Goodbye to Simple Living Toowoomba for 2015

We had our final Simple Living Toowoomba get-together this morning for 2015. Despite the heatwave conditions it was a very enjoyable and informative morning. After a cuppa we were treated to three different craft demonstrations before sharing a Secret Santa gift with each other to finish off the morning.

With the doors and windows thrown open wide to let in any little breeze that could come our way, we watched our first demonstration which my friend Sally presented. At our break-up for 2014, I had brought along my reusable bow which Sally had given me and everyone was fascinated by it. You can read the tutorial for it in the post How to Make a Reusable Bow. 

Always efficient and organised,  Sally had made up some cardboard templates to make it easy to mark the ribbon where it needed to be stitched.

 

Here are a few that were made. I think everyone really enjoyed making them as they are so easy to sew and look really lovely on a parcel. In Christmas colours they would brighten up plain brown paper wrapping nicely. 

 

 Then we moved to the next table where our co-ordinator, Margy, showed us how to make a gift bag from brown paper which she bought for $2 a roll. The small one on the left was made from the page of an old book and we were saying that sheet music would be very effective as well. I need to practise making some of these and hopefully will do a tutorial soon.

Annette was our third presenter of the day and she showed us a really easy way to make felt Christmas tree decorations. When I have made a couple of these I will do a tutorial as well as it really is an interesting way to make decorations.

 To finish off the morning we shared our Secret Santa gifts. It wasn't too hard to figure out who had made some of the items but some were still a mystery. My gift is at the top of the photo and was a cute doggie tote bag and a blue hanging towel, both of which I love. To the right is peony soap with a gorgeous scent, a handmade bracelet and earrings as well as the always useful padded coathanger. My mum used to make these and I wish now that I had watched how she made them.

 This Christmas cup was filled with a lovely pink bag which I think Margaret made and she possibly used the pattern you can find in the post Crochet Grocery Bag. She is the sock knitting queen and whenever we see her she is usually knitting away at another pair of socks.

Her Secret Santa gift she received was a number of reusable bows. I have no idea who made them though ;-)

Shiralee from Vintage Papery made this absolutely gorgeous gift of seven teatowels ~ one for each day of the week which were beautifully embroidered. Just amazing!

An embellished Woolies jute bag was made by Yours Truly and on the right is what I think is homemade perfume made from doTERRA Essential Oils by our very own Racheal. These are therapeutic grade essential oils so are top quality.

There were also homemade jams, dishcloths and plants including the beautiful pink hydrangea at the top of the post which I absolutely LOVE but we have acid soil so ours are blue.  I know you can add to the soil to make it more alkaline and so produce pink flowers but that probably is never going to happen. There was also a mini rag rug which is about the size of the one I made at our Rag Rug workshop as I don't really have anywhere to put a large one. If you are interested in making one check out the Toothbrush/Rag Rug Tutorial. These workshops are so well attended and popular that we just might have another one next year if there is enough interest. Margy's hubby is a whiz at making them so we might have to ask him to demonstrate. :-)

The workshops for 2016 will probably start in February and will normally fall on the third Saturday of the month. The Farmers' Market is now being held on the last Saturday of the month so we don't want to clash with that fantastic event which started up this year. I hope to get to the November one next Saturday so will have to be up early to beat the crowds. 

If anyone who lives in the region, or who is visiting, would like to come along to our workshops next year you are most welcome and I am sure you will just fit right in. 

Have a great weekend everyone and, if you live in SE QLD, enjoy the cool change!