The week ahead for Lev3l 3 Community Crafters 1 June

Hello again everyone.  I'm back with another weekly update so you will all know what is happening with Lev3l 3 Community Crafters for the week ahead.  I did think about doing it for the full month but think that might be a tad too long all at once so will just add some dates for your diary throughout June at the end of this post.  There is no "Meet the Crafters" post this week but we will be back with issue 03 next week.

Monday sees the very first of our new monthly craft markets.  The times for this are different from our normal market days.  We open at 10am and close at 4.00pm - but the quality of the items on offer will be just as high as always.  Here's a little sneak peak of some of the handmade items you might see there tomorrow.

 Looby-Loo

Sienna Soap

 Woolly Creations

AyVee Jewellery Design 

 

 Charlie Cards

Bags Buttons and Bling

 Far Horizons




Thursday is our skills demo day and you will find Sheila from Sewing MANIA demonstrating her patchwork skills between 10am and 4pm.  For those of you who have visited our blog before you may remember that Sheila was our featured crafter in our "Meet the Crafters" issue last week.  She is a very knowledgeable lady and is more than happy to share her expertise and answer any questions you may have.

Alongside Sheila on Thursday will be Mrs Charlie from Charlie Cards who will again be demonstrating how she makes her very popular pop up box cards.

Saturday is our normal weekly market day - we are there from 9.30am to 5.00pm and each week our crafters vary so even if you have been to one of our Saturday market days before then the chances are high that another visit will be a completely new experience for you.

Feedback from last week

The Thursday skills demo day was a very busy one last week.  It was lovely to see so many people showing an interest in what we do.  Our footfall last Thursday was the highest we have ever had for a skills demo day, which is all good.

Saturday was also a very busy day at the craft market.  Lots of new faces and many return customers too.  We also welcomed back Sienna Soap who has had a little break recently, and A+F Preserves and Chutneys was back after her holiday.

June dates for your diary.

Monday 01 June - Craft Market 10am to 4.00pm
Monday 08 June - Start of our Monday skills demo days 10am to 4.00pm
Thursday 25 June - Craft Market with the focus on ladies 9.30am to 5.00pm
Saturday 27 June - Kidz Krafting in the mall at Manor Walks - Minion Theme
Every Saturday - Weekly Craft Market 9.30am to 5.00pm
Every Thursday - skills demo days 10am to 4.00pm

And there is still a lot going on behind the scenes at Lev3l 3 Crafters with mums-to-be and babies in mind - watch this space!

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Lev3l 3 Community Crafters

Meet the Crafters No 2 Sheila Burness

This is the second in our "Meet the Crafters" series of blog posts so hope you all enjoy hearing about us and what makes us tick.

Today the focus is on Sheila Burness, who is the quilter in Lev3l 3 Crafters.  If you have ever visited The Venue in Manor Walks, Cramlington (our home base) then you will definitely have noticed the beautiful quilts that adorn the walls there.

Sheila is mum to two, grandmother to three and an absolute whizz with a sewing machine.  In fact she owns more than one machine - her largest machine is known as "Big Bertha".

 Although Sheila's own mum knitted and crocheted, she didn't actually sew - Sheila's love of sewing started when she was taught how to at school and over the years she has completed courses in embroidery, dressmaking and tailoring.  But it was when Sheila did her first course in patchworking that she really fell in love!   In Sheila's own words "I am a fanatic" - which may explain why she chose to call her business page Sewing MANIA (not that we think she is a maniac of course!).

 Many of Sheila's quilts are double sided, and one quilt can take between around four and six months to make, so an awful lot of work goes into them.  But the work is well worth it as the finished quilts are beautiful.

Sheila has visited the International Quilt Festival in Houston on a number of occasions and has also been to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania to visit the Amish Community who are well known quiltmakers.  In fact much of the fabric Sheila uses for her quilts comes from the USA.  I believe that on a number of occasions this has warranted a trip to Walmart to buy an extra suitcase for her journey home!

Although Sheila's passion is for patchwork, she does much more than this.  Her little lavender bags are lovely - and she made the lace that forms the bags herself too.

Sheila also makes a number of smaller everyday items - little pincushions for example.  Here is one with a matching heart shaped sewing case.

Another sewing case made by Sheila

And she makes bags too - lots and lots of beautiful bags.

Sheila's most recent addition to her bags family are the "Grab and Go" Baby Bags.  These have been beautifully embroidered on both sides, and contain really handy pockets on the outside - just right for baby wipes and bottles - or whatever you might need to take with you on the go when you have a small baby in tow!

She also makes an adult version of the "Grab and Go" bags - just right for that trip to the beach - handy for sun tan cream, sunglasses, towel etc.

In September Sheila turns her hand to Christmas baubles - made from fabric of course!  Beautiful baubles  that would enhance any Christmas tree.

And as we have mentioned the dreaded "C" word already, then I need to show you her lovely Christmas wreaths too.

All in all our Sheila is a very clever lady and is extremely knowledgeable about what she does.  You can find her in The Venue most Thursdays between 10am and 4pm at our free demo days where she demonstrates her patchwork skills.  Unless of course it is September and then she will be demonstrating her Christmas baubles.  You can also find her at our weekly Saturday markets most, though not all, Saturdays.

Many thanks for visiting our blog.  I hope you have enjoyed issue 2 of "Meet the Crafters" and will be back next time for another exciting installment!


Lev3l 3 Community Crafters

News from Lev3l 3 Crafters

Hello everyone.  Here we are again at the start of a brand new week (well almost!) so here is the week ahead for Lev3l 3 Crafters - not quite so busy as last week - but read on because I have some news which I will add to the end of this post.

