The big jolly pumpkin edition October
Hello to everyone
Autumn Days
It’s easy to see the days changing now as we wade through autumn leaves, in chillier temperatures and less light both early and late in the day. I wonder if you have plans for Halloween? Thanks to everyone who has purchased from our array of goodies.
If you crochet, there is a link further down the newsletter to have a go at making a pumpkin….. and if you don’t yet crochet you could give it a try, the teacher is a young boy who is a crochet guru but you can also download the patterns.
Christmas Wish Lists
I am now going to mention Christmas, I’m sorry but it is with good intention. Last year I had the idea of creating wish lists for the shop, but it was too late in the day to create them. However, this year lovely Geoff has created them on the website for you.
You no longer need to get the dog to drop hints for you or train the kids to tell someone. You can sit in the comfort of your own home, feet up with a cuppa or a glass of something perhaps and scroll through the items online.
If you find something you like, you just need to click on the little heart in the top left corner of the item photo or the add to wish list button. You can do this for as many items as you wish. When you have finished you can go to ‘Wish list’ at the top of the main menu and if you click on that it will show you your list.
Just above the little pictures on your list you will see ‘Share’ and some icons, these icons allow you to share on social media or email to friends and family. I hope you find this added little feature helpful.
Creative Group
The planned Facebook creative group, hasn’t happened yet, my course got in the way, but my intention is to finish creating it next week, starting with some fun items in there for anyone to try at home.
Back to Skool
Speaking of my course I began my year with the School of Social Entrepreneurs this week, with two days of talks and questions along with 19 other participants from Yorkshire and the North East. They run an amazing range of social enterprises and I will introduce them to you when I get to know them better but in the meantime here is a short video about the kind of work social enterprises do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU053QOJfCU&feature=youtu.be
Just Another Day
Most of you are aware of my felt making exploits, but maybe not everyone is aware that I also paint and up to COVID arriving I would spend as many Mondays as possible in my studio in North Shields creating in a different way to the other 6 days.
Just like many others with shielding conditions I was instructed to isolate at home in March and did so for 104 days, during which time I made a 20 minute painting each morning, as I couldn’t speak to anyone and found over time that the silence and isolation was quite damaging to my mental health.
Two things have come out of that time, the first is an online exhibition of the paintings I produced, which I have titled Just Another day. You can watch the video here. The second was the fact I am very definitely struggling with the loss of my speech and have decided that I have to do everything I can to try and restore it. Part of this is raising sufficient funds, as the NHS want me to wait another year and I can’t do that. They have refused me twice already.
The paintings I produced went on sale last week and are available in the shop now, as well as greeting cards from a small selection of them and can be seen and purchased online.
I have also created a crowdfunding page which gives a more detailed story and can be found here. I would be really grateful if you could share that page, as driving and managing that appeal on my own as well as everything else is difficult, especially when you can’t shout about it.
My list of links
First one is the crochet pattern and video from Jonah’s Hands
https://jonahhands.com/?fbclid=IwAR1oqjPwTU2ZtbR6HiiK4Vd5fax-cr_JblkXWFIIgyKz1wgLKXahIfJNAf0
For anyone who is missing travelling or indeed visiting museums then this one is lovely, as the Guardian published a list of the weird, wacky and wonderful unsung museums
If you are looking for a half term activity then there is a Halloween themed trail through Northumberland Park available from the Sunday 25th October to Sunday 1st November. This link will take you to the page with all the details and you can download and print a route map
https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/node/27130?fbclid=IwAR1g2Z2YSdMH0mwUFCA7E1vO3Oz5Pn1pv6AD-BafxlDYb6L5rqeU7uHPR5k
Internet safety for children, young people and other vulnerable groups is really important and can be difficult to maintain, especially when so much of our lives is now spent online. Internet Matters have launched an online safety hub for parents, carers and professionals, full of advice about how to maintain safety while using the internet. You can find that here
https://www.internetmatters.org/inclusive-digital-safety/?fbclid=IwAR2hUFgvb7IreovEilVBf3bXyMYa1SYN7A6t-4sm_jSE32UOl3H5VJP5EZM
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health problems and can’t get help from your GP then you can approach Anxious Minds who are based in Wallsend and offer confidential help quickly. You can find their details here
https://www.anxiousminds.co.uk/
Stay safe and stay well
Gail Curry
Artist
