Mind the gap

The problem with having a bit of a gap between blog entries means there is invariably a lot to say and we know you don’t have hours to spend catching up with our doings. Depending on what our fairy blog mother thinks, we may have a few entries spaced out over the next couple of weeks. Or, we may just hit you with the lot! (Fairy blog mother says she'll feed you the goodies gradually.)Kopila, our program coordinator, worked tirelessly throughout the Newstart training even though she and her family were going through a difficult time as her father was very sick. Her dad passed away last month after a long and difficult illness and she knew that many people sent their love and support. Many of the ladies and the Board of Samunnat travelled to Kopila’s home town for the funeral and she found great comfort in that.We have fantastic support from the Samunnat family in many different forms. People send their love, messages of encouragement and strength, money, craft supplies and ideas. They sell our products or chocolate or both!For those of you in South Eastern Victoria in Australia, if you visit the delightful town of Yackandandah on a weekend, drop in to Seedpod, a small shop run by one of our stalwarts, Kate R, and a friend of hers. They are recruiting a team of volunteers and sell Fair Trade items (including many of ours) on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This is a small, totally voluntary venture that has delighted the ladies here.We imagined Kate might have just spread a blanket out at the Bus Park but they are definitely more organised than that. The photo shows Kate and baby Pippa and some woman who wants to spend money at their quaint shop.

Recently, Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio, two famous polymer priestesses from the United States, gave the ladies permission to reproduce a quantity of necklaces using a design of Lindly’s that they included in a gorgeous book they wrote last year. (For the polymer people in our readership, the book probably needs no introduction but is called Polymer Clay Color Inspirations and is very fantastic as we say here!)We are going to produce a limited edition of the necklace to sell in Australia to help raise some funds. The ladies love looking at this book and we have started to make the necklaces although we have been a bit distracted (see our next entry).These shots show the ladies drooling over the book and starting to produce the many petals that we need to make over the next few months. Australians, strap yourselves down and people anywhere else, buy them from Lindly or get the book!To Janis, Deb, Yuko, Melanie, Emma, the Lions Club of Kyle Bay and all those who have recently made such generous donations, thank you so much. We had a quiet month between orders and some unexpected bills so these donations were very gratefully received.