We had so much fun today at our Rag Rug workshop! 20 ladies attended and it was so exciting watching them get started on their rug.  The first part is the trickiest and after getting over the initial tendency to pull too tight the ladies were flying along.  It was so good to have Michelle there who had made a rug before and she was able to give all of us some great hints particularly with how to increase around the corners.  That is what I love about this idea - how we all learn from each other.  Some of the ladies were coming up with some interesting ideas for using this technique including hot pot stands, placemats, bags and even sculptures. I loved walking around and seeing how each rug was different, with the variety of colours and fabrics. I will look forward to seeing some finished products in the future.

If you want to have a look at how to do a rug I found these videos at the Rag Rug Cafe very helpful.

Last Saturday we held our first Simple Living Morning Tea.  Nine people attended and it was a huge success.  To start with Lilly helped me demonstrate how to make a four minute chocolate brownie.  This fantastic slice is so versatile, quick and easy.  As well as being used as a slice, it is a scrumptious dessert when you add strawberries and cream or blueberries and custard.  The trick of the slice is that it takes four minutes in the microwave or about 10 minutes in the oven. Click here for the recipe. 
After the demonstration we shared in a delicious homemade morning tea and inspected all the goodies on the handmade and homegrown swap table.  We had such a variety of items including lettuce, potted herbs, freshly squeezed lemon juice, handmade soap, knitted dishcloths, a bunch of lillies, wooden garden ornament, strawberry jam, a loaf of gluten free bread, rhubarb, beaded coathangers, tea cozy, little newspaper pots of mondo grass and the list goes on.  I was a little unsure of how this would work but it worked beautifully!  Everybody just strolled around the table and when they spotted something they liked they took it off the table.  A lot of discussion was also held around the table about the different items and how they were made.  The one big item that was discussed during the morning was homemade soap and the variations between bran oil and olive oil.
Overall I was so pleased with how the morning went and we are all definitely looking forward to the next one.