Brisbane: Brown Owls at Woodford Folk Festival

Hello Owls!

Wishing you all a safe and fun festive season and thank you all for a wonderful year of crafty meet ups.

Just a reminder that Brown Owls will be at Woodford Folk Festival! Workshops will include rubber stamp making, 17th century fabric brooches, basket weaving with fabric and macramé!

You can find all of the details for Woodford Folk Festival and the full program here.

Also check out the full line up of workshops in the visual arts/craft section here.

If you're planning on going let me know, I would love to see you there! You can also keep up with all the fun of Woodford on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/brisbanebrownowls.

Keep an eye on your in-boxes early in the new year for a fabulous line up of Art Bites workshops as part of Brisbane City Council's BrisAsia Festival, produced by Brisbane Brown Owls. If you're not on the email list already sign up here http://eepurl.com/tTVZv. 

See you at Woodford or in 2014!

Happy crafting!
Rebecca x

Southside Owls in 2014

Hello lovely ladies

Great news! Michelle and I are going to be running Southside Owls again in 2014!!

It will be the same as this year, once a month on a Thursday night, starting in March.

We will post up the dates in February.

We wish you all a wonderful festive season. Eat, drink and be merry!

Cheers from Shannon and Michelle!!

Brunswick Brown Owls say HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU!

Allanagh and her flighty felt friends

Happy Holidays from the Brunswick Brown Owls!

Well my dears, another year passes and another year of most excellent craftiness is looked upon with such fond memories. It's becoming quite the mission to make our wonderful meets from the Macedon Ranges, but after a fun evening with all you clever chickens, it's all worth it!

Our last gathering of little owls for 2013 will be on Wednesday 18th December at the Sporting Club, on Weston St, Brunswick, opposite Barkly Square at 7pm.

Bring you own festive project or whatever it is you've been working on lately. Summer hasn't really hit hard yet, so knitting and crochet are still comfortable pursuits! Yay!

Our first meet for 2014 will be on Wednesday 29th January at 7pm, same place, with a SHOW AND TELL session after your summer holidays. I'll be showing you my pudding-filled belly. Not baby filled. Trifle-filled. Mince pie-filled. You know... Bring your show and tell too!

Thank you to all who have supported the group this year. It's your presence that make it a big old Christmas present, and it won't be a crafty wonderful group without you. If you've been super busy this year, or Wednesday nights are a bit annoying, then DO TRY top make it out next year. You know, try and have a bit of crafty time with you. I promise we don't bite!

We plan on doing some macrame, crocheted bowls, sewing skills and other excellent things next year. AND IT'S FREE! OH MY GOODNESS! HOW ON EARTH! FABBO!

If you've got ideas for this years gatherings, or you'd like to run one, please do communicate to us in some way. There's lots of ways. Join our Brunswick Brown Owls Facebook page so you can get in on the fun too.  We have over 170 members and you can be a part of our crafty community too. Come along and learn some new skills with us!

Love and felt finger puppets, Stacy (aka Maggie Pie).

SHOW AND TELL YOUR WEDDING RING! 

Kimmy's ADORABLE pony presents!

Ant's amazing sticks and hook holder

Hello Polly

Debra's AMAZING Christmas baubles- what a whizz!

I printed 100 of these. Was it enough? No...

Allanagh finished her pin cushion Casey!

Brisbane: Christmas meet up

It's our last meet up for the year (other than the fabulous Woodford Folk Festival) and as a special gift to you I will be providing the template so you can make your own version of the edward & lilly Christmas Bird! Here are the details:

Create your own version of the edward & lilly Christmas bird from felt or paper to be used as decorations, given as gifts or made into a garland. 

Saturday 14 December, 10:30am-12:30pm 

Kenmore Library, 9 Brookfield Road, Kenmore (it's in the shopping centre)

What to bring (there should be time to make one of each)

For felt birds:

- Felt in any colour of your choice

- Fabric for the centre, with only two hours there may not be time to do an embroidery in the centre but you could always make more at home. I would suggest for the birds made at the meet up to pick out some sweet patterned fabric to go with your felt or a very simple embroidery design on plain or patterned fabric. I can help out with suggestions for some simple embroidery patterns on the day.

- Matching embroidery thread 

- Ribbon, lace or twine to hang your bird

- Stuffing. General toy stuffing, cotton balls, yarn or fabric scraps or something sweet smelling like lavender. You could also leave your bird flat or stuff it later at home.

- Scissors

- Needles

- A fabric pen or pencil

For paper birds:

- Card stock will be sturdier but paper is also fine, pretty patterns or upcycled from junk mail for a bright and interesting option. Bring any textures and patterns and experiment!

- Glue

- String, twin or yarn

- Pencil

- Scissors

Book in as soon as possible to reserve a spot by emailing brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com! 

A Melbourne Brown Owls Christmas...

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Join us in the Parlour at Madame Brussels to celebrate the festive season with craft, chat and perhaps a cheeky chicken sandwich or two!