Thursday is demo day at The Venue and once again we have Mrs Charlie from Charlie Cards Cramlington showing you how she makes pop up boxes.  Her box cards are unique to her as she designs them, prints, cuts and assembles them all herself.

Also there on Thursday is Sheila from Sewing MANIA with her trusty sewing machine.  Last week she finished the front of her latest quilt while she was demonstrating her patchwork skills.

 Both Mrs Charlie and Sheila are more than happy to answer questions and give advice when needed - and they both love a good chat too.

Saturday is our regular market day, and we are open from 9.30am to 5.00pm.  Each week we have a selection of different crafters at our market so well worth visiting regularly on a Saturday - that way you won't miss out on anything.

Update from last week

Monday saw Kim from Vimbo Crafts back in The Venue for a free crochet for beginners workshop.

Kim likes to keep numbers for these workshops quite small in order to allow her to spend time with everyone individually as and when needed.  These are free workshops aimed at the absolute beginner - but more advanced workshops are also available for which a small fee is payable.

The date for Kim's next free workshop for beginners will be announced shortly.  These workshops tend to get booked up quite quickly so watch this space to make sure you don't miss out!

*News*

Mondays at The Venue with effect from 1 June 2015

Plans are now in their final stages for Lev3l 3 Crafters to bring you even more free demos.  These will be held on Mondays and will be in addition to the regular Thursday free demos.  Book art, jewellery, picture mounting and framing .......  Keep an eye out for more information....

 
Plans are also forging ahead to have a Craft Market in The Venue on the first Monday of each month - the first one will be on 1 June.  More details to follow so keep watching!

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Lev3l 3 Community Crafters

Meet the Crafters No 1 Sue Worth

Afternoon everyone

Well I had intended to make this post during the week but it was a very busy week last week at Lev3l 3, but better late than never!

This is the first post where we are going to introduce you all to our crafters, and the honour of being first on the list has to go to Sue.  Partly because she is the driving force behind Lev3l 3 Crafters and partly because we are still in Coeliac Awareness Week - only just though!

Sue is the proprietor of Rainbow Cakes and Bakes and as some of you may already know she specialises in gluten free cakes, pies, scones and biscuits (or cookies as they seem to be called these days!)

Sue was diagnosed with coeliac disease when she was in her twenties, after being ill for about five years.  This means that her body reacts badly to the gluten in certain foods and in order to be well again she had to cut gluten out of her diet completely. Finding gluten free food back then was quite difficult, and also expensive, and so Sue started to make her own.  Although there is more awareness of coeliac disease now, and more choice, it is still quite limited, and still quite expensive.  A couple of years back her niece sowed the seed for Rainbow Cakes and Bakes by suggesting she made gluten free for others too.  Today Sue has a number of regular customers, with new ones coming to her every week.

After talking to her customers every week Sue realised that many of them were also lactose/dairy/soya intolerant too and so now she also makes many of her cakes lactose/dairy and soya free, as well as gluten free.

Here are some of the delicious things that Sue produces - they are good, standard everyday items - the old favourites that we all love - though she can, and does, do really "special" too!

 Scones

Sue always has scones on her stall - both savoury and sweet.

Cheese Scones - lactose, soya and gluten free

Cheese scones are available every week and but she tries to add a variety of different scones each week.  Other flavours can include cheese and ham, raspberry and white chocolate,  standard fruit scones and cherry scones.

And the price?  70p each.

Pies

Gluten free pies are quite hard to get but Sue has a range of pies available every week.

Cheese and Onion Pies

She usually has mince and onion, corned beef, cheese and onion and steak pies.

And the price?  From £1.25 each

Cakes

Sue  makes a wide range of cakes - and they are all truly delicious (and we at Lev3l 3 Crafters can personally vouch for that as we fight one another to be "quality control").  She tries to bring as varied a selection to the market every week as she can.  Here are just a few of them.

Orange sponge (gluten, lactose and soya free) topped with dairy free orange choc

lemon and blueberry (gluten, lactose and soya free)

Toblerone Cakes

Sprinkle Cakes - gluten, soya and lactose free

Mini cherry loaves - gluten and dairy free

Vanilla Sponge - gluten, lactose and soya free

And she also makes a delicious vegan chocolate cake too!

Cookies

Many of Sue's customers are children - the youngest is just a year old - so with them in mind she makes a range of novelty cookies.

Gluten, dairy and soya free

Chocolate cookies - gluten, lactose and dairy free

Sue is always open to new ideas so if you would like to discuss your own personal requirements with her then please send her a message on her Facebook page or ring her on 07515 934467 - or of course you can call in to see her at our weekly Saturday market..  You need to get to the markets early if you want a good choice though as everything sells very quickly each Saturday.  Or give her a ring in advance and arrange to place an order to be collected from the market.

A bit more about Sue

As well as making scrummy cakes and pies for her customers, Sue also holds down a full time job, is mum to Lucy, aged 10, and is Craft Director of Digital Community Youth Ltd - the organisation behind The Venue, the home base of Lev3l 3 Community Crafters.

This involves a lot of behind the scenes work - liaising with the management at Manor Walks and our local Guide Dogs team (our chosen charity for 2015), organising and running the kids crafting sessions, interviewing crafters who have asked to join us, doing rotas for our Saturday markets, and generally chivvying everyone on.  It's a good job she can function on very little sleep!

And finally, you can find more information about coeliac disease HERE.

Many thanks for visiting our blog.

Lev3l 3 Community Crafters