buttons

after more counting and bagging the buttons are back!...it's been quite a relaxing day today, I packed orders, had a little tidy up, counted and bagged buttons, updated the website and cut out some sewing......I'm still just plodding through everything, one job at at time (which is unusual for me, normally I have 20+ jobs on the go at any one time!)...the next job is to get the John Lewis delivery down the stairs, on the pallets and into the truckQuick Links :: 2 hole buttons :: 4 hole buttons :: teeny tiny buttons :: flower buttons

plodding

I've been slowly plodding my way through the past few days ... my shops have kept me nicely busy (which has helped) I've kept etsy & ebay shut, and plan to keep it that way until next week... Nan's funeral is being held on Monday 5th September.I've spent hours sorting buttons on the sofa...and John helped me put the finishing touches to the next John Lewis delivery, which leaves here this Wednesday, thank goodness most of it was done already...(sorry about the photo!)today I spent all day packing orders......all orders are done and will be posted today, and I've listed new posting days on the website for customers who order so they know what's going on.
Thank you for all your kind, supportive and understanding comments ... I can't reply to them at the moment because I get so sad...but I have read them all (so have my Mum & Dad) and they have helped, so again...thank you all.

Nanny.

On Monday about 5.30pm my Mum & Dad called me from my sister's house (they were 2 days into a week long stay) to tell me my Nan was in hospital and we needed to go to her. She'd had a fall and her brother had found her and called an ambulance.

My parents and my Nan all live in Plymouth, just round the corner from each other, but my sister lives near Kingston and I live in Worthing .. so we were all about 200 miles away!

We all chucked things in bags and I quickly shut my shops as best as I could and left a message on here. Luckily John drove me, I'm so glad he could come with me.

We arrived at the Hospital about 11.30pm and Nan was in isolation in ICU. She was very poorly indeed but they had stabilised her and were planning more treatment throughout the night. We spent time with her and I am sure she knew we were all there. We all went to Mum & Dad's house and fell into bed , none of us slept much and on Tuesday morning (only yesterday) we were all in the kitchen thinking about breakfast and cups of tea and coffee when the phone rang at 7.30am

I think my stomach touched the floor.

We got to the hospital in super-quick time and Nanny looked more peaceful than she had the night before. The doctors and nurses told us that Nanny was deteriorating rapidly. They were reacting with medicine and trying so hard for her but she was shutting down, every time they got her stable again she just got worse and worse...we all stayed round her bed and talked to her for hours and we told her why we loved her so much and then they came and said that they didn't think we should give her the medicine anymore and let her pass away quietly, not to prolong it for her. I am in shock really....writing it all here has cleared my head a bit (and made me cry a lot more)I'm glad she is with my Grandad again because they belong together but I am so so sad that we have lost her.

Thank you for your messages from the last post...I feel propped up by them, if that makes sense...I need to keep busy and I will be in my workshop but I have decided to keep my shops closed for a few days...thank you for those that ordered over the past day or so, it's so good to have something to focus on

temporarily closed

due to a very sudden illness in my family I am temporarily closing my shops...I posted parcels as normal today but if you have ordered this evening I will email you in the morning (or as soon as I can) so you know what's going on....I have access to emails etc so can keep in touch with everything as and when I need to.... I hope to be back as soon as I can.....

spotted!

My sister lives near Kingston John Lewis and yesterday she paid a visit and took some photos for me!

eeekkk!!

it's so exciting to see them on the shop floor!

out to dry

This morning I dyed some more 2 hole & 4 hole buttons, I do it on a Saturday because the only space I have for drying is on my packing table & I don't pack parcels on the weekend ... I just hope they are dry by Monday morning, officially the busiest packing day of the week!...once they have dried I just have to sort them into sizes and bag them up and *hurrah* the buttons will be back in stock!

turquoise & red

look at these lovely new buttons!

polka dot buttons in Turquoise & Red! I've added them to the pick-your-own selection (where each and every button is available individually) so you can pick the exact number of buttons you need for a project...and who doesn't need polka dot buttons?

iron on flowers

I cut (by hand with my scissors) lots of flowers yesterday evening...54 to be exact!

they are all neatly packed into packs of threeand have been listed in the shop......click here to take a peep!

decisions decisions

my flower Iron On's have nearly all sold out so today I spent a lovely couple of hours picking fabrics and preparing them ... tomorrow the Iron On shop will be full again!

it was a successful evening!

yesterday evening, a cup of coffee & a couple of hours saw some of the contents of the boxes you saw yesterday sorted into piles
4 colours, 2 of each colour...all ready and waiting to be put in these boxes ....once I've stuck all the stickers on!

this is evening I have a date with....

