Last Saturday was the autumn Get Together for members of
Needlecraft Haven which is a small, friendly forum I host for crafters to chat about, and share photos of, their work. It's not all cross stitch we have sections for knitting, beading, quilting, cooking and reading.
At each Get Together we have a goody bag exchange which is themed, the theme this time was 'Favourite Film'.
My favourite film is The Holiday starring Jack Black, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Kate Winslett. I thoroughly enjoyed hunting for items to go in my bag - this is what I included:
- Black Jacks - Jack Black
- Iris bulbs - Kate Winslett's character
- Cottage chart (online freebie) - the film is set in an English country cottage
- Fabric and threads - including DMC 321 for Christmas
- Hot chocolate and marshmallows - Jude Law and Cameron Diaz have a touching moment over hot chocolate with his children
- Winter Wonderland candle - a song in the film
- The Holiday - dvd to watch
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| My Goody Bag contents |
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| All wrapped up in Christmas paper with a clue on each parcel |
To chose which bag everyone wins is done with a 'cake raffle'. I make cup cakes based on the theme and put a raffle ticket under each cake - the corresponding ticket goes under a bag. Which ever cake you select you have the matching bag (unless it's the one you brought in which case we do a little bit of swapping around). I was very pleased with my film themed cup cakes.
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| Film reel and popcorn cup cakes |
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| Goody Bags waiting to be chosen |
Once everyone has a bag we take it in turns to open the goodies, trying to guess the film. There was such a variety this time:
Greyfriar's Bobby
The Holiday
100 and 1 Dalmations
Moulin Rouge
Thoroughly Modern Millie
West Side Story
Julie picked my bag, she hasn't seen the film so I'm very pleased I put a copy in for her to watch, maybe with a hot chocolate too.
I picked Angi's bag which was full of lovely items; buttons, ribbons, beads, chocolate, a book, notebook and pen, handkerchief, fabric and threads, lollipops, butterfly charts and paperclips. We all tried to guess but no-one did - Angi's favourite film was Thoroughly Modern Millie !! Thank you Angi for a great bag of goodies.
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| Thoroughly Modern Millie |
At the Get Togethers we also have a book exchange - everyone brings a book, it can be new, charity shop, a pass on, any book from anywhere. We put a little card or note inside to say why we chose to bring the book and then wrap it up in paper so no-one can see the title or knows who the book is from. Using raffle tickets (no cake this time) we each get a wrapped book, again there is often a little swapping so we don't end up with the one we brought. My book was from
Lindsay which made us all laugh as I have had Lindsay's book at nearly all the past meet ups - and I have to say they have all been very good.
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| Book Exchange |
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| My book from Lindsay |
Needlecraft Haven is a Yuku based forum and does have adverts unless we pay a small fee. At each meet up we have a small raffle and the money raised goes towards keeping the adverts away. members who live too far away to come to our Get Togethers often make direct contributions too. There were some lovely items on the raffle table this time including one of Julie's handmade bunnies and Lindsay's beadwork.
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| A great selection of raffle prizes |
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| My raffle prize |
To save everyone bringing a packed lunch I made up a buffet - it's nice to all stop at the same time and share a lunch, and it works out cheaper than everyone buying sandwiches.
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| Buffet lunch including homemade Potato Pie and Ginger Cake |
The work on the showing table was amazing - Julie has been trying new crafts at her Craft Club, she's painted a beautiful waterfall scene and made some lovely fabric bowls. Lindsay's beadwork is stunning, so intricate. Maggie's scarf was gorgeous. Lynn brought along some of her large finished projects and Angi, Gill and Justine has a variety of smalls - all beautiful. I hope I've labelled the pictures correctly.
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| Lynn's |
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| Angi's |
I was very spoilt on Saturday too as I received two lovely and very thoughtful gifts. Justine gave me three lovely candles from Lou-Bee-Lous, all winter fragrances - cinnamon and apple, winter berries and winter carnival - thank you Justine. Gill's gift was tiny but meant a huge amount - she's made a very delicate angel - perfect Gill, thank you.
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| Beautiful candles from Justine |
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| Perfect angel from Gill |
Thank you to the
Needlecraft Haven members that came on Saturday, by train, by car, from near and far. It is always a lovely day with lots of laughing and a little stitching. Our next meet up will be in the spring - I have already had an idea for the next theme hee hee.
If you'd like to join Needlecraft Haven please follow
this link - you'll need a Yuku account and then apply for membership - it's all free and great fun !!
12 comments:
This looks like so much fun! Amazing swap gifts and love the cupcakes.
xxx
This is all so wonderful Clare. What a great job you have done on the cupcakes!! wOw! What productive ladies you are!
It was a wonderful day, everyone was so happy and had great fun.
I'll be wondering now what your brain cells have been conjuring up for the goody bags in the spring lol, this times were so great, thank you for mine.
Xx
I love those film based cakes! So clever.
The meet-ups look like so much fun. I always enjoy seeing all the different projects and themed goodies too.
It was a lovely day and the cup cakes were delicious although not as nice as the potato pie😀
Tina
What an amazing time! You put in a lot of thought and time into every detail. Kudos!
Looks like a well organised day which was enjoyed by all, Clare.
I know you all had a wonderful time. I thoroughly enjoyed my one time visit to the meet up and carry great memories of everyone. Your cakes are wonderful Clare. I love the way you finished the film themed cupcakes, and I wish I could have tasted your ginger cake, one of my favorites.
Clare, such a great report about your get-together. You are such a nice bunch of ladies, and it's a pity that I live so far from you all.
The meet ups always look like such fun. Your movie cupcakes are awesome, did you use a biscuit for the film reel?
The feels are made of icing Christine. I rolled and cut two grey discs per reel, cut the holes out and left to dryfor two days. The inner is black icing rolled into a thick disc, I did use edible glue to stick then grey discs onto the black. After another day of drying I painted on some white dots to complete the film look. I needed a bit of thehlueforsome of the popcorn too.
This was a great post, sharing a wonderful Meet Up that started online! I am very impressed at the planning that went into it... very cool! So many beautiful projects shared! Inspiring! Hugs!
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