The Little Mermaid at Odeon Cinemas

Girlguiding usually does one cinema trip a year - with units from all over meeting at their nearest Odeon Cinema. This year we've had two - as Matilda was released just before Christmas - and now the live action of The Little Mermaid is coming in early June. 

And of course, it goes without saying, there's a badge. 

Every Brownie who comes along to the screening will get a badge - the current count is quite low, just 12 girls. 

My badge order arrived today so I'm going to pop them into envelopes and hand them out at the cinema I think - just as it's so long before the end of term and the girls will probably forget. 

Yes, it's another badge. 

Let's Show Off My Blanket

The last post showed off the teen's camp blanket - it's her second so there aren't many badges on there to show off. I'm still on my first blanket - and thought it'd be worth showing it off. I also wanted to add a few notes on things I've done which are a good or bad thing. 

I found the Baby Shark themed badges funny, so decided sewing them in the middle of the blanket would be a smart move. It wasn't - that area seems to have the most pressure (and they're hand sewn) and comes undone the most. When I have a bit more strength I'll use the sewing machine as that method is way better for ensuring badges stay on. 

Bottom left - my Guide badges. We're talking proper 1980s Guides here - though you can't really see them on the picture. Next to the Guide badges are some of the current skills builder badges as well as a few other random badges I've picked up along the way. 

Bottom right - my Brownie badges. When I was a Brownie badges said 'Girl Guides' (they changed to 'Brownie Guides' at some point, possibly as I was leaving). Anyway, there's a decent amount there - including a Pixies badge (I was a Pixies sixer and second) - looking at those triangular badges makes me feel happy - and having them all together like this is good too. 

Middle bottom - my Rebel Badges I've earned. I bought the Rebel Badge Book and was working through a few different badges - then my health problems happened and things were put on hold. I'm now stronger and adapting what I'm working on to get the badges I've started completed. I earned the Community Service one retrospectively with my Girlguiding Volunteering (over seven years of it now) - and there are a few more which have been added. 

Everywhere else - badges, badges and more badges. The LaSER Paw Print badges which are evil to sew (unless you use a sewing machine), the random challenge badges worked on through the year. Australian badges bought in the Western Australia Girlguides HQ on more than one occasion. 

What would I have done differently? I started the blanket in the last 5/6 years, possibly longer. I have had a sewing machine for a couple of years - and I made the switch from hand sewing badges to machine around this time. It's a game changer - I tend to keep sewing and tidy up the loose threads at the end which speeds things up as well. I've tried glue (the badges fall off) and hand sewing (the stitches get loose and the badges fall off), so anything which means I do the process once is a good thing. 

So there's a look at my old blanket too. 

Hi There

Welcome to Notes from Guiding. 

I'm putting all my Girlguiding thoughts into this place, there might not be much but there will be some. 

As an introduction, I'm a Brownie and Guide leader currently on a break from Girlguiding due to having a brain tumour. I'm mid-way through treatment and I'm hitting the boredom of daytime tv - so what better to do than write about random things that crop up? 

The good thing is I'm doing little bits with the units so I know what is going on - but I'm not organising anything. It's a weird place to be - one minute you're organising meetings, the next minute you're in hospital and wondering what's going on. 

The thing keeping me busy this week is sewing badges onto mine and my daughter's camp blanket. My blanket isn't quite full yet but we've hit the area which is ever so awkward to sew - especially using a machine. My hands are too shaky to do any hand stitching - so there's only one way. I had a lot of badges to sew - we went to Australia last summer and none of those badges were sewn on. 

Daughter (aka the teen) has her second camp blanket so I've had an easier time sewing those. The first thing I did was to order letter badges from Pawprint - that way when she loses her blanket we've a good idea who it belongs to. I bought this blanket from Army and Navy - and it's huge. Also, I've been reliably informed it's very warm.