World's Biggest Coffee Morning

A Crafty Coffee met as usual and clever Crafty remembered that it was the Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee morning and made Macmillan mugs for people to put donations in. We raised £33 which was great as it was an improptu fundraiser. Well done people!

The other big news of the morning was something that Crafty, P (the manager of Trago) and I have had up our sleeves for a little while. As those of you who are regular readers of the blog and/or regulars at ACC will know, my oldest son is currently having treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He has his treatment at the Piam Brown children's cancer ward at Southampton General Hospital.

Well, drum roll please...... A Crafty Coffee and Trago Lounge would like to announce that on Friday 5th November 2010 between 10am and 1pm we will be holding A Crafty Sale in aid of the Piam Brown ward and CLIC Sargent (the children's cancer and leukaemia charity). So, everyone, please getting knitting, crocheting, sewing, making and crafting in order for us to have loads of beautiful items to sell for these two charities. And if you can't craft anything, come and buy. And invite everyone you know!

From a personal point of view, the money raised for the ward and for CLIC makes such a difference to the children and the families on the ward. The money that the ward makes pays for extra equipment that the ward needs as well as treats for the children, which is vital for creating 'happy' memories for the families at a terrible time in their lives. And CLIC do so much for families of children diagnosed with cancer. One thing they do locally is provide a house for families to live in while the children are being treated on the ward. Many of the families come from miles and miles away to receive this specialist treatment and families would be separated if CLIC didn't provide this house. One family I can think of in particular on the ward, where the mum is on her own, would be in a terrible situation if they didn't have this option, with the child with cancer having to be left on her own on the ward while the mum took care of her other child. This way they can all be together.

I am not going to apologise for trying to pull on your heart strings in this post. Having a child with cancer, not knowing what the outcome is going to be for your beautiful child or all the other wonderful, brave children on the ward is heartbreaking. And if I can do anything to get people to part with their cash, in order to make things a tiny bit better for the other families who will have to go through this, I will.

So, get crafting. And come and buy!

Lots of love, Coffee xxx

PS A huge 'thank you' to Crafty (Dee) who is making this event happen, and who has been the most enormous source of comfort and strength to me in the past few months. E xxx

PPS I (Crafty) am fully behind Emma in this project and agree that we should make no apology for pulling on heart strings in this post. We have been going through this together like sisters, the pain is enormous but I am thrilled to be able to contribute something, no matter how small, to make difference to these children and their families. Fundraising is a particular forté of mine so let's hope we pull off a massive event.

We're Back!

Now that even the Reception children are back in school, we are watching our numbers replenish and it's not a moment too soon.

There is a buzz about the group again as we share stories of summer and of our trickier parenting moments as well as more positive tales of the fun we've had and future plans.

Somewhat excitingly, we have had two new members join us on the strength of a feature we placed in the local parish publication. We shall definitely have to use the same medium to publicise an event we are planning. I can't share too much at this stage, but we are in cahoots with the manager of Trago Lounge and we will be needing all hands on deck for this extravaganza. There, did that whet the appetite?

"News from the group?" I hear you cry.
Okay, so we have new members, the same old life struggles and joys. Big news is that Coffee (Emma) and family are on their second break from the hospital scene and awaiting their return for round three of the chemo. I always want to say, "ding ding" when I say that. I guess, in it's simplest form, chemo is a lot like a boxing scenario. It's a fight, it's fought in rounds with short breaks in between, it's heavy going, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't, there are invariably 'injuries' along the way ... In this particular ring, the chemo is doing its job and W is not suffering too many ill effects so is able to enjoy his time both in hospital (good old x box) and out of it.
In other news, well ... Celia finally has both small peeps in school, Jilly is getting inspired in the studio, Sarah is in the middle of a spell of ill health (get well soon Sarah, we miss you), there is talk that I need to start considering school options for my eldest (WHAT???), Isobel and Karen keep 'shopping' on my behalf in the local charity shops, we have two big events coming up, rumblings of a pop up business in time for Christmas ... That's all I can remember for now.

If you've been away, COME BACK! A Crafty Coffee will certainly need you in the coming weeks. Not to mention, Trago Lounge has been extremely quiet without us at full capacity.

See you Friday.
That's all folks.
C&C
xxx

Bring me Sunshine!

