A full week ahead

Today is the beginning of my first whole week to work in over 10 weeks. I am not kidding! First there were the eternal school holidays. Then there was the week when Noah and Ruby went back and Samuel was still loitering about. Then last week I scarpered off to France for a little jaunt. And finally today has arrived. The day I have been looking forward to for weeks. I was planning to finally finish the trade show orders and get cracking on other long overdue things. All hope for a great start to the week was shattered when my PC picked up a virus over the weekend (one friend misheard and thought I said the children had a virus and would come over when they were better and the coast was clear!) and I have just spent the last 2 hours speaking to online technicians to get it fixed. So my week has already started off on the wrong foot. Still, all is better now and I can confidently surf to my heart's content.

Just before I go I wanted to share a couple of things with you. The first is a new kit that will soon be arriving from our much loved friends over at Prints Charming. This is a stunning handprinted linen fabric with 12 motifs all ready to be turned into beautiful Christmas decorations. Nice, huh?

The second is the reason I have to go... as you can see I can no longer actually get in to my studio. I have been well and truly taken over by my kits. Hence the reason why I was so looking forward to today and this week. I can avoid it no longer...

So last year...

I'm back from my little jaunt to the South of France with some of my oldest school friends. Lots of R 'n' R. Lots of 'Happy Hours' ;-). Lots of laughter and lots of lazying around in the sun reading books. Unfortunately I left my camera behind, but it wasn't wholly disimilar to this.

It is a real respite to escape for a few days and I did completely relax whilst I was there. I wasn't actually sure whether I'd manage it since I'm in the midst of such chaos and manicness at the mo. I'm pleased to report back that a little sunshine goes a long way.

Now I'm back I need to focus big time to pull everything back into order. The kids are back at school, so I can't even use them as an excuse anymore. It's just me and my powers of focussing to make sure I can make life just a little less stressful.

I'll give it my best shot.

Singing the Blues

My day started exceptionally well when I woke up to an order from a new customer, courtesy of her spotting one of my Blueberry Park products in October's issue of Country Living Magazine.

It's been one of my ambitions to have a product featured in the Emporium section of Country Living. It's such a great showcase of, normally, handcrafted pieces. And to see my website address in this salubrious magazine is a real thrill.

Hopefully it will be the first of many...

For the ladies

A couple of my friends are having birthdays this week, so I've enjoyed a brief interlude from compiling kits and have rustled up a couple of purses.

I normally hate cutting into my stashes of favoured fabrics, but when it's for a gift I think it's worth it.

My little pieces of Of Paper & Thread designs , by the uber talented Danielle, are rapidly diminishing. But I love using them as they are so utterly divine that just a touch gives an item a huge lift (as you noticed in my sister's cushions).

The Kei dots are another fave - I know, you must be getting sick of them! Again, a little goes a long way.Another must have is Anna Maria Horner's Social Climber in Ice. At least I can get that easily from my lovely British supplier.

I've had fun making these purses. There has been little creativity going on around here of late, so it was great to have an excuse to play with my fabric. I just hope that the girls concerned will be pleased with their gifts.

Whoops

I'm sitting here, on a bright and beautiful morning, minding my own business, waiting for a customer to turn up, catching up on a few blogs. And before I know it these have slipped into my basket...

Thanks for the heads up, Rita about wonderful Wonderfluff ;-)

One Lady's Rubbish...

Does this look like rubbish to you? Take a closer look...

Look at these little ditsy flowers...

And will you check out this bird in a blossom tree. Is this not a perfect little picture? Albeit of the miniature 8x6cm variety.

And what about these reds? Yep, you've spotted Prints Charming in there.

And I know that this next one is a personal favourite for lots of you...

The point is that, while these tiny scraps of almost nothingness, despite their beauty, don't warrant saving for the majority of people, once the quilt is made, the bag is finished and all they are fit for is the garbage. For me this is pure treasure. After all I don't need much to make any of these.

So whilst those scraps were one lady's rubbish, they are pure gold to me. And whilst we are the subject...I know one lady who will think my garbage is rather sparkling too...

Thanks for your rubbish, Manda ;-)

Whiling away the hours

Today is the first day of Back to School. We were all up early (some more excited then others) but we managed to do everything in good time and what's more, without the usual mania and shouting that seems to accompany the school morning. And even the sun is shining! So a good start.

I've been eagerly anticipating the start of term, so that I can get down to some serious uninterrupted work. Let's face it, I have been on definite go slow during the school holidays, through no fault of my own, but it has left a huge backlog which really needs dealing with.

Today is the day to put all wrongs to right. I could be in my studio for 9 and not leave until 3. 6 whole hours.

Needless to say it is now 10am and I am not up there. Again, no fault of mine. I can't hear the door bell in the attic and I've been expecting 2 calls, both of whom said they'd be here for 9. One has been...I'm still waiting for the other.

I've caught up on all my emails etc (translated as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook...) and I'm still sitting here waiting, so I thought I'd show you a little Prints Charming embroidery I started yesterday evening. It's only in it's beginning stages. But it's such a lovely design to work with, I'm enjoying the calmly sitting down process of it all. And of course I was awake half the night with further developments of it...

Ok, customer number 2 has not turned up. Up I go. Hope you have a great day and hope I can report tomorrow that I am back on track and some Stockists are happy again with me.

(P.S. I should have said...you can obviously buy and create your own little embroidery piece right here!)