A further crafting day

Yesterday the other sewing group I belong to run by Dawn McHugh over at Being Self Sufficient in Wales met at Dawn's and learned how to make a lampshade.  I was utilising the top/bottom rings of an old 1970s shade which was brittle and falling to bits, so Dawn helped me to cut out another former for mine.  The crazy patchwork has used beautiful Japanese silk scraps sent to me by Elaine over at Tales from Parsonage Wood.  

It was relatively easy (if a tad fiddly) to stick the shade to the rings, and then fasten the top and bottom edges with narrow glued strips and we all felt confident afterwards that we could go and do another.  It was great fun and we stopped for lunch in the middle - a 3 course Christmas meal - which had been beautifully made by Dawn - part of the starter was herbed cheese balls preserved in olive oil and they were amazing.  The Water Buffalo we had as our main course was absolutely melt-in-the-mouth. 

Here is Dawn's lovely seasonal lampshade, which was made using her embroidery machine.

This is Sue's lovely shade, with the flowers and leaves also made on her embroidery sewing machine.

Finally Salli's colourful shade which would go anywhere - I love those cheerful blooms.

Dawn's craft cabin is wonderfully well stocked and so tidy, and a joy to work in.  At the end of the session we discussed all sorts of other wonderful crafts to try next year in our monthly get-togethers.

So many things to try - so little time!  Many thanks to Dawn for hosting this.