October 2017 - Another lovely productive day with good friends

Since last months meeting there had been a birthday to celebrate. EL in America was sent her presents in September, as there were lots of turtles involved these went down really well. We look forward to seeing what she makes with the turtle fabric, she can keep her WIP in the turtle bag. EL is currently staying with her Mum in Carolina, so we had a mini tour of the house and garden. We were very impressed with the pool and had the cheek to ask for a quilting retreat. It turns out Mum has a quilting friend who could teach us too!

This month we were down one Quirky, but she has sent a picture of her latest project. CB bought some mini hot water bottles with a view to crocheting covers for them. The body of the cover was worked out easily, but the joining together was a bit more problematical. (See last post for first attempt). A bit of work proved much more satisfactory, and the latest cover is very pretty.

CB Mini hot water bottle cover, edging cracked 

AB, HT and HW were all making crochet blankets, or are they Afghans? We had a bit of a discussion on what the difference might be, then we 'Googled it' to find out. According to Wikipedia an Afghan is a knitted or crocheted blanket or throw, it can be made from natural or man-made material. If you would like to read more, take a look at this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_(blanket)

AB familiar site at meetings, so it is growing

AB's first attempt at a blanket is taking a while to progress, but it is getting bigger.

HT Corner to corner blanket with edging 'done properly'

HT liked the corner to corner blanket pattern that some of us had used, and decided to have a go herself. Last meeting, as she was coming to the end, we were discussing the edging. She was going to do something, not bothering too much about the corners, but had second thoughts and 'did the corners properly' so it is nice and flat.  Rumour has it she may keep this for herself. To find tutorials and patterns just Google C2C or corner to corner crochet blanket.

HW bed size Rainbow ripple blanket

The ripple blanket by Lucy at Attic24  is another favourite crochet pattern. They are a bit addictive once you start, some of us have made several in various colour combinations. HW's Rainbow blanket is much coveted by the rest of us, but we won't get a look in, as it is destined for her son who has just started Uni.

CD Fabric bowl

Sewing projects were also being undertaken. CD was making a fabric bowl using an old pair of denim jeans as the stiffener. She is not sure about the edging on this one, but thought it worth trying instead of satin stitch for a change. Came out satisfactory, but pattern could do with a tweak when using old denim jeans as stiffener.

HT Curtains for grand children's bedroom

HT is making some lovely curtains for the grandchildren's bedroom. She Googled a video to make the box pleat heading, and was impressed with how easy it was to follow. They are wonderful, the left over fabric will end up as an appliqued wall hanging. We can't wait to see that one finished.

As usual, we talked and ate quite a lot. Too busy eating to take photos of the food which included - salted caramel and chocolate chip cookies with coffee for elevenses, minestrone soup and homemade bread with salted caramel torte and cream for lunch, salted caramel cake with afternoon tea. Lots of salted caramel all quite delicious.

Another lovely productive day with good friends!