A Button-y Before

A HUGE button order arrived today.....

.... I am slowly ploughing my way through all the boxes, sorting and checking and organising it all...

.... I have 27 button trays waiting to be filled (!!!) .... and many many empty button jars to fill ::

it's a good job it's the weekend because I have buttons everywhere (on both cutting tables, on the packing table, on the sewing table and all the still unopened boxes are still on the stairs ) .... I think it's going to take most of tomorrow to put them all away !!!

two Columbo's later

I like to have TV on when I am at the sewing machine.
I don't have an actual TV in the workshop so I watch catch up on the computer or, if I have a lot of machine sewing to do, I crack open my Columbo Box Set...and today's 9 boxes took two Columbo's to complete.
My Must Have sewing tools:  Sewing machine, Orange Scissors, Columbo.

pretty new things

In between filling up regular stock lines a few new things have been appearing in my deliveries :: 
new teeny tiny ric rac colours :: red & white
new large ric rac colours :: baby blue and plum

new love heart ribbon in two colours
AND new sleepy owl ribbon

and the owls are SO CUTE!!!!

 

Quick Links

tiny ric rac is here

large ric rac is here

love heart ribbon is here & here

and sleepy owls are here

welcome to my world .....

....of parcels

 I love Bank Holiday Weekends - 3 days away from the normal day to day tasks = lots of time for extra tasks (like pattern drawing & instruction writing for new kits) AND spare time to relax and enjoy the sunshine too ... it does mean, however, that the first day back is officially A Manic Parcel Packing Day

But that's OK.  Becky, John and I absolutely love Manic Parcel Packing Days!

todays tools

lots of fresh white card & a newly sharpened pencil  -  today I am finalising all the pattern pieces for my new kits - it's a nice job to do on a weekend, it's quiet here in the workshop and the sun is shining (on and off!) and I can put my head down and concentrate without the general hub bub of a weekday's going ons.

cute packages of cute things!

my favourite pom poms are back in stock - woohoo!

and a bag of one hundred 9mm pom poms is just £1.50 so you can go pom pom mad and sew them (or glue them!) onto everything!!

 

 and *new* little wooden birdies - each pack has 4 big & 8 small birdies and each birdie comes with a sticky dot on the back for quick crafting!

Quick Links:
poms poms are here
and birdies are here

fun with ribbons

FIRST we designed felt packs:

available in 10 fantabulous different colour collections
THEN we had matching button packs:

also in 10 fantabulous colour collections
NOW we have co-ordinating ribbon packs!

 you guessed it - in the same 10 fantabulous colour collections!

 Becky and I had enormous fun going through the vast ribbon collection I have built up in the shop and carefully choose 10 *perfect* ribbons for each pack

 once the ribbons had all been selected we got to finalise the packaging ....

 .... winding and winding and making them look even more gorgeous on their grey cards

 we are definitely biased but we think these look scrummy! 

 they are just £6 a pack (for 10 metres of ribbon) and you can see them on the website here :-)

it's catch up time!

I've been away from the blog for one day - and have billions of things to catch you up on!

 ONE - I've been busy making custom orders of boxes- I love the natural colours of 'jazz'

 TWO - end of year accounts.  Done - I'm always keen to get them done asap before the summer starts and kit work begins in earnest - Heather (my accountant) takes away all my spreadsheets and bits of paper, fires questions at me, then comes back with new bits of paper and a big tax bill and it's done. phew!

 THREE - John Lewis have decided which lines they would like to stock for Autumn/Winter 2013 (17 different kits - woo-hoo!!!) It's always a very nervous few weeks between submitting new & existing designs for consideration and the BIG decision being made ... so it's a good job the accounts are done because it is officially the start of Kit Making Season! 

