a special order

at the beginning of last week I started work on a wholesale order and in between moving and unpacking I just about managed to get it posted on time...phew!

new ribbons

now I have moved I can start re-filling my shelves and the first delivery to arrive is American Crafts ... which means loads of brads and ribbons ~ hooray!

There are lots of new designs and I've re-stocked my sold out ribbons too....look how full up my new ribbon alcove is ::

it looks so good close-up!

If you need to fill up your ribbons too here are some quick links ::

mini brads can be found here

tonnes of ribbon spools here

& two new £5 ribbon gift packs here

new workshop tour :: part two

as you know already when you come up the stairs you are looking at the making room ::

if you turn slightly to your right you see the door of the packing room ::

there's felt corner

huge table (but not as huge as it used to be!)

under huge table (felt side)

stock shelves

view of stock shelves from the window

under huge table (window side)

AND (my favourite bit) ribbon alcove!!

I just spent the day surrounded by ribbon unpacking a new delivery and I have filled this alcove to the brim .... this photo was taken yesterday so if you come back tomorrow you'll see a lot more ribbon here!!

That's it for the tour...there is one more room but that is the room that has all the empty boxes and mess in it...once it is sorted it's going to be a store room for packaging and deliveries etc ... oh, and I need to show you the kitchen and roof , and my view! No sea view, but lots of rooftops and seagulls :-)

new workshop tour :: part 1

are you ready for a tour?

come through my front door and up the stairs and in front of you you will see a doorway to my making room ::

come in, come in....

take a look to your left so you can see the whole room

lets go back and see some more detail ... this is my area for my fabric and felt supplies, with plastic boxes on the wall for felt scraps

next is my cutting table, it's at standing height because I like to stand up to cut big items. Under the table are my drawers which are full of felt, with buttons in trays on the top. The drawers are on wheels and can be moved to my sit-down desk if I'm cutting smaller projects.

the pin board was made by my Dad and used to be in my bedroom when I was growing up, and will soon be filled with pretty pictures and mementos. Either side of the cutting table are two built-in cupboards, which both hold a lot of stuff

this one came complete with shelves fixed to the wall but the left hand cupboard was empty so I bought a little Ikea shelf to hold my things...

and on the other side of the room is my sit-down desk area

I have a table for my sewing machine, one for cutting &making and one for a desk...at the moment I am using my netbook but once BT have been and turned on the phone line I will get a PC and a printer...it'll be great to have a computer where I am working, rather than using the one at home like I do at the moment!

It's hard to believe that just a few days ago all this was in boxes!

* for eagle eyed blog readers,yes! there is a piece of wood against my window (there's a big flat roof out the back to get to it) and it is there because John has putty-ed and painted the window FOUR times and why does he need to keep doing it? because the seagulls eat it!!!I know, weird!

Once it is rock hard the wood will go and the seagulls can eat something else!

I'll be back with part 2 soon!

raffle winner

we have raised a total of £426 !!

hooray hooray!!

Thank you everyone for taking part and donating .... in our own small way we've helped and I'm proud to have been able to hold a raffle, and I'm sure that our £426 will be used where it's needed most. For more information on where the money goes click here and please continue to visit Jo's blog (the superstar organiser of the raffles) for more good ideas on ways to help.

I didn't have a plan for the mechanics of drawing a winner....usually I use the random number machine but I wanted to do an actual raffle with actual tickets.....so I printed out all the comments and assigned them a raffle number...

there were 81 tickets in the draw (some people donated more than £5 and some donated but didn't want to be included in the draw)

I folded them all the same and popped them into a felt box for a really good shake and mix up

...then I got myself a handy assistant (John)

and he drew the winning ticket ....

lucky number 69 ~ which belongs to Lynne Parker

...well done Lynne, I shall email you in just a moment!

Thank you once again to everyone who joined in.

Japan Raffle now CLOSED

a quick post to let you know that entries to the raffle have now closed.
any donations made after closing time will still be gratefully accepted but won't qualify for entry into the raffle.
I'll pop back later when I have drawn the winner and I'll also let you know how much we raised...

moving day

moving day was a big success!

everything got moved & nothing got broken/dropped

everyone worked hard and we are all absolutely shattered

we are going to the pub for food and drinks and lots of sitting down!

Once everything is unpacked I will show you all around :-)

oh

I worked so hard today!

every single thing is packed...

Everything is in the hall outside, ready for the movers....I'll be back when I'm moved!

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don't forget to visit the Japan raffle if you haven't already, I've been keeping a close eye on it and I am proud of the money we've raised so far, you're all ace!

lots to do!

the post with the raffle in aid of Japan is here
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today I packed loads of my workshop into boxes, it took hours and i'm nicely tired ... thankfully I have a tray full of sewing waiting for me so this evening will be a relaxed one!

easter eggs

The post about the raffle for Japan is here
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Over the weekend I finished my pile of Easter Eggs

they were so much fun to make, so many bright cheerful colours and those buttons!

