Phew...another Christmas Market done and dusted!

Well I have just returned from another Christmas Market at the Horsebridge in Whitstable and I pleased to say that it was a really good one. Lots of people through the door from the word go and all wanting to buy, which is always a good thing! I did have a great spot, the first table on the left as you arrived in the hall, which meant people also got a second look on their way out!

I'd decided to sell off my Mermaid dollies really cheap as some of them had been hanging around for a while and I'm happy to say they have all gone to new homes now.

At the Christmas Fair last year, I sold lots and lots of cushions - I did sell a few - the embroidered bird cage cushions both went quickly, but what I sold more of this year were the smaller items - needlcases, coasters, bunting, felt envelopes, lavender hearts and houses. But all the pennies add up and I equaled last years money!

So there will be presents under the tree! As the main reason I do the Christmas Fair is for Christmas present money!!

I had a little helper on my stall for the last couple of hours who was very well behaved and spent her time colouring in a picture and helping bag peoples goods up.

There were lots of lovely stalls - I didn't get many pictures of the other ones, but there was a lovely atmosphere and all the other stalls seemed to be of a really good, high quality and quite a variety - despite there being other fabricy people like me, we all had quite different stock that seemed to complement each other

So I will leave you now, exhausted but happy!



Makes for a Christmas market

I thought I would give you a little sneaky look of some of the bits and pieces that I have been busy making for the Whitstable Christmas Market I am taking part in. My latest makes have been cushions.... you will have to come along to see them in full!!!

A blogging break...

Somehow I seem to have had nearly a months break from blogging.

It has been a lovely time filled with weddings and birthdays  - the downside is that I now feel I have to play catch up!  So very briefly...

We had an amazing time at our fantastic friends and neighbours wonderful wedding (where our little D was a proper little dancing diva - up until 11.15pm dancing with all the grown ups - so hard core she got blisters!!) The bride Vicki looked just gorgeous, like a 30s' film star.



I brought this card from a Folksy shop, Storeystore? Something a bit like that anyway!

The day after the wedding was my 3(mumble mumble) th birthday. Luckily I managed to wake up hangover free and we had a lovely day wandering around Rochester (a birthday tradition it seems - we did the same last year!) followed by lunch at Frankie & Benny's which was lovely.

I was a very spoilt lady and my husband got a me a gorgeous silver necklace from a shop I had suggested on Etsy (I emailed him a link of 5 or 6 possible necklaces and let him choose from there!).

The man did good.

I really love it.

I'm not a big jewellery person. I used to wear lots of silver jewellery, rings on nearly every fingers and I still have 5 holes in each ear from my art student days. But now I just wear my wedding and engagement rings and really wanted a simple and classic silver necklace. Thanks Lols, I love it!

He also picked me out this book...

Which is just brilliant and a lovely suprise. I don't have pics of all the other presents I got but I was a very lucky girl!

I have been busy sewing this last week, I've signed up for a Christmas Market in a couple of weeks so am busy making cushions and things. Pictures to come.....

I'll leave you with this window pane/breathe picture of me by D - so sweet I had to take a picture!!

The good and the bad

The last few days have been a bit of a mixed bag really.
The Summer Market was good...but not as good as the Christmas one  so a little bad and the ugly? Well that was yesterday which was just an awful day, but more about that later!

Lets start with the good.















I had a great pitch at the Summer Market and lots of room to set up my stall. Of course I didn't take many pictures, I always forget!

The very best thing about the day was sharing it with my lovely Mum, who you can see above. I did enjoy spending the day with her and my little lady (no picture of her though - I am rubbish!). So that was all good. I  sold quite a few things so it wasn't a loss at all but there just didn't seem to be quite the same amount of people through the door as last time.

Someone who made an effort to come was the lovely Pomona. It was so nice to meet her and she was every bit as nice in person as she seems in her beautifully written blog. She also brought one of my patchy purses which was very kind of her!  So thank you so much for coming Pomona, it was a pleasure to meet you.

Another visitor was my lovely best friend Vicki - who came for a wander round with her little man. My little D was very excited to see them, in truth I think she was getting a tad bored as stall keeping was not quite as exciting as she imagined, so she was very glad to see them!

So the fair was the good and now onto the bad.

That all happened yesterday just before dinnertime when during a very stupid game in the garden involving tying a rope onto F's bike and attaching it to a toy car as a trailer and then riding round our very small back garden (nothing to do with me I might add!!!). F was in the car/trailer which toppled over and he fell out -  his face landing on something sharp (we are not totally sure what we think it may have been a sharp flint or broken plastic cup) which cut his lower cheek, just above his mouth and nearly went all the way through to his gum.

I will never forget the awful cry F made, my gut just dropped and as I knew something terrible was wrong. He literally had a 2 cm hole in his cheek which freaked me and my husband out. Nice to know neither of us are very calm in a crisis! We did the only thing we could think of - ran and got Vicki! Vicki I am pleased to say was very calm and whisked D away back to her house and we rushed F to the local minor injuries clinic, who freaked out at the thought of sewing up a cut so deep and sent us to Ashford Hospital.

An hour and a half wait later and we had the worst part to come when me, my husband and the ward sister had to hold F down whilst the Dr injected the local anesthetic into F's gaping hole, whilst he screamed his little heart out in agony and fear all the while staring straight at me wondering why the hell I was letting the Dr's do this to him. It was totally horrendous and I felt so helpless. Luckily once it was numb the stitches weren't too bad to do and two stictches and lots of white strips later we were on our way home. All emotionally, physically and mentally drained.

I am totally in awe of this little man.  He was so incredibly brave and strong and just totally amazing. He slept like a baby last night and we kept him off school today and thankfully he doesn't have any pain from it, but please don't let me go through that again EVER!

Now we just have the stitches coming out in 5 days time to look forward to...eeek!

M is for Make

Only a few more days until the Summer Market I am taking part in. I am very excited to be taking part, especially as my Mum is coming along to help out as well as well as the kids - although I think they might only last an hour or so!

 I've been making and making and making and think I am nearly there with my stock.

 I've managed to make four baby pram/cot quilts.....











A few more patchy purses in different colours.

Some seasidey bird cushions...

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside' bunting... the perfect size to hang in a window, over a mirror or in a beach hut doorway...

A few mermaids - just waiting for bikini tops, bags and certificates!

Now I need to get on with printing out all the labels and getting everything priced!

If I get time I am hoping to make 'something' (not sure what yet!) with these gorgeous fabrics that I brought this week from M is for Make .

I just couldn't resist! It is such a gorgeous website with lots of patterns and fabrics - I only got these fat quarters but was highly tempted to buy more. I think the pink and green trees are my favourites!

Now, what to make?.....

Summer Market makes

It suddenly hit me over the last week that the Horsebridge Summer Market I signed up to do a few months back is now in less than 4 weeks time!  Eek! I have got lots of ideas for things I want to make but I hadn't made that much stock.  As I did really well at the Christmas Horsebridge Fair, I knew this was mainly due to have a huge amount of stock on my stall - the more there is the more you are likely to sell seems to work for me anyway!

So I have finally started making some bits and pieces ready for my stall and thought I would give you a few sneaky looks at what I will have on offer on the Simply h stall....

Hmmm it's all looking a bit blue at the moment and can you tell what my 'theme' seems to be!