Saturday 19 December 2015

4,999 views!

It's been 2 weeks since I was here last and it's been hectic to say the least!
The craft fair last weekend was disappointingly slow. The weather was unpleasant - not actually raining but dark, windy and... unpleasant. There were quite a few visitors to the fair but not as many as I thought there might be considering there were 40 traders!! I bought more than I sold! But at least I did sell something. The rest has been neatly packed away while I decide what to do with it.

I did meet some lovely ladies there though. I was particularly struck by the work of Sarah Duke of Dottery Pottery. She had the most gorgeous tea lite holder - Bird and Flower Tea Lite holder - that I really wanted to buy for myself. But I'm supposed to be buying Christmas presents for other people not things for me. So I decided I would only buy it if she still had it at the end of the fair. Naturally, she sold it 10 mins before it closed!!! Never mind. She said she'll be making more in the new year, so I'll just have to wait.She also gave me some very good advice about selling online - should I ever bite the bullet and go down that route.

Work has been horrendously busy!! It's such a hugely busy time of year anyway but when you're short staffed with no help, it really is no joke.I do worry about all the things that are just being left undone...
But Monday's are still amazing - I enjoy them so much you really can't call them work! And Lyn, the lovely manager, asked if I was happy to carry on in the New Year. Like I'd say no!! I asked what she had planned for the window for Valentine's - it needs to be ready by mid-January to give people time to buy the necessary supplies, then make their Valentine a gift. I just got a "look" for that idea!! Maybe we'll get Christmas over with first. I do have a few ideas though. I made a Pinterest board specially and have started filling it!


I saw this magazine recently and decided to buy it as it had a few good ideas I fancied trying. You can always rely on Woman's Weekly for good ideas! I remember my Mum buying it every week for years and we all had a read. The things I made from it!! I still see charities selling knitted Christmas decorations that I made from the magazine pattern 30 years ago!
Anyway, one of the patterns in the magazine was for a draught excluder, decorated with beach huts and I love a row of beach huts as much as the next person. So when my niece's boyfriend said his Gran might like a draught excluder for Christmas, you can imagine the wattage of the light bulb that went on in my head!!!



It just so happened that someone had only that day given me a roll of suedette fabric that I could use. And although I really wanted to make the beach huts, they would have taken a lot of work that I didn't have time for right before Christmas. Plus, the recipient was said to like flowers and it just so happened that I knew I had some ready cut patchwork flowers leftover form a quilt that I could use. And the magazine pattern suggested using a rolled up bath towel as a filling, and we just happened to have an old one that hadn't quite reached the bin. Clearly it was meant to be made!!
I made it the very next day as that was the only day I could guarantee I'd have time to do it and it didn't take long at all. The hardest part was trying to hand stitch the very thick suedette fabric. The pattern called for the insertion of a 50cm zip to make putting the towel in easier but I didn't have one. I had to struggle to try and inset a rolled up towel into a tight tube with a really grippy texture! And then stitch the ends closed...When I use this fabric again, I'll rethink that bit!!
But it turned out ok and my niece's boyfriend was pleased, so hopefully his Gran will be too. He says she re-gifts just about everything given to her as she's 90 and doesn't need anything. But she does need a draught excluder as she keeps pulling the doormat up in front of the door. So she might just keep it.



And finally, as I logged in today I had a nice little surprise of seeing that the number of views of my blog has reached 4,999!!!


Admittedly, a lot of those will be mine own I daresay and an awful lot of robots like to come and take a peak too. But I know there are real people who drop in now and then, so Thankyou and I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!

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