Details are:

Date:                     Tuesday 17^th December

Time:                     6.30pm (usually run til about 9pm)

Location:              The Parlour @ Madame Brussels

                                Level 3, 59-63 Bourke St Melbourne 3000

Bring:                    Craft Project of your choice

Cost:                      No fee for attendance, but you may like to sample the delicious food and drinks on offer as a thank you for the great space

RSVP:                    In the comments section below

There will be no theme this year, but I thought this might be a good opportunity to bring along one of the many projects you have started this year and attempt to finish it – or like in my case a crafty present you are scrambling to finish!

Looking forward to seeing all you again – and happy holidays to those unable to make it :o)

Lee

Preston Brown Owls December Meeting

Dear Prestonians,

Our last meeting was a bust! Sickness and last minute cancellations everywhere.  I hope I managed to contact everyone who had been planning to come.  I also checked in at the meeting place but couldn't stay, I was too ill. The Social Sewers promised to look after any Brown Owl orphans but I do apologise if you turned up and and I was not there.

And now the time for the final Brown Owls of 2013 is almost upon us.  If you have only come once or never before, please do come and join us for craft and conversation at

Cheshire Cafe

583 Gilbert Road, Preston

15 December

2-4pm

Cost is free but please buy something delicious from our lovely hosts.Don't forget some handwork.  We would love to see you.

rebecca@needleandspindle.com

Brisbane: Upcycled Christmas Cards

At Brown Owls we love upcycling so we're very excited to have Felicity from Bearly There Creations generously donating her time and showing us how to upcycle aluminium cans into fun and interesting Christmas cards and decorations! 

Felicity will show how to cut down cans safely, create your own designs by hand embossing and a little cheating by using commercial embossing plates to make decorations. Each participant should leave with at least 1 card and 1 decoration, or more, as its highly addictive. 

If time allows Felicity will demonstrate colouring methods as well, using alcohol inks and pens.

When: Saturday 30 November, 10:30am-12:30pm

Where: Carindale Library, Westfield Carindale, 1151 Creek Road, Carindale 

What to bring:

- Aluminium cans, they come  in interesting colours and shapes these days, bring some favourites along to play with!

- Old scissors (not your good dressmaking or fabric ones)

- An old ball point pen for embossing

RSVP: This meet up is now fully booked however to be included on the waiting list email brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com

Be the first to find out about meet ups by subscribing to the Brisbane Brown Owls newsletter here http://eepurl.com/tTVZv

Awesome cuteness by the Brunswick Brown Owls FINGER PUPPET FIESTA

Cute critters!

Yes, we had lots of fun making these new finger puppet friends last Wednesday at the Sporting Club. 

It was super easy and so much fun researching what sweet critters we wanted to make, so we're sharing!

Save the date for 4 December and the 18th December for our last Brunswick Brown Owl sessions and our Christmas craft finales! If you haven't been for a while, we hope to see you there!

Thank you to our dear Brunswick Brown Owls for these gorgeous creations.

Yes, we had lots of fun making these new finger puppet friends last Wednesday at the Sporting Club. 

It was super easy and so much fun researching what sweet critters we wanted to make, so we're sharing!

Save the date for 4 December and the 18th December for our last Brunswick Brown Owl sessions and our Christmas craft finales! Hope to see you there!

Canberra Owls :: November meeting

Hello Canberra owls!

This Saturday 23rd November we're holding our last crafty get-together of 2013 - and it's a super special one!

We're teaming up with the lovely ladies at Canberra Creatives for a craft de stash market!

Come along between 2pm-4pm to pick up some craft supplies bargains!

We'll also be running a limited number of stamp carving workshops - this is a fabulously easy and effective craft so do come along to try it out.

And of course as always you're welcome to bring along whatever project you might be working on - and a plate to share for arvo tea if you'd like - and join us for a cup of tea and a chat.

Don't forget we love show and tell too!

Hope to see you there!

Xo

Brisbane: Amigurumi

We’ll be learning the basics of amigurumi to crochet this cute little penguin.

Please note that this is not a learn to crochet meet up, all participants must know how to do single crochet. Crochet basics and more amigurumi meet ups are planned for next year so if you’re new to crochet don’t worry you won’t miss out!

Meet up details

When: Sunday 24 November, 10:30am-12:30pm

Where: Brisbane Square Library, 266 George Street, Brisbane CBD

What to bring:

- 8ply yarn in 4 colours for the penguin, any colours are fine. If you are fairly new to crochet it might be better to do the body of the penguin in a colour other than black so it’s easier to see the stitches. If you have yarn other than 8ply you would like to bring that’s fine as long as you have a crochet hook one size smaller than what is recommended on the yarn label.

- 2.5mm, 3mm or 3.5mm crochet hook. If you have a full set of crochet hooks bring them along as you may like to test out different sizes first depending on your gauge. The aim is for the gauge to be tight enough so that you can’t see the stuffing.