FOUR - piles of 30% wool 9" squares have been uncovered in the Kit Stock Cupboard and are now super cheap on eBay for all you bargain hunters; super price of 3 for £1,  or 4 for £1.32 depending on how many of each colour are left!!!
FIVE - Becky and I have been having fun with ribbons - but I'll be back with that tomorrow!

I did it!

I completed my cutting marathon!

 240 flowers :: 240 flower middles :: 240 buttons

 240 owl bodies :: 240 owl wings :: 240 owl faces :: 240 owl beaks :: 240 bits of pretty ribbon :: 240 buttons :: 480 owl eyes

 all packed  up and posted to Jayne ....

 ...who then unpacks them all and puts them together again as part of her glorious cross stitch kits:  sewing sampler & owls of a feather

 definately a lot of cutting - I think I need to get me some edward scissorhand hands!

making and cut-cut-cutting

 my made-to-order books have been cleared for the weekend, after I finished off a set of drawing pins.....

 .....and 4 storage boxes

 Which is perfect timing because I have a lot of cutting to do!

the top photo will become 250 cut out flowers and the bottom photo 250 cut out owls - thank goodness i don't need need to sew them all together because it's a rush job and it's due to be sent off on Monday to Jayne - wish me luck, cos this is a lot of cutting!

boxes made

I nearly forgot to take a photo!!  5 seconds later and the box would have been taped up and in it's packaging ready for the postman!!

plotting & planning but no photographs

Good News :: Becky and I have been working on some new ideas .... we've made tonnes of lists and written loads of notes and we're excited to get going on our plans.
Bad News :: there's nothing yet for me to Blog about!
Sorry blog peeps - hang in there, good things are coming ;-)

a speedy weekend!

this weekend went so quickly! 
we spent (not enough) hours with my Mum and Dad in Plymouth...lots of talking and catching up and lots of yummy chocolate cake - Mum makes the best cake!!  It was Dad's birthday weekend  *happy birthday Dad* so we went out for dinner too :-)
After Plymouth John and I stayed a night here: 

which is a little pub in a tiny village in Somerset called Kingsdon - highly recommended by us, it was glorious! and then we went to a car show that was full of Saabs and Volvos (Olaf, the car in the photo below) is a Volvo too. .... and today we are back at work and all your lovely orders have been parcelled up and are in the sacks waiting for Mr.Postman to collect them....phew!  I think I need a little holiday to recover from our little holiday!!

This weekend -

- I will not be sewing. 
- Nor will I be doing paper work.
- In fact I shall not be working AT ALL !!
I will however, be driving this little beauty ::

This is Olaf - John's newest old car...isn't he handsome? 
Olaf, John and I are going on a jolly/whistle stop tour to Devon and Somerset ... and we will be sharing the driving (I've not been brave enough to drive one of Johns Renovations before but I have practised in this one and I love driving it!) 
I hope you have a fun weekend too!

They're Back!

The cutest, happiest tree decorations ever have returned!

 I stopped making these a long while ago (maybe two years?) because I couldn't find a supplier of polka dot felt (I used to get it from Hobbycraft, but it's about an hours drive from here so not easy to re-stock if I ran low)

but then I got my own polka dot felt printed and ever since it has been in the shop I have wanted to make these ....

Christmas busy-ness stopped me though and then other things and ...blahblah blah ... time whizzes by and 6 months later I have made them!

In fact, I made 20 this past weekend !

   I think these are the happiest things I make - and each one is a little bit different from the next - not by design, but because they are handmade

sorry for the huge amount of pictures - but taking their photographs is fun!

Happy Tree Decorations are here

more felt-y bargains

Yesterday afternoon Becky and I decided to tackle the Felt Off Cut Boxes (it's a momentous day because they were beginning to take over the stock room)....after much measuring and folding and sorting out there are now piles of felty bargains listed on eBay.  It is all my discontinued 30% wool felt, in lots of sizes and colours - and starting from just £1!

 piles and ...

 ...piles of bargain felt

 All for sale in my eBay shop

Just click here to see everything