...some felt squares!!

are they coming to a store near you ?

Lots of you have asked which John Lewis stores my kits will be in and I finally have an answer for you!

Currently they are in Oxford Street *yay!* and they will soon be in the following stores:

Stratford London (opens in September), Cardiff, Peter Jones, Kingston, Reading, Milton Keynes, Blue Water, Southampton, Welwyn, Watford, Peterborough, Cribs, High Wycombe, Solihull, Cheadle, Trafford, Cambridge, Leicester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Nottingham, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Norwich, Knight & Lee (Hampshire).....phew! what a long list!

it's a good job I'm working hard on the next batch ;-)

it's finally free

this elusive box has been stuck in customs but today, finally, it has arrived!

inside is my latest supplies order from America..lots of gorgeous ribbon spools (and the mini brads I forgot to photo!) are now back in stock and can be found in the shop

the story of the kits ... continued

I started designing my new kits back in January...I did lots of sketching, pattern drafting and sample making which carried on for about 2 months and finally I had designs that made me smile, and I hope, will make you smile too!

The first completed sample was my hedgehog ::

and pretty quickly he had 3 friends ::

During this time I was under a bit of pressure to price up and package the kits, so they would look good in a BIG shop...John Lewis liked my existing kit's packaging but wanted something in a box so they could stack it....easy right?

well...after a lot of phoning and quoting and guess work on my behalf it became obvious that printed cardboard boxes were expensive & such a waste as they are destined to be thrown in the bin...so I did more researching, phoning and hunting and found my plastic boxes....perfect!

I love that the box can be kept forever....I love that they are made in England ... and mostly I love that they can be used as little trays whilst the kits are being made ::

Today I have asked John Lewis which shops the kits are in/going to be in and once I have found out I will let you know! I am also selling them in my shop, for the same price as John Lewis are selling them at (£15)

winners announced

wowee!
274 comments this time round....

as always I have called the random number machine into action and it has chose the 2 winners ::

number 1 :: Michelle

and number 188 :: Isobel

WELL DONE ladies, I'll email you both shortly
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John Lewis Update

August's freebie can be found by clicking here

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My first delivery to John Lewis has finally arrived at their distribution centre...after I posted this post all the delivery details I had arranged went completely wrong! My complete panic and slight hysteria were calmed by John...who proceeded to save the day and book a new delivery company...I then re-arranged the delivery date with John Lewis for the 4th August.

It seems that delivery companies don't like new business much, because the new company didn't pick up on Monday as arranged, but did finally come on Tuesday...thankfully the pallets arrived on time and are now somewhere in the John Lewis system.

phew!

And all of that means it's about time I shared my new kits!

these pictures are the front of the boxes...

...there are 4 different kits in this delivery...

...with 2 Christmas kits to come next month...

...next week I shall be blogging about them in more detail (and might just bore you with a lot of kit talk!) but if you can't wait till then you can see more photos in the shop

freebie day :: August 2011

hurrah for freebie day!

to celebrate the reduction of all my felt prices (read yesterday's post for more details) this month's freebie is a felt-y one!

I have 10 of my *new* Mini Felt Rolls to give away, split into 2 prizes of 5 rolls each

Each roll is 30cm x 180cm (12" x 70") so there's a lot of felt for the winners to craft with

How to enter

Simply leave a comment on this post to enter

I will post worldwide so everyone from everywhere is welcome to enter

Rules

Strictly one entry per person

I must be able to contact you via your comment

The freebie will close on Tuesday 9th August and the winners announced shortly afterwards
GOOD LUCK!

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freebie has closed at comment #274

A Very Important Felt Announcement

I've reduced all of my felt prices!

I've committed to buy a substantial amount of felt from my suppliers to get my prices down...and I've passed on all the savings in my shops!

I've finally finished re-doing the website and all the changes & cheaper prices are there for you to see

my new price list ::

each 12" square was 85p now 75p

each 24" square was £3.25 now £2.75

half metre cut from the roll was £8.50 now £7.50

4" rainbow was £6 now £5

9" rainbow was £19 now £17.50

12" rainbow was £35 now £31.50

24" rainbow (for true felt addicts) was £140 now £115

12" square colour packs were £8.50 now £7.50

and as if that wasn't great enough...I have added mini felt rolls to my shop!!