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I have no idea what to call this post, it's been a few weeks since we last wrote and it's been a trying time. I have bad news, slightly less bad news, and some crafty news which is always good.

Let's start at the start shall we?
Last time we posted we had babies to celebrate and baristas to miss but not too much to concern ourselves with other than Coffee's ongoing mental health problems. Thank you so very much to all those of you who do pray because we have seen an uplift in her mental stability enabling her to be able to enjoy her family and look after them well. This has never been more poignant than it is right now.

Sadly, last Thursday, the bone marrow results came back showing that William's marrow was really full of leukaemic blast cells. It meant that the chemo had barely touched it and that a transplant was out of the question. Being so close to Emma (Coffee), I understood that this meant they were running out of options, but nothing could have properly prepared me for how I might feel when she broke that news. We cried together. What else could we do?
The family have now moved to Bristol to take part in a medical study using a trial concoction of chemotherapy. Earlier this week, liver screening potentially ruled them out of the study but thank God, they didn't have to abandon hope so quickly and the chemo has now started. The chance of this working is very slim, but there is a chance, and therefore there is hope.

As a group, ACC have wanted to support the family as best we can at a distance. Obviously, I shall go and visit, and people within the group are meeting to pray. One of our number has made a couple of 'hope' bags for the boys which people have contributed books and toys to. It feels like there is little more we can do at such an uncertain and traumatic time but at least we are all there for each other too.

Now that I have got the bad news and the slightly more hopeful news out of the way, we can move back to the crafts of the past week or two.
We've had usual numbers of 20ish people in attendance with knitting, spinning, crochet, cross-stitch, chat, coffee, clothing alterations etcetera etcetera and we've been so privileged by people's willingness to share their craft in the form of tutorial. No longer is it down to Isobel to do all of the teaching, though I am incredibly grateful that she got me started on the crochet! But now, Eddie has been teaching me unravelling, skeining, and ply balling of yarn, Cecile will share with anyone who's interested how to spin yarn, even I found myself in the position of showing Jill how my wool-eater blanket worked! As a novice myself, it tickled me that I was showing someone how to do something, I don't even know the terms but Jill is a visual learner so it mattered not.
On the whole, the crafting is going very well, and the community, through such desperately tough times as sick children, bereavement, ill-health, difficult finances, unemployment ... well the community is fused. We are supportive, close knit (pun intended) but not closed, loving, generous, caring. I am so thrilled to be a part of A Crafty Coffee and hope all members feel the same.

C x (&C from a distance)

New year, new craft!

Happy New Year!

What were your highlights of 2010?
What are your aspirations for 2011?

It is so easy to get caught up in the negatives, I don't know a single person who didn't have something to struggle through in 2010 but writing it off as 'a bad year' seems a little unfair to me. You may have noticed from the year of blog posts that Coffee and family have had a particularly trying year, yet even they can find highlights to speak of!

In terms of crafting, my highlights are lengthy.
Completing the three bears at the beginning of the year for Aurora, Naomi and Leya is a big highlight. All three bears (named Star, Biscuit and Pearl) have been gratefully received and are being well loved.






Making Naomi's 'Go Anywhere Blanket' was a real labour of love. I learned so many knitting techniques, but in order to finish the blanket off I needed to learn to use the sewing machine too! To help with this, I made a few strings of bunting (for my new Bell Tent) and a few child sized aprons. This really boosted the confidence and, whilst I know the blanket is imperfect, I am thrilled with what I have learned and would know what to change to make some improvements.































I hope that other A Crafty Coffee members have achieved as much as I feel I have. The year has flown by and I am amazed at how many different works I have seen going on around me.
Another highlight has to have been the work you all put into the sale(s). Raising over £1600 in the end, we sold everything from jewellery to candles, cross-stitch to scarves, baby blankets to tree decorations and everything in between.

To be a part of this, and to watch a group pull together in support and love, has been a huge privilege. I know, I know ... I've gone all sentimental on you. But seriously, as a group we have supported each other through parenting trials, ill-health (both physical and mental), pregnancy and early baby days, bereavement, sick loved ones and much much more. Who would have thought at the outset that a craft group could serve that purpose?

I have crafty aspirations and life aspirations. For now, I will share that Isobel started to teach me to crochet this morning. She was tutoring at least two others that I noticed, hence, New Year, New Craft being the title of this post.

With all of that in mind, and considering my personal aspirations for 2011, it is worth thinking about what the aspirations for ACC should be this year.
• ACC on a Friday morning will continue exactly as it always has, a group for people who craft/want to craft/want company and are available on a Friday morning. A Crafty Coffee meets a need in our local community!
• I imagine that we will hold another sale later in the year.
• I hope that we will have an away day or trip of some description.
• There is a mooted idea of some kind of craft course/tutorial sessions whereby we can pick up a new skill.

I wonder how much of the above we will be reporting back on in January 2012 ...

In addition though, being as so many of us are either christians (small 'c' intended), interested in the big life questions, or spiritually minded, we would like to set up a secondary group where we can explore faith in more detail. This group will meet on a Wednesday between lunch and school pick up and will probably happen in homes. All are welcome, but we recognise the need for this to be separate to ACC as, while we all have craft in common, we may not have spirituality in common.
The group will be a safe place where we can have discussions, ask the questions we've never been brave enough to ask without feeling stupid, explore what the bible says about life in general, explore who we are, who/if God is etc. It is not necessary for attendees to have an active faith, an interest in chatting about the bigger things in life is all that's required.

So, not wishing this blog to be an 'all about me bag', I ask that you will send your craft photos of 2010 to acraftycoffee@yahoo.co.uk so that we can publish them in our First Birthday Blog next week. Mmmm cake ...

Have fun,
C&C

xxx