Archive for July 2011

July meeting - General crafting goodness

Monday 25 July 2011 § 0

 Thursday, July 21st was our meeting for the month, entitled HobbyKraftwerk.

It was one of our general meetings which we have introduced this year so everyone can simply sit, natter, drink, eat cake and craft!

And we did!

But first, the business.


Hayley did her usual - minutes and finance report, and also told everyone about the space we have on Leeds Kirkgate Market for the next three months.

There was lots of other news too - the 1980s party this Friday (tix £5 still available!), Book Club, the campaign to save libraries, highlights from the West Yorkshire News etc.


Gloria very beautifully promoted the WI raffle (tix £1 - shout up if you want some!). No idea why it required barefeet though!


Here are some of our Roses getting stuck in. We had people do everything from knitting, crochet and tapestry to making bunting and cushions!


Good job we have lots of floorspace for pattern cutting!

And that was July! 

PS Hi Ruth! ;-) 



Buns & Roses WI at Leeds Kirkgate Market

Friday 15 July 2011 § 0

Some very exciting news for you - we are now selling our Buns & Roses WI craft goodies at Leeds Kirkgate Market.

The How Bizaar stand (down at the bottom of Fish Row) offers community space for small businesses to sell their wares for free for three months, and we have secured a spot.

Bags by Helen Gibson, embroideries by Gemma Rathbone and preserves by Gloria Lindh

Many of our members are very crafty and make some beautiful items. We have been selling them at various craft fairs over the past few months, and this is a great new avenue to show off the skills of Buns & Roses WI.

Some of Hayley Mills-Styles' art work, more goodies from Helen, cards by Gem and there are some bags for life by Annie Beech at the sides too.

Please do call into the market to have a look (and buy!) our goods. Support the rest of the market too - there are loads of bargains!

Earrings by Helen and brooches by Annie.

If you are a Buns & Roses WI member and would like the chance to sell your creations, please get in touch.






The Flower of Love - Flower arranging workshop

Sunday 10 July 2011 § 0

On Thursday, July 7th our monthly workshop was The Flower of Love - An introduction to floral art.

We had 20 roses attend and Janet from The Secret Garden florist in Roundhay was our tutor for the evening.

We learnt about her career as a florist and how to care for our blooms so they last as long as possible. She showed us how to use the different flowers, leaves and grasses that would feature in our arrangements to make the most of their shapes, sizes and smells.

Janet showing us how to arrange flowers.


 


Janet had brought a lovely selection of gerberas, so everyone chose their colours and got stuck in. There was matching ribbon too to finish off the piece.


And this is one of the finished arrangements, didn't Sam do well?!

Big thanks to Janet for sharing her talent and passion with us. Visit The Secret Garden website to see more of her beautiful work.

Buns & Roses at the I Love West Leeds Festival

Wednesday 6 July 2011 § 0

On Sunday, July 3rd, Buns & Roses were part of the I Love West Leeds Festival in Bramley Falls Park.
It was a beautiful warm and sunny day and we had lots of fun, although it was incredibly tiring!

We were there to run our craft stall to sell our wares and also to run a make and take, giving kids the chance to make a name plaque for their bedroom door, for FREE!

Helen, Hayley and Gemma ready on the craft stall.

Kids hard at work.

Another action shot. We were incredibly busy all afternoon.

Here's Gemma cutting out kids names using her Big Shot.
Just some of the more than 100 plaques we helped the kids make.

They were hung up to dry - didn't take long!

There was a little time for some fun - here's Hayley with a drawing of a tea cup used on our stall.
A huge thank you to all the Roses who came along to help on the day, or just came to say hi and laugh at the rest of us sweating buckets and running round like headless chickens!

Also a huge round of applause to Jane and Fran and all the other organisers and planners of the I Love West Leeds events. There are still plenty of things going on for the rest of the month - check the ILWL website for details.

Buns & Roses goes back to school and hits the books!

Friday 1 July 2011 § 0

It seems ages since our last blog post, but we have been so busy it's difficult to find time to write about it all!

Book Club
Our Book Club met on June 19th to discuss Death by Chocolate by Toby Moore.


On the whole, we weren't that impressed with it and felt it was lacking in both style and substance. Although the ideas were there, it wasn't executed particularly well and failed to grip or move us in any way.

It is an interesting read - chocolate is banned and people have weight allowances, with police officers enforcing the rules. A woman is murdered and found covered in "brown" (chocolate) and the mystery into her death unfolds, taking the reader into the underworld of eateasy restaurants and chocolate smuggling.

There's a lot going on, but we found it hard to fully appreciate the story. It felt a bit like the writer wanted to emulate other great novels (such as Nineteen eighty-four and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) rather than concentrating on his own work.

It did raise some interesting debates though, and is easy to read so if yo spot it in a charity shop it is worth a go!


Carr Manor Primary Craft Fair
On June 25th, Gemma and one of our members, Sam, had a stall at the Carr Manor Primary Craft Fair.


Doesn't it look beautiful!


They had many goodies for sale - cards, stitched items, decorated bags for life, jewellery, Suffolk puff brooches, art work etc.



Sam makes bath and beauty products - salts, scrubs and bubbly bits - so our little corner smelt amazing too!

We're always on the look-out for more goodies to sell, so if you're a member of Buns & Roses and have handmade items you want to flog, give us a shout!