giveaway result and an overview...

I left you with a giveaway last week while I disappeared off to Harrogate for a few days for the Country Living Fair - more on that in a mo.

So were you lucky? Have you won your choice of Mimosa bundle?

Drum roll please...

 The lucky winner is Irene Garcia Diaz! (email me your address and your choice of Mimosa!)

If you weren't lucky enough to win a bundle, you can always go here and treat yourself to some anyway. You really will want to give it a try.

So Country Living Fair...how did it go?

It all started last Wednesday with my good friend Mr D helping me set up. His help was invaluable. The less said about Mr L having work commitments taking him to London, despite having it in his diary for months, the better.

Pretty swiftly we had it looking like this. All set and ready for the onslaught of predicted visitors.

Four effortful, exhausting days later and I rewarded myself with this...

quite honestly it wasn't really a question of reward...I wasn't capable of much else last night!

On balance I had a fantastic few days. I met up with a lot of buddies that I only see at fairs - Catherine and her lovely Mum were a couple of stands in one direction, Charlotte was a couple of stands the other way and Manda was diagonally opposite, although to be honest why the organisers put a stand in the way to block our immediate view I have no idea. We will have to have words. Rachelle and Tracy were a little far away for too many chats (more words needed) but it was definitely a highlight to finally meet this fab pair. Of course meeting up with the massive support network of the Soupers in person was fantastic too. As for all you wonderful peeps that were visiting and came by to say hi, bringing me cups of water, tea, loo breaks or just to introduce yourselves, I really appreciated it so thank you.

As for the fair itself as a business success? The jury is out as to whether it is an experience I will repeat. It is a very stressful time of year with busy online sales and keeping up with stockist top ups, not to mention remembering to say hi and feed my children. Getting ready for CL added to the stress at this time and I'm not convinced that the end result justified the chaos we have lived in over the last few weeks and indeed months.

Having said that, I'm very keen to look into Glasgow for next year...just shoot me now!

Giveaway...!

 This week's kind sponsor giveaway is from the lovely Alice of Backstitch. 

The fabric on offer is a bundle of 6 Mimosa Linen/Cotton blends in an array of beautiful colours.
Mimosa is a great value linen too. At just £10.50/m for a wider width of 136cm.

It is a lovely soft fabric with a fairly open weave and works really well for all manner of projects, from quilting to general craft to dress-making with it's lovely soft drape.

 The image above is a beautiful quilt Alice made. The jewelled colours are stunning and I bet the quilt is so cosy.

 Alice sent me a bundle of these colours above to have a play with and whilst I am itching to make a quilt myself out of the Mimosa, it just ain't happening this week!

Instead I made this little pinnie for the fair this week.

(The pattern is an adaptation from Aunty Cookie's pattern available here.) I teamed it with some of my Scruffy Daisy in Coral which matched perfectly.

I found the fabric to be perfect for this project. Being so soft, it's going to be dead comfy to wear.

If you would like the chance to get your hands on a bundle for free, Alice is offering one lucky UK/European reader the chance to win a bundle of 6 fabrics.

Head here to see which you would choose and come back and tell us which one!
And for a further 2 comments come back and tell me you follow Alice's blog and also follow her on Twitter. So 3 chances to win this!

The giveaway will be open until this time next week - Tuesday 4 December - which will give you all something to do while I'm here from tomorrow, which is set up day,  until Sunday. If you are in the vicinity I really hope you will manage to come and please do pop by Stand C60 to see all my creations and say hi. It would be so nice to see you!

ps please PLEASE make sure you leave an email address for me to contact you if you are a No Reply blogger.

countdown...

I am 10 days away from having a stand at my biggest fair to date...and I am bricking it!

I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

In just 10 days Blueberry Park will be at Country Living Christmas Fair, which is in Harrogate for the first time. 

This is the first time too that I will have done a retail event that consists of more than just a table top display.

I have a stand that is 3m x1m, no great shakes in CL terms but since I normally have a single 1.5m at most table, this is one hellava space to fill.

In an attempt to make it as eye-catching as possible, both in decor and items to sell and have some more larger "in your face" pieces I have designed my Pompom Cushion range of Gerry and Steve, to hopefully catch people's attention as they sidle by.

I am also aware that people will be after little stocking fillers and little extras while they are at it, so have also come up with another new item - a trio of xmas tree decos, screen printed on warm fluffy felt.

I am still none-the-wiser how I am going to display everything and still have a vast amount of stock still to make, but hopefully I am there in terms of which items I am going to take.

And to be quite honest with just over a week to go, let's hope so!

If you live in the vicinity and fancy a little excursion, the fair runs from Thursday November 29 until Sunday December 1. I am on stand C60 and would love to see you there!

ps don't forget about the fab Green Bee Pattern giveaway from The Village Haberdashery that I am running until next Weds...enter before it's too late!

I've only just recovered from catching up from the summer holidays. 

Actually I will rephrase that...

I am still recovering from catching up from the summer holidays.

And now it's Half Term...for 2 weeks...what's that all about?!

Apparently it's about seeing quite how far I can stretch before I snap. 

Let's hope it's sometime after all the preparation and execution of the looming Christmas fairs!

Speaking of looming fairs, I will be at the following and would really love to see you...

Selvedge Winter Fair - Sat Nov 10

We Make London Spitalfields Market - Sun Nov 11

Country Living Fair Harrogate - Thurs 29 Nov - Sun 2 Dec