Rescue Me Animal Charity needs more than knitting!

I love my animals, although at times I do think that having children would be easier than the kitten who is currently sat on my knee, purring....We'd like another kitten but don't think she would cope since she is so needy & demanding! 

I saw something odd on Facebook a week ago which got me thinking; all animals in shelters have a sad back story but its amazing how as soon as one gets press how quickly people can open their homes when previously they never thought of taking on a rescue animal. It has to be that one because of that story.

Imagine then you work a day job but you also run a charity & welcome every abandoned animal but if you cant take it then you find an alternative foster home. That's what Rescue Me Animal charity does. 

They believe that by looking after a rescue pet in a home environment we are able to fully assess the animal, understand its needs and the type of home he/she will require and ultimately match them to a suitable home.

Orphans from birth!

They have a strict non-destruct policy and will keep every animal in their care until a forever home can be found.

Happy in a New Home!

Happy rehomed kittens at Christmas!

Can you believe they had trouble finding him a home?!

That's everything...feeding, playing, cleaning, walking etc. All the costs, all the time & all the difficulties of dealing with an upset animal in a strange environment. Personally I could not do it & we would love another animal!





They also support members of the public who need pet related advice. This is achieved by promoting neutering schemes and providing transport to the vets when necessary. They also offer free behavioural advice if an owner is struggling with their pet. Often this support can keep an animal in it's home, reducing the amount of animals needing rescue spaces.

However the charity is struggling to help everyone that needs their help with the current set up. Having their own purpose built kennels and cattery facility would enable us to help a lot more needy animals. Its basic things like having a day job means that waiting in for delivery's of donations of food, which then need to be distributed to all the other foster homes, is really difficult & time consuming. 

So how are we helping?

There's the call for knitted or crochet squares to be made into blankets to help reduce costs & provide comfort! Size, style & colour isn't important (just not offensive...) These blankets become the animals own & help provide comfort & something familiar during fostering, vet trips & help settle them quicker into their forever homes.

We are also asking for donations of food! Kitten, puppy, dog & cat. 

Also cat litter, toys, anything you can to help these foster volunteers & keep the animals happy! 

The Crosby Tea Rooms have volunteered themselves as a drop off point for all donations!

Their opening hours are:

Monday: Closed

Tuesday - Friday: 10am-4pm

Saturday: 9am - 4pm

Sunday: 10am - 3pm

Drop stuff in any-time & once we have a largish amount we will arrange for it to be collected at a time that suits them!

More info about their great work can be found through the links below:

Rescue Me Website

Facebook

Twitter

This is a long term project as there is no time limit when animals will stop needing our help....

*all photographs have been taken from the Rescue Me Facebook page*

Knit a Tulip for ME!

I am constantly approached by charities wanting me to help them out with a project or a cause & I find it hard saying no. However if I said yes to every request I'd be a full time charity knitter unable to do my day job or my business. 

After the success of the NHS Blood drop campaign donations I felt the need to do some more woolly goodness.

However this one never asked me, I stumbled upon it via someone else I know & these guys are awesome!

Knit a Tulip for ME is wanting to take a campaign to Parliament next year to protest the governments funding cuts of families with disabled children. They want to lay 25,000 tulips outside, one to represent each child diagnosed in the UK with ME to show the volume of people that will be affected. The Tulips will all be for sale (bit like the ceramic poppies outside The Tower of London) to raise money for the charity AYME.

The deadline is May & I know that knitting magazines are doing features on it etc so they are building up a lot of awareness but they need A LOT more tulips! 

If you want to get involved them awesome! To save on everyone's p&p if you are local to me I will be sending off a batch with GOPA covering the postage cost so shall arrange a collection point! If not I can get the postage info for you or you can send to me & I'll send them on! 

Challenge accepted anyone? (The picture above is what 830 Tulips look like so can you imagine 25,000?!)

If so let me know how many you will commit too...be realistic & don't put yourself under too much pressure!

Colour wise it's all down to you!

UPDATE!!

If you are local to Liverpool you can drop the Tulips off to me at our bi-weekly craft meet or at Rex;The Concept store! (Map below) They will be having a collection box at the entrance! 

Rex Location

  

New Years Organisation Resolution!

This year (although only on day 5) is going well so far! Have a day off from the day job so didn't get out of bed till past 12 (normally up 6.30-7.30am depending on shift) as super comfortable & the house was cold!

I have had this date earmarked to sort out all my books for months as I am TERRIBLE at bookkeeping! The Women's Organisation would be ashamed! What it has meant though, in my desperate desire to avoid, is that I've got LOADS of other admin & emailing done! 

My CE certification pack will be arriving today so can now set a testing day.

I'm in the middle of organising loads of workshops on top of the one I have advertised. 

I'm also organising a charity knit/crochet which I'll be posting about in the next few days! Project guest blog is set for April to celebrate GOPA being a year old!  

New lighting equipment has been ordered.

Valentine's & Easter makes are designed, priced & have completion dates.

Meetings have been set.

Enquiry emails sent.

Possible new home found for craft meetings.

Organising a second charity drive.

I don't want to do my books ha ha!

But I will...

Yesterday was the wife's birthday (we have been bff's for 6 years so now at wife status) so we (me, the wife, the boy & the sideburn-y one) ventured out to anew restaurant on Bold Street, Liverpool, called Mowgli's & it was fantastic! 

Indian tapas is awesome & the staff where super helpful with our waitress putting up with our group indecisiveness & eventually ordering for us! She made some wonderful choices...

We then did late Christmas, as always we failed as part of both of the wife's & sideburn-y'a presents are still m.i.a, but they did good with presents of food & booze, including posh biscuits which we have been enjoying this morning (afternoon) with coffee instead of eating lunch (see what I meant about old habits?!) 

If you would like to be involved in the craft charity event drop me an email at enquiries@girlonpurlaction.co.uk & I will send you the info pack out asap!  

Hello 2015!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a wonderful time whatever you got up to! I just sat in drinking with the boy as I'd been up super early for the day job but had a lovely New Years Day with my folks drinking champagne with an Indian takeaway! 

Christmas with the boy's family was great but a lot more hectic & energetic than the food based coma at mine! We had snow in Liverpool on Boxing Day which was great as we where out in Woolton Village for my Dad's birthday, although it made getting home difficult but I did get to see Ganthet who had the best Christmas ever at hotel parents! My Mum uses him being there as an excuse to have the fire on all the time as he needs to be kept warm, I swear she is cold blooded herself! 

Now all the festivities are done with for another year everyone is all about "change" be it personal or other. I'm not setting any "must loose 2 stone" goals as I'm pretty realistic on that front & know that come the 15th I'll be back to my old tricks again! It's difficult enough working & trying to run a business & some form of a life without trying to make drastic changes to all parts! It's a good day if I put makeup on! 

Making lots of changes here too at GOPA HQ with the first off being that I'm going for CE certification (toy safety to most of us!) which I will blog about as it means essentially destroying my work in everyday imaginable to see how it copes with extreme stresses! 

I'm going to be putting a lot more varied stock in Rex in the coming months, branching out on the baby, accessories & home wear lines!

I'm also going on a one day course to learn how to use Etsy better as my shop keeping skills are shocking to say the least! I wanted to have a January sale but I've no stock at the minute so I'll be spending this month making!

 

If one of your New Years resolutions was to learn a new skill I still have spaces available for my beginners knitting workshop in Ormskirk & I'll be announcing others asap! There will be lots of themed workshops this year too as they prove very popular! 

I'll keep you all posted on new makes & when I'm reopening the Etsy shop! Now it's back to the pattern drawing board!