Crafting for MNDA

This week was all about the craft stall we held on Friday at our local market.

We sewed. We crocheted. We knitted. We printed. We bent, folded, twisted and glued. We spent weeks and weeks getting our craft on and creating gorgeousness (in our opinion) that we could sell on our stall to raise funds for MNDA.

A friend has Motor Neurone Disease. He is now unable to do anything for himself. His wife and son care for him at home with professional help and he is a funny, brave and loving man. He is also determined. He came to see the stall on Friday to give us support and also bring us cake :-)

We have been living with the anticipation of the event for weeks, praying for a dry day, praying for customers and praying that we make lots of money. Our prayers worked. We set up on a crisp sunny morning and were kept very busy for the first couple of hours selling. The afternoon brought rain but by then we had run low of stock and low on energy so we declared the market stall closed.

We had been placing bets on how much money we would make for MNDA and were completely floored by the generosity of friends who had donated time, materials and energy to enable us to raise £1470! There is still more to come in with a couple of special items being raffled and a coffee morning to make a few more sales, so we could be adding another few hundred pounds to the total.

I have loved every step of the way. I love making things, crochet, sewing, sticking and gluing, and turns out I quite like standing on a market talking to customers too! It was a fabulous day, and we have pledged to do it again next year.

Now I need to start creating some Christmas presents (after a little breather).

Phone pacing - a new spectator sport.

Orange slices to be dried and hung for decorations for the craft stall.

Folding and gold spraying books to make Christmas Trees.

Soggy snakes and ladders.

Last few lingering leaves

CRAFT STALL!!!

On route to a party :-)

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And Make Do and Push for

Silent Sunday

Motor Neurone Disease - Global Awareness Day

This Friday 21st June, is Global Awareness Day for Motor Neurone Disease.

To promote awareness of this terminal disease, a film called "I Am Breathing" has been released to document the last few months of a young father's life as the disease takes hold of his body leaving him paralysed and on a ventilator. It was only 12 short months from his diagnosis to his death, hardly enough time to see his son take his first steps or say his first words. His widow was featured on ITV This Morning this week.

Ned is a neighbour and father to one of the The Princess's school friends. He was a fighter pilot when he noticed his first symptoms more than 10 years ago and has lived with the disease and its incredibly debilitating symptoms since. He is not only a father and a husband but he is also an inspiration to so many.

There is no predicting how the disease will progress or how quickly. Neil, in the film, died within a year. Ned, 10 years on, is still fighting. There is no cure for MND. Donations fund care for those that are affected by the disease and research in the hope that one day a cure can be found. If you are able to spare a few pennies or, better yet, a few pounds you can donate by following this link to the MNDA website.

If you have the opportunity to go and see the film please do.

Thank you.

Twenty Five Years

Twenty five years.
Twenty. Five. Years.

Whichever way I write it, it is a quarter of a century.
That is how long it has been since my husband swept me off my feet at a party (back when they were called discos). Seems like yesterday.

So the theme for this week is time.

Me-time crafting turned into puppet making.
We don't look a day older (you'll have to trust me on that).
My Princess is growing up too quickly.
Telling the time with a dandelion clock. It was 15 o'clock by the way.
We collected leaves on our walk to pass the time. (Someone was bored)
Garden party cake making to raise money for MNDa, in honour of Ned, 9 years living with the disease and still fighting.
The quickest monster making ever thanks to Parragon Books.


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Clothes Swap Party

Brilliant idea or fraught with danger?


When I was asked if I wanted to go I thought it was a brilliant idea. Bring along 5 items of clothing that you no longer wear and swap them for something you hopefully will wear. Simple.

But in the build up, I started to think/stress about it and spotted a few problems.

1. The clothes that are there to buy will be awful. Fact.
2. You are an awkward shape (size 14 hips, size 16 waist, size 18 top) so a good fit is unlikely.
3. The 'older' generation that have been invited are unlikely to be bringing hot fashion items. More likely polyester floral prints with gold buttons.
4. The 'younger' generation that have also been invited are unlikely to be bringing anything you can wear in public at your age.
5. You don't want anyone to see what you have donated for fear of 'did you see the state of that' raised eyebrows.
6. Anything you do buy is a friends cast off and you can't wear it because 'they will know'.
7. If a friend buys one of your cast offs do you tell them? If not, every time you see them are you going to be kicking yourself that you gave it away because it actually does look nice?
8. Are you going to regret your donations and think about what you could have got for them on ebay?
9. You might buy something that you think looks good but your friends are thinking "what does she look like?"
10. Do you pay for your stuff to be dry cleaned before you donate it?

You see, fraught with pitfalls!

But it was for charity, Motor Neurone Disease in fact. An extremely worthy cause. A hideous incurable disease that progressively devastates lives. The courage and strength that families muster is beyond admirable, it is awesome and I hope that one day a cure will be found.

So I grabbed carefully selected some clothes from the darkest recesses of my wardrobe (and laundered them where necessary, I hastily add) and took them along to the Charity Clothes Swap.

After quickly depositing my donations into a discreet box to be swifty swept away into another room, I grabbed a glass of wine (very civilised I'm sure and a great way of loosening the purse strings) and sought refuge at the back hiding my blushes behind a flyer for a style consultant.

My friend gave a very moving introduction raising awareness about Motor Neurone Disease and why it is vital to raise money for this charity. (Managed not to blub but I tell you, this disease is devastating). Then the Style Consultant let rip.

Within the first 2 minutes, on her advise, I would have to buy a complete new wardrobe. Out with the old and tatty (no matter how lovely and perfectly suited to your colouring and figure) and out with the dated (I swear my 90's fashions will come back one day). So left with bugger all to wear she dropped a few hints and tips about how to rebuild your wardrobe following a few rules. Never wear pastels unless you are less than 12 months old. Noone can ever wear beige/grey/black next to their face. Never tuck a top into trousers or skirts. Illustrated by some classic slides showing before and after shots, it was impressive and I'm sure with a makeup artist, a personal hairdresser and a limitless credit limit I too could knock a few years off. Obviously for a small fee she will personally assist with this exercise.

She hung around when the doors were opened to tell people to take back to the rails the (previously considered gorgeous) item of clothing as it did not suit them. Slightly counter-productive for raising money for charity I thought, persuading someone not to buy? Anyway...

As predicted I couldn't find any clothes to buy (polyester/ugly/too small) but there were some accessories too so my stash consisted of a couple of bracelets, a pashmina and a bag. For £1 each they were a steal.

Etiquette was interesting though. One school mum I was chatting to made it known that one of the bracelets I picked up was her donation. Was that a hint of pride I saw? I was told who the bag belonged to and safe in the knowledge that the previous owner has style and taste I shall use it. Even on the school run.Yes, publicly.

So in summary, Clothes Swap are a bit of fun. But here are a few rules of my own for attending such an event:

• Give generously. Your donations should be clean, presentable and you should be able to imagine one of your friends wearing them.
• Don't point out your donations to everyone. Bit cheesy. Just saying.
• Before buying something else try it on and ask for another opinion. No point swapping something you don't wear for something else you won't wear.

More than £600 was raised at this event so they are definitely worth it and yes, I did enjoy it. A good giggle.

Do you have any clothes swap stories, funny, embarrassing or outrageous? Do share...