Equipping our young people for practical life

I have been giving alot of thought recently about how well we equip our youngsters for adult life. I am the first to admit that in some areas I have failed to teach my children some of the practical skills needed to live a simple life.

I have tried to teach them not to be materialistic and I think for the most part they are not hankering after 'things' and none of them are in debt ( apart from the one who went to University, and he has a job so is paying it back).

When they were growing up I didn't involve them in any of the house cleaning routines which I now regret. It was easier and certainly quicker to do it myself, so that's what I did....but I did them no favours. Thankfully all three of them are now reasonable tidy in their own homes but we did go through a few very untidy years!

I make most food from scratch, including bread but I haven't passed on these skills....shame on me. However, my daughter is an excellent cake maker for our twice yearly sales.

I was taught to sew by my mother who is a skilled needlewoman, at the age of 78 she still makes most of her dresses and skirts, she makes amazing lace and can turn her hand to almost anything practical. My daughter has not been interested in sewing but has made the odd cross stitch picture which I treasure! One of my son's made his girlfriend a pair of pink tartan shorts for Christmas!!!!!( not sure if she treasures them but I'm sure she appreciates the effort involved!) Below is the shorts in progress! I love to grow seeds and plants, a few vegetables......when the children were little they had their own little bit of the garden which they grew easy stuff in, like Sunflowers and Marigolds and were inspired by my father-in-laws garden which was full of produce and stayed like that until he died aged 88.

If I had my time over again I would not only try to teach my children more practically but I would teach them to let go of perfectionism. Everything does not need to be perfect, do it as well as you can but we do not need to have

-a perfect home

-a perfect body

-a perfect wedding

-a perfect car

-a perfect luxury holiday

etc.....

The nicest wedding I ever saw was entirely homemade, dresses, cakes, food and wild flowers on the tables in big jugs, the best holidays we ever had were when the children were young and we couldn't afford anything except camping....I could go on but you get the picture!

Is it too late? Hopefully not, and seeing my children now I can see that they are doing some stuff anyway....maybe they just watched! If I ever have grandchildren I will teach them how to do things like cook and sew for fun. Men also have a part to play, let them help Dad to make something, mend something and learn how to use tools.

Although I have written this in the first person, I was not alone bringing up our children, my husband and their father is an engineer and has passed this talent on to one of our son's who is now an engineer for a very posh and upmarket British car company ! My daughter works in the caring profession looking after children and young people with special needs, not easy at all, and our other son is about to return to the Royal Marines having sustained an injury during training he is about to start again. The Royal Marines taught him to be very tidy and his ironing skills are phenomenal! He is very resourceful and if there was a war and I had to hide in the woods to survive I would want him with me as he can survive outdoors with nothing! Bit of a Bear Grylls type!

Well this wasn't meant to be a rant, just a musing about using the gifts we have been given by God and passing skills on down the generations, not relying on this throwaway society. I get teased about my breadmaking, I don't use a breadmaker just the old fashioned way BUT...there is never any left to throw away, so however much I get teased, I know they like it really!

Quilts with feet!

This is the latest quilt to be made, I absolutely love these fabrics and secretly wish I could keep it, but it's an order for someone so it's not for keeping!

If you look closely you will see that this quilt has feet....... they look remarkably like my husbands feet!

Various fabrics have been used, it's machine pieced but hand quilted and hand bound round the edges.

I think when I have completed all the current orders from the sale I shall make a similar quilt for us!

And the result was.......

All the hard work was worth it today when we hosted the latest CrafTeas 'n' Cakes at Suzie' s home. The crafts sold well, cards sold more than ever before and the cakes...well they went like the proverbial hotcakes.

Suzie despite not feeling very well managed to get through the day and is seen here setting up the tea and cakes.

At times the lounge was full to bursting but the weather was mild and people were able to spill out into the garden to enjoy their cups of tea.

In total just over £700 was raised to share between the two causes, but that total will raise as we have a few orders to do. So if you came, a big THANK YOU for supporting us and more importantly children in parts of the world who are very needy. Also a special big thanks to my husband Dave who made teas and coffees and washed up for a solid 3 hours!
Now off to lie in a darkened room .......