- Wool needle (I’ll bring some extras)

- Two 12mm black animal eyes. I will also bring some black felt and thread to make eyes to stitch on if the plastic eyes are difficult to find.

- A few handfuls of toy stuffing.

- Scissors.

 RSVP: As soon as possible by emailing brisbanebrownowls@gmail.com

The penguin is from the fantastic Fresh Stitches Free Beginner's Guide to Amigurumi

Mitcham Brown Owls

Hi There Owlies,

Here is our last blog for this year.
Christmas has crept up again, and the end of the year - I'm still getting over last Christmas!

For our last meeting, please bring along anything you have finished to show off, and whatever you are currently working on.  Would you like to also bring along something vintage for show and tell, and no, it can't be you...I've got a flapper dress from the 1920's.

Would you also like to bring a plate of something to share, and we can start at 1pm and have lunch.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Lianne.

The details:  Gallery One, 1 Torrens Road Mitcham PH:  Gallery - 272 4504  Lianne 0431 297 258

When Saturday 23rd November  1pm until we go home.

Brunswick Brown Owls have a FINGER PUPPET FIESTA! 7pm 20th November 2013

Wednesday, 20^th November 2013

Handmade Charlotte

Got some hand made gifts to make? That gift-giving season creeping up on you? Want to give some sweet, thoughtful, clever critter to a friend or family member? Well, do join us for a FELT FINGER PUPPET FIESTA! This Wednesday! Not sure how to do it? Then Stacy (that’s me) will help! FOR FREE! We love to share our skills!

I’ll bring tiny felt scraps, but you could bring a basic sewing kit of

• ·      needle,
• ·      thread (floss is best, but I can share)
• ·      scissors
• ·      felt or fabric
• ·      some ideas for your critter, drawn or printed
• ·      your finger! For puppet theatre fun!

Come and join us, Wednesday 20^th November at 7pm at the Sporting Club, Weston St, Brunswick, Victoria for a FINGER PUPPET FIESTA!

Don’t have any ideas? No problem, visit our Pinterest page for ideas or pin your own. You may want to do some PAPER PUPPETS, AMIGURUMI PUPPETS, or CROCHET or KNITTED PUPPETS! The possibilities hurt my head!

Or you could visit Handmade Charlotte for her current finger puppet post. It’s got an owl in it!

If you’re not into fingers or puppets, feel free to bring your own crafty project and carry on with that, there will be lots happening in the fine Ladies Lounge.

We’d love you to come and say HIDEE HI to the Brunswick Brown Owls! If you can’t make it, we’ll pop up photos of the evening on our Brunswick Brown Owls Facebook page so you can join in the fun too.  We have over 170 members and you can be a part of our crafty community too! Come along and learn some new skills with us!

The Sporting Club still has delicious tapas and discounted cider jugs! Tasty. Bring your friends! We like your friends! We like you! Did I mention we’re friendly?

St George and Sutherland Brown Owls at Finders Keepers!

Merry Christmas - To Market We Go 

For our Christmas celebration this year we will be heading to the Sydney Finders Keepers Markets!

We will be meeting on Saturday the 7th December at 10am in the foyer (at the entrance) - we will be having a look around before we settle into lunch and a present swap!

If you want to be a part of the swap please bring something crafty / handmade to the value of $20!

I can't wait to see you at our first crafty excursion! 

All new and old friends welcome!

If you need any more details please drop me a line HERE!

Thanks Thouraya

November Meet: Melbourne Brown Owls CBD

'Tis the season.... (well almost!)

After skipping October (my sincere apologies for the lapse), Melbourne Brown Owls is back at the lovely Madame Brussels ready to celebrate the festive season!

A festive extravaganza will definitely be on the cards for our December meet, however I thought November would be a great time to get started on those Christmas presents and decorations!

Some inspirations are below:

Baubles Yay - http://meetmeatmikes.com/2010/11/pips-crocheted-christmas-baubles-as/

Yum - http://www.planetjune.com/blog/free-crochet-patterns/christmas-pudding/

Trees - http://takosan.pl/en/little-christmas-tree/ (I plan to have a go at these - see above!)

Or for more: Google Christmas crochet for a mass of cute projects!

Details are:

Date:               Tuesday 26^th November

Time:               6.30pm (usually run til about 9pm)

Location:         The Parlour @ Madame Brussels

                        Level 3, 59-63 Bourke St Melbourne 3000

Bring:              Christmas Project of your choice

Cost:                No fee for attendance, but you may like to sample the delicious food and drinks on offer as a thank you for the great space

RSVP:             In the comments section below

If you are in the middle of a project feel free to bring it along and continue, or if you are apprehensive about starting something new, there are very talented ladies on hand to offer advice and support!

Some holiday dates for your diaries:

Tuesday 17th December
Tuesday 28th January

Very much looking forward catching up with you once more!

Lee x