Liberty prints and has started cutting hexagons from these lovely fabrics.

Jackie has a pretty cot panel to quilt

Ellen is getting a head start  on some Easter crosses. As we know, Ellen NEVER makes just one of anything!

using plastic canvas and narrow ribbon

We held our C**p Raffle and raised a lovely £60 which was handed to Lynda to pass to her grand-children's sky dive fund

And I would just like to take this opportunity to Thank again all of our ladies and All of our Committee for all their help support and enthusiasm over the past year .

A quick summary .....

We donated £2700  (The results of our Exhibition and rounded up from funds) in total to the four nominated charities

Andi Bull Cancer Trust (£1000)

The Sanctuary Project (£1000)

Rushden Women’s Refuge (£350)

Cats Protection League (£350)

and the responses from these Charities were heart-warming.

We have ordered a very swish new library trolley for ourselves. 

We have had generous participation of our members in helping other members with their chartable project too. 

Ellen and her gang helping to bring the total number of shoe boxes despatched to 1370

Dozens of dresses and shorts being made for the Dress a Child Charity 

More than dozens of Trauma Teddies knitted and passed on 

Over 100 Linus quilts made 

Just over 100 knitted squares being knitted and crocheted and delivered to the 

Craft Club Yarnbombers to make their 10ft Christmas tree, which has now been dismantled and made into blankets for the homeless.

The haul of foodstuffs delivered to our local homeless shelter and food bank, which we can continue to do if you so wish.

A generous and much appreciated donation of toys that were distributed to poverty stricken families at Christmas. I have seen a letter of thanks from a parent, and it broke my heart to read this.  Not all poor people are wasters.

All just because we asked. 

  Thank you

Just in case you were wondering, we will be doing it all again this year , so brace yourselves!!!

Great Wednesday Session! (PLEASE READ TO THE END!)

 We had a good turnout this Wednesday, with our newest recruit no being scared away, and the return of a very old Linda who moved away but has returned to the fold after three years.  It was good to catch up on all the news.

Linda is renovating an old quilt that she thinks may have been made in China. She is unpicking the quilting and will renew the wadding in this before re-quilting

Very white, so maybe not all that old?

 The Wednesday ladies are getting a head start on next months Linus projects.
Amanda was quilting one piece

 Anne is just starting

pretty fabrics

 And Rosemary was hand blanket stitching her Sun Bonnet Sue's

so neat Rosemary!

 Carol is working on a hexagon project

such a portable project

 Gail has used the fabric that her daughter brought home from India and has made a stunning silk quilt for her.

This will certainly bring back memories from her trip.

such vibrant colours

 Marjorie has progressed well with her needle-turn appliqué block

A Shirley Bloomfield design

 Maureen was sewing the binding on some place-mats

Susan likes to use embroidered sections in her patchwork and this will become a needlecase

Gillian and Julie were both working on embroidered pictures

Gillian's modern golfer

Julie's flower garden

Both Bernice and Brenda have crochet projects on the go

Bernice is using this pattern to make a scarf/shawl . So many of our ladies have made this. It's quick and easy and very warm!!

 And Brenda is patchworking a blanket

this will be cosy

Next Monday 

25th January

we will have our Annual General Meeting. Starts at 2.pm for those not usually attending our Monday session, and will only last 20 minutes

 (if I can stretch it out) 

Hopefully you will all be able to attend this short, but necessary piece of business

We will also hold a

 SPECIAL C**P RAFFLE 

with the funds going 

Cancer Research UK

Two of Lynda's grandchildren (18 & 16) are doing a sponsored Sky Dive to raise money for this charity to support their Uncle who is having treatment at the moment. 

Just for fun, you can pay an extra £1 to wind Lynda up with a joke about the perils of this activity!!! 

(her palms will be sweating just reading this!)

I feel I may have to organise a queueing system for this!!!

So hopefully we will ALL join in and bring along a wrapped item and buy a ticket to show our support 

If you know someone who was missing this week, please let them know about the raffle, then they won't feel left out!