"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day," was how I sarcastically or optimistically began the day as I looked out onto an overcast, drizzly, August Friday.

Nonetheless, fine weather is more of a deterrent to us crafters than a spot of rain. Just the two tables worth of us descended on Trago Lounge this morning for a spot of relaxed crafting and delicious coffee.

Speaking of Coffee, she has escaped from the hospital, in actual fact, the whole family has had 6 days respite followed by an amount of to-ing and fro-ing before W could finally be readmitted for round two yesterday. Today Coffee made a short escape and managed to get two meals in Trago before her return to Hama Bead Hell in hospital, she and her Kid B were sewing foam shapes together this morning making up a little bag and a photo frame.

Myself and my Kid B were in attendance. Mini-me was making pom-poms while I started my second 'upcycled' rosette corsage. The first one was adorning Mini-me's headband making a rather delightful fascinator.

There was an amount of crocheting and knitting going on around the group and much drawing and colouring from the additional small people. A lovely buzz to the group today made for a very welcome break from the hum drum of daily life.

Sadly, Sunday sees Vicki's last shifts in Trago. We will all miss her very much but, seeing how good she is with the children makes me sure that she is off to do the right thing. She is off to train as a teacher in Cheltenham, much luck to you Vicki.

Love to you lovely crafters ... see as many of you as can make it next week.
xxx Crafty xxx

Another Month has Passed

Hello Crafters

So, another month has passed and I have missed you all so very much at A Crafty Coffee on the Fridays I have been away.

This weekend my family and I went to Vintage at Goodwood. It was our first ever festival and was great fun for those who love art, design, film, fashion and music through the decades. Many people dressed up (60s, 70s, 40s, 50s and even some 80s) and there were LOADS of crafty ideas to rip off ... you can call anything 'vintage' if it has got even one 'old' element to it! I will add some web links to the blog as there really were some inspiring stalls/people/crafters etc.

I do hope many of you are continuing to meet up while others are on their holidays. I am planning on being at ACC this week, whether I will work some more on the blanket or upcycle some 'vintage' fabrics remains to be seen.

As for a W update, he and Emma are going back into hospital today for the second of four rounds of chemotherapy. They enjoyed 6 days respite and ALL of the leukaemic cells had been eradicated after the first round of chemo so ... so far, so good. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers though, the stays in hospital are very trying.

See you Friday,
Love to you all.
Crafty xxx

Light shining in the darkness

It has been an emotional week for anyone close to Coffee and her family. A Crafty Coffee was no different and there was a definite sense of a community pulling together in crisis this morning.

The group has taken to spreading over five tables or so now, there really are quite a number of us when we get going. I saw a beautiful quilt being unpicked in order to help it's creator to have the confidence to pick it back up and work on it again. PW was in charge of that tutorial. In terms of other work, I was aware of some knitting and crocheting, but more than that ... CONVERSATION.

People were obviously keen to find out how the Reynolds' were bearing up after the news of W's illness, but they are also keen to help. KB brought along some home made cards as Coffee had requested that I bring in some thank you cards for her (people have already been incredibly generous). There was a buzz about what we could do for the boys, what we should craft. IW has taken it all in hand, we are going to knit/crochet a surprise for both of the boys. All at ACC seem keen to contribute and I think it will be something really special.

As you all know, we had to postpone the Crafty Day owing to the Race for Life. It seems more than just coincidence that I ran the race (in 29 minutes) and had a text shortly after crossing the finishing line to tell me that W had been admitted to hospital for tests. By the evening, Coffee and sent another message to say that they had a leukaemia diagnosis. The Race for Life is an emotional event with many people running in support of ..., in memory of ..., or in celebration of ... It became even more significant upon hearing this news.

A Crafty Day WILL still happen, we are obviously going to have to shelve the idea until September at the earliest but if any of you would like to help 'make it happen' please come forward. I am DREADFUL at organising but BRILLIANT at having ideas and at doing as I am told.

I will attempt to keep the blog updated over the coming months in Coffee's absence. I hope you will all find it useful and will maybe start to add your comments?

xxx

It's been too long!

It has been far too long since one of us made the time to post a blog. Sorry for that.

