I imagine that my stress and anxiety have been pretty palpable across the R2R air waves these last couple of weeks … I apologise if that has been the case and my negative vibes have affected you.
This latest request has most certainly been one of the most challenging thus far. Firstly the request arrived not only with the age of every child requiring clothes but also with them individually named…for me that made it extremely personal.
It also arrived with the challenges of some things required that aren’t in our usual remit…Salwar & Khamis for the girls as well as sizes from 12 months. In addition to these challenges the hive (& my hubby’s music room & the hallway & the dining table) had become totally overwhelmed with donations….thank goodness that the angels Val and Amanda turned up when they did offering much needed assistance in clearing & sorting and despite lacking of my level of OCD for colour coordinating fabric piles and hospital bed style folding, they came in and worked non stop and achieved more in one day than I could have in a month to get the Hive back into some semblance of order…for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart ladies.
The new level of order allowed me to set to working on an outfit for ‘Mustafa’, the youngest in our Swat Valley request…creating a pattern for the 1yr old and consequently the outfit.
Incidents and accidents later ….not least Queen Bee being ‘proper poorly’ ……glue gunning my finger….breaking the needle in my sewing machine, stitching almost a whole outfit in side out, the stress levels were soaring!
Karen to the rescue!! She’s been holed up in the Intercon for a reason! And with no other distractions, managed to fulfil a major portion of the boys fleece sets single handedly!! Amanda meanwhile set to on pulling 4 x 5-6 yr olds girls Khamis & Salwar out of the bag & Yukti came up trumps with the last few Salwar….by the skin of our teeth I’m delighted to tell you that every child has an outfit and a soft toy heading their way to the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
Huge well done ladies…..you’ve done it again!
Best wishes all, Ceri
