Summing up [Sunday] Sale!

So, this is why we haven't been consistently writing for a while...

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN HAPPENING!

(this may or may not be hyperbole)

I'll talk you through things. First, remember that crochet baby blanket that I started, er, in February or something? Z was born healthy and happy about four months ago. But I still hadn't finished the blanket. FINALLY, when I had finished they got invited over for lunch (unfortunately very brief) and I got to meet mummy for the first time, and little Z. So cute!

All the ends cut off after being sewn in - what an achievement!

Mapping out the blanket - took a long time as it was really hard to colour match properly.

                                  

                                         Doing four more lines of border

The TA-DA picture will have to wait until I can get it off A, I'm afraid, but they seemed very pleased. It was my first go, so a lot of mistakes and pretty messy, but they seemed to appreciate it. Just hope it gets used!

Okay, so big thing NUMBER TWO has been taking up A LOT of time. We (as a family) have decided to raise £1500 over the year for The Hope Project, which is a branch of The Dogs' Trust. It specifically helps dogs whose owners are in housing crises, as a lot of shelters will not accept dogs, and there isn't a lot of veterinary support for them. Dogs are vitally important to some people: a friend, protection, warmth... We'll have another post more on the fundraising in the future with lots more details, and in case anyone wants to be involved.

SO, we left it all a bit late, so by the time we'd booked our stall at a local school's PTA craft fair, we only had four weeks to make everything for it. Here's some shots of our work in progress:

Sequin ball-balls - would you believe that we spent £18 on pins alone?? We didn't know that, and certainly made no  money!

Felty decorations (there were also stockings and snowmen)

Cutting out the tops for A's 'Luxury mincemeat' and 'Christmas Apple and Cranberry Chutney.' They both sold very well.

Stall putting up in action - great way to display things between canes with sticks.

And here is our stall! I won't bore you with pictures of everything we made, but I can do a list, can't I? Mini bunting, big bunting (both sold well), hot chocolate sticks, Christmas cards, glittery baubles, reindeer baubles, mini and larger glittery stars, printed wrapping paper, a scarf, beautiful paper stars made marvellously by Alison (we had 30 or so and only FOUR left), little felt critters made by a generous woman from A's work, salt dough decorations, willow stars, willow bird feeders (all went quickly), Christmas cushion, Christmas flannel... I think that was it, but it would've been really easy to miss something out. What a great stall.

And look how much went! The top bunting was reserved already, but everything else went.  A few bits and bobs left for sale TWO (yes, I know we're mad, but it's a little stall this time).

Good idea for next year - cinnamon sticks wrapped up nicely. So easy!

I had to show these. They may be very cute, but they are made from books. As in entire books. One book = one hedgehog. I just couldn't do it.

These were our very nice next-stall neighbours. Apparently, this was a really bad selling year, but we did all right!

Few other bits and bobs - a lot of chocolates, big raffle, jewellery, nick nacks, pens, wreaths, glass work, loads of cards, clothes, scarves, accessories... A real mix. Not much time to get round, but looked like a great a sale.

So, onto other things. We had our very last family therapy session with J and S. It was hard, and heartening, and humorous and sad. We've been with them for a long time, and it seems so alien that they won't be journeying with us anymore. We will be travelling in a different way.

Our memory book - one for each of them

And not to forget Joyce's 93rd birthday! A nice evening at Sewell house with two cakes (a homemade Victoria sponge and a shop-bought chocolate cake) and alcohol! Only one person got drunk, so that's not too bad!

Joe, Susan, and Joyce

That's about all, folks! Well, a lot of other things have happened as well,  but it's a quick run-down. Hopefully, we'll get into a schedule again, but no promises.

(No Guardian Quizzes - no time!)