I had a big grin on my face using those!

I've put them in my shop in sets of three...there are only 4 sets so if you need some Easter Eggs you know where they are!

Today we bit the bullet and decided that the move will happen on Friday and we booked some moving muscle to help us, we've now got two men from an agency coming on Friday to help to make sure the move is quick and easy....the plan is to keep the shops open and for me to still get everything posted on time, the theory is that not shutting the shops will pay for the men (I hope!)...and the other theory is that the move will all be done and dusted and the workshop ready for Monday Morning .... I can't wait!

happy monday

today I signed the lease on my workshop!
it's still not finalised and the keys aren't officially mine yet because the completion monies still need sorting (the other side's solicitor is so S.L.O.W. ) but at least it is one stage nearer!
And tomorrow? well, I may be back with photos of actual sewing!

workshop update

the raffle in aid of Japan can be found by clicking here

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The day I can move into my new workshop is imminent...the lease has all been agreed and both solicitors, the landlord and I am happy to proceed and once the paperwork has caught up the lease will be signed and I can move in!

I already have the keys because I know the landlord (from the old day job) and he allowed me to go in so we could re-decorate before moving in...we put that on hold for a while (because of the delay with the paperwork) but have been full steam ahead with that now and it's all done, which is good timing because I had a little delivery on Friday for new worktables and wall storage!

John and I spent most of Saturday drilling and screwdriver-ing and shelf building and it's almost ready for moving day!

This little pile of new towels will be moving with me...I thought I would treat myself for a good cause! Patapri towels have been on my wish-list for a while and when I saw that Yuko was donating $5 from every towel purchased to the Japan Disaster I couldn't say no...I ordered them last Sunday and they arrived on the Friday!! How amazing is that??

Raffle for Japan

I've been sat here staring at the screen trying to find some words to write about Japan and what the people of Japan might be going through.... But I can't....all my words seem so small.....instead I can talk about my prize & the raffle....I've joined Jo and lots of other bloggers because it's my small way of trying to make a difference and I hope you can join me and that together we can make some money, which I hope will help where it's needed.

So.

The Prize....a Giant version of my storage box (so big it needs handles...and they needed giant ric rac, because they looked plain without it )

and the box comes full of crafty, colourful things ::

If you would like to win this prize (more photos below) please follow these instructions carefully and to the letter...this isn't the same as my freebie posts.

This is important and the rules must be followed.

To enter this raffle you need to make a donation of £5.

Go to Global Giving and make a donation of £5, when you have done that come back to this post and leave a comment with your receipt number and a valid email address...you can write the email address like this :: youremail (at) youremailplace(dot) co (dot) uk

I will post the prize anywhere in the world so everyone is very welcome to enter.

You may enter as many times as you like but you need a new receipt number for every entry...so if you want to donate £20 (4 entries to the raffle) you need to donate £5 four times...get it? it's a bit clunky and not perfect but this way your money is being paid straight to the charity and it's simpler like that.

For help making a donation please look at this post on Jo's blog.

If you make a mistake or forget to add your email address please delete your first comment and re-write it.

The raffle closes at 1pm (UK time) on Saturday 26th March

I will write each entry onto a raffle ticket and the winner will be drawn by hand by a helpful volunteer (i.e. not me!!) I will require a copy of the receipt from the winner to prove the donation was made.

the raffle on this blog is being held in association with Jo's Blog :: A Bit of This and a Bit of That. We are in no way associated with global giving , that's just the way we have chosen to get funds safely to the affected area.

the contents of the box...it's worth over £175 .... that's worth a £5 ticket isn't it?
Sewing Items

8x sewing threads, one of my owl kits, a handmade needle case and a handmade patchwork pincushion....pin cushion close-up ::

Supplies

9" felt rainbow, 5 spools of felt ric rac, a box with 35m of ribbons

Buttons

3x white boxes of buttons (50g in each) tied up and packaged with giant buttons, a stack of 12 giant polka dot buttons

Hand made & cute Items

regular size felt box + tortoise, giraffe brooch, felt covered notebook, cupcake keyring, cupcake embellishments, orange Happy Tree decoration and 20 mini reels of Deco Tape

all packed inside this handmade storage box....everything will be wrapped and packed with care and delivered to the lucky winner by courier.

Thank you for reading...Thank you for donating...and Good Luck to everyone!

stitching

a dozen Easter eggs are waiting to be sewn....but not until I've finished this little lot ::

...once these few things are finished the raffle prize is complete...and I'm on schedule to post about it tomorrow...phew!

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in other news...the solicitors have been doing their stuff and the lease has all been agreed and finalised and any day (tomorrow??) I will get a phone call to go and sign it!

another good cause

do you remember I showed you some pretty pastel embellishments I had made for Sophie a few weeks ago?

well, I made some more!

2 dozen cupcakes and a dozen tortoises...I posted them yesterday so she should be there by now (* hi Sophie* )

Sophie is currently donating the proceeds from the sale of these cards to Cancer Research UK