History of CrafTeas 'n' Cakes

Last year I started to have a craft and cakes 'do' at our house to raise money for street children in Kolkata, India. I have been asked many times how and why it began so I thought I would put it here...just for the record! My daughter Amy went on a mission trip from our church, Canford Heath Baptist Church to Kolkata in India, she worked in various areas but the one that impacted her most were the children who live on the streets, under lamp posts, blankets and were just so poor. The Good News School bus picked the children up in the morning and took them to the school where they had a wash, clean clothes, a meal (cooked by the teacher before he drove the bus to pick them up) and gave them an education and some hope for the future. At the end of the day they were taken back to their pavements and so to their families again.


One story that shocked me was that during school one day the children made little shakers out of plastic cups filled with rice to shake and make a noise with. When the bus dropped the children off, one of the mothers of the children tore open the cup and got the rice out, ....it was food for the family that night. The team were wishing they had filled the cups up to the top when they saw this

Well, all this got me thinking about what I could do and thinking about using the gifts God has given me. One thing I love to do is to sew and be creative. As Dave and I travel around I am constantly scribbling ideas down, sketches of views and vistas I see and wanting to make a picture of them so it seemed a good idea to use this and so the first sale came about in 2010 just before the team went to India to raise money for craft stuff to take with them and use in the schools. We bought puppets for them to do puppet shows with (they loved them so much, they were left out in Kolkata in the school!) lots of other stuff was taken too.

The first sale was on my birthday at the end of May and was supposed to be a garden fair but had to be hastily regrouped indoors as it poured with rain the whole time! However we made £358 which was so much more than I thought we could make! If you look back in the blog to May 2010 you will see pictures of it.

The cakes were as popular (if not more so!) Family and friends got involved with cake making, washing up, etc..
As Christmas approached I felt it would be good to do another sale and was joined by my very good friend Suzie. Suzie and I are both Christians, we used to go to the same Church and we work together as palliative care nurses in a local hospice. Suzie has a special interest in summer camps in Romania for children and this is something I believe her church supports, I will try and get Suzie to write about it on here one day! So it was decided that we would both make and create and divide the proceeds between the two causes.

The Christmas sale was held in Suzie's home as she has a bigger lounge than we do and made £745 which was a staggering amount, it was divided between the two causes equally. (See blog entries for November 2010)

In June 2011 we had our 2nd garden fair...and yes, it was in the garden this time with blue skies! Suzie had other things she was involved with at that time, so it was just my stuff on sale but Suzie still helped me on the day. (Pictures in blog in June 2011)BMS India were given the proceeds which came to £650 which included some which went to Freeset which is also based in Kolkata and gives ex prostitute women a job making bags and gets them off the streets and gives them an income for them and their families.

So, in a nutshell that's the story so far. God willing, Suzie and I will carry on although we do probably need a bigger venue soon!

Amy, my daughter is praying and talking with various people about sometime doing more work out in India. Suzie and I are continuing for now with sewing, making and baking.

I would like to thank all the people who make this possible and give their time and talents freely, My husband Dave, who puts up with my fabric everywhere, sets the tables up and washes up and does more than I could ever say, my children, Amy, who makes amazing cup cakes. Will and Ed who help at the sales when they are home, Kat and Naomi, the two girlfriends who also get involved in selling. My mum who makes beatiful hand made lace items. Dr John and Mary who serve tea and cakes and do endless washing up, and others who willingly provide cakes, wash up and do so much . THANK YOU ALL!!!!

Well the next sale is on this Saturday at Suzies home so watch this space...right...off to make some cakes now! Malteser cakes I think................

Crafts and Cakes

About a month ago we held another Cake and Crafts day in the garden in aid of 'The Good News Schools' in India. It was a great day, sunny and warm (unlike last year when it poured all day!)

The roses were in full bloom, lots of willing helpers in the shape of the family and some friends too.

The crafts were finished,

Lots of cakes ready and iced....and we made £650 in total with Freeset bags too. Fab!

How good is this! I love this mosaic that is in the wonderful Farrington Gurney farm shop cafe just south of Bristol. we stopped there yesterday having dropped one son and two friends at the airport. Below is a wider view of the cafe and the mosaic. If you are in the area , visit it, the food is fab and the place great fun.

Doodling across the generations!

When I was a student nurse in the 70's I had this doodle art poster stuck on the wall of my room in the Nurse's Home, and I used to invite people to colour bits in and then sign it round the edge or somewhere.

It got quite competitive as you can see if you read the comments of my friend Jan! (Click on the picture to enlarge it)
Well, I found it again whilst de-cluttering the other day and have stuck it up on the kitchen door and guess what....the next generation have started to doodle too!

I'm going to leave it there with a box of felt tips on the kitchen table and maybe I'll frame it when it's complete and enjoy the memories!