I imagine that most of you will know by now that Coffee (Emma)'s eldest son was diagnosed with leukaemia on Sunday (11th July) and that they have a virtually solid six months of hospital encampment ahead of them. The entire family are very receptive to prayer and are graciously accepting help where it is appropriate.

As for us at A Crafty Coffee ... where do we fit in? Well, since we have really begun to gel as a community, let's look out for Sue and Sheena (the Mums) particularly.
There are some suggestions floating around of what we could craft for the boys, something matching, something completely machine washable etc. Hopefully this morning we will make a final decision on this and get cracking.

A Crafty Coffee will continue to meet throughout the summer, we anticipate depleted numbers from week to week as people take family holidays but also, some increase as people bring their little crafters to participate.

I am sorry for the reflective and solemn nature of this post.
I am sure I am not the only one who is 100% thankful that we have such a loving community here at ACC that we can all support each other through this and other tricky times.

Love Crafty x
(and Coffee of course)

New faces, gifts and more ...

I (Crafty) literally don't know where to start.

Friday was possibly our most exciting meeting yet! I expect this post will come across just as jumbled as my head but I am not sure I even care. I just want to get it all out on the page.

So, um ... the most exciting element has to have been welcoming the first Crafty Baby, Nathaniel Joel who arrived on Tuesday and came along with his big sister and Mum and Dad for a drink at this week's ACC. As a group, our welcome gift has yet to materialise but Trago Lounge did not let us down. The staff bought the family a box of chocolates and a card to welcome Nathaniel to the world. We LOVE the staff in Trago, they are like a bonus part of our crafting family.

I saw many faces coming and going this week, I would guess that over 25 people came and went in the two hours I spent attempting to knit another square for Naomi's blanket. There were at least four new faces which was absolutely lovely. A new friend, Lisa came along and she found a stray Karen outside wondering where she should park. They happened to know one another already which was useful because they were both new to our group. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I didn't manage to speak to everybody this week but spent much of my time with Isobel, Jilly and Karen (another new face). I sat chatting with another unfamiliar face and, being utterly useless at these things, I omitted to introduce myself or get her name. How embarrassing?

The gift element arrived with Claire. Apparently our reputation as crafters goes before us. Somebody who had benefited from a box of 1950s patterns and two tubes of needles didn't have the heart to part with them and needed them to go to a good home so they have been left to us all at ACC. For me (and possibly Jilly) the most exciting part of this gift was actually the tubes surrounding the knitting needles. As a graphic designer I really appreciate packaging and typography. The tubes were old girdle tubes, one pink Playtex one, the other a Golden Girdle one. We tipped everything out for people to peruse and tried to get people to take what they wanted but Jilly and myself requested the tubes. Shortly before leaving I braved asking Jilly which one she would prefer so she is having the pink and I inherit the gold. My husband was quite impressed that I had got my hands on one of those and over the weekend I have discovered the reason that illustrative drawings were used in 50s underwear advertising and packaging instead of photography! You may already know this ... but apparently it was because photography would have been seen as titilating or slightly pornographic so illustrations of the women in girdles were used instead.

Anyhow, the birthday girls (Karen and Jilly both celebrated this week) tucked into croissants with their drinks while I knitted, Isobel crocheted, Nathaniel was the parcel in Pass the Parcel, and various other crafts took place. I saw Helen with some more cross stitch, and was aware of knitters and crocheters, I may have started something with this blanket for Naomi as there are three/four more blankets in progress and I suspect Priya *may* embark on one for her next project.

Just as I was toying with going home to do Helen a favour, my good friend Anna came along with Naomi (the recipient of my first ever knitted item). I adopted Naomi for quite some time, we are getting to like each other and I do like a baby that doesn't belong to me. It was lovely to have her just lying on me, taking in the world around her while I chatted with Isobel and Priya about the plans for A Crafty Day.

A Crafty Day is still a work in progress at this stage, but I think we will pull it off and members of A Crafty Coffee will have a real chance to get to know one another better and to try their hands at something different with more time to throw at creativity.

I do hope Coffee will add something to this post because she was on the other side of the group and between us we probably did spend time with everybody who came.

I can't wait to see who turn up with what crafts next week. I am determined NOT TO UNPICK everything I do at ACC next time. As Sarah pointed out, I probably need a t-shirt she has seen emblazoned with the following, "Shh, I'm counting".

TTFN Crafters.
xxx