I'm back!

I was really knocked for 6 following Top Drawer and it's taken me until now to be able to get moving again. I don't think that was helped by the fact that we had a rapid turn around and were back in London this weekend for a friend's Bar Mitzvah. Boy did it take all remaining energy last week to get us all packed up for that!

How was it I suppose you want to know...

It was fantastic!

I have several new exciting stockists including one in Australia...watch out, Brisbane, here I come! I also had interest from several other countries far and wide, so who knows where my things will be heading off to!

I have to say, one of the best things about the show was seeing and meeting all those wonderful Twitter peeps that I 'hang out' with.

I had a lovely visit and reorder from Stephanie over at Hawthorn Gallery. It was lovely to see Stephanie (and her Mum!) and to know my things are going well in her beautiful Gallery.

It was just wonderful to see Vanessa, Becky, Katie, Charlotte, Gabrielle, Caroline and Jane and also had a visit from the fabulous Phiona who was visiting. I'm not sure how people coped doing big fairs like Top Drawer before the invention of Twitter...so lonely!

Christmas was busy, Top drawer was crazy, so I am now looking forward to steadily getting into a calmer, but still busy, routine. I'm not sure life will ever be quiet, but with all these full-on events being over (oh and my tax almost done...) I'm very excited about what's in store.

I'm just about there...

I'm just about done on all my makings for Top Drawer...

All that is left now is the huge task of building my stand and seeing if what I have planned actually works...fingers crossed I won't have to rethink the whole thing.

Also left to do is write up and print out all my bumph...you know, all the stuff that tells you all about me and what I do, oh and the all important list of prices.

I actually dislike this bit the most. Don't ask me why, I have no idea.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'd rather be playing with pretty fabrics than be writing about them.

Either way it's 3 days to Departure and Setting Up Day and quite frankly I'll be mightily relieved to pull up outside Earls' Court, unload and get started.

I'm getting a little bit excited now and really looking forward to seeing a bunch of folk that are going to be there, some who I already know, some who I only know through the likes of Twitter and these pages.

And hopefully with all these lovely people I am going to meet, quite few will want to order my things for their shops...fingers crossed for that too.

Yesterday Manda and I ran a Grey Circles Workshop on making children's clothes. We had 4 lovely ladies join us - Justine, Debs, Julie and Alice. Julie had made the trip down from Scotland and Alice joined us from London. Justine and Julie had a much easier journey being based in Yorkshire too.

Normally the workshops are held at my house, but due to the crazy time I'd been having and still having the house-guests, we decided to relocate to Manda's, which worked out more than just fine.

The aim of the workshop was for everyone to make a top/dress, followed by a pair of trousers for any size from 6 months to age 6. We got off to a great start with everyone choosing fabrics and discussing their worries and concerns, the major one being sewing curves.

Alice kept us all entertained with her desire for precision measurement and concerns for achieving such. Alice was also quite scared of sewing curves but is demonstrating here how she has achieved the perfect curve.

Everyone chose fabric combinations and made great tops, but even going an hour over we had to leave with the trousers needing to be finished off at home. With 2 of our party having trains to catch and a long journey ahead I didn't manage to get photos of all their beautiful finished wares, but hopefully I'll get photos sent through and be able to show you then.

In the meantime here's the one I made - a dress for my almost 5 year old niece. The wonderful thing about this pattern is that you really can customise it to your own desires. I used a crisp plain linen for the body and sleeves and appliqued some Liberty print circles along the hem to add a little detail.

This really was a fun workshop and lovely to produce a garment. So, if you missed it this time, but would like to join us at the next one on May 7th, click away here and join us then. We'd love to see you.

Today has been a very busy one. I've been down in London for a couple of days down at Top Drawer, which was fab. Wonderful to meet up with lots of peeps and also very inspired to give it a go myself very soon. Because of being away for a couple of days, I now had a lot to cram into the remainder of the week.

The biggest thing is getting my tax done. That working-to-deadlines mentality that I seem to frustratingly live by, has kicked in. If I don't want to throw away £100 just because I can't get myself into gear, then it's now or never.

So I spent today processing all the figures and getting ready to input all the data. Actually it really didn't take very long. Which is why I had plenty of time to finish off an order for a stockist. The Cambridge Gallery had ordered, amongst other things, heart cushions. So with tax almost completed (I still have 10 days, for goodness sake, a little more procrastination of the finishing touches is needed), I set out to finish off these.

So now looking back on the day I am feeling good. A big admin project almost completed, an order parcelled up and ready to go...and a big glass of wine to celebrate! And it's still not quite 8pm. I've got a feeling that a bit more might yet still be achieved...

Snapdragon

I first met Jane at Top Drawer in January and instantly fell in love with her beautiful work. It is stunning. I was desperate then to get my hands on her things for Blueberry Park. So when our paths crossed again at BCTF I was determind to order some things.

Today the order arrived and boy are they fab. I was very restraint (mainly because I've blown my buying budget for now, but hey, a girl has to buy what a girl has to buy) but seeing the little Pocket Mirrors is definitely a case of Less is More.

I couldn't decide between these 3 designs, so you guessed it, I went for all 3!

I'm sure I'll be adding to the collection, but in the meantime you can choose one of these little lovelies for yourself (or a gift, if you are feeling nice). They are in the shop now.

(P.S. Don't forget... Just 3 more days to enter my 1 Year Giveaway...xx)

Better late than never

I'm a little behind on blogging at the mo. I have not one but 2 major projects on the go at the moment (more of that another day). What with that and the snow, meaning the children have been around during the week when really they should be off being educated, I am rather late on posting about Top Drawer.

Top Drawer was over 3 weeks ago now (that really can't be true). I had a fab few days down in London. I managed to sneak in an extra day and so got to catch up with lots of friends. I stayed with Jo in my old stomping ground near Hampton Court. We did alot of hanging out at the newly opened Jamie's Italian in Kingston. If you live anywhere in the vacinity of this or one of his other branches you simply MUST go. We tried it at night - fab. And again the next day for lunch - double fab. I could quite happily move in there.


Tara and I met up on Day 2 on the King's Road - my absolute favourite street. With Peter Jones at one end and Designer's Guild at the other and plenty of mooching imbetween, what's not to love? By the time Tara and I had bought out the whole of the Designer's Guild fabric sale table, it was time to refuel, so we spent the afternoon hanging out at The Stockpot. There are worse things in life.

Ah yes, the aim of the post - Top Drawer. This is my 3rd year going to Top Drawer now and I've learnt to focus on what is relevant for me and Blueberry Park. There are some fabulous stands but you can't stop at everything or you'll be there all week. I must appear very rude striding right on by alot of stands and only stopping at those that are suitable. I saw some fab new people and met up with some known favourites. Here's a quick precis of what, for me, were the highlights of TD Spring 2009.

Shelley is the talent behind Pootle Products. Aren't these dolls the best? And her stitched designs make striking greetings cards.

I loved Fabric of the Universe for not only it's simple screen printed designs, but also for it being ethical, organic, natural stylish clothing for little ones.

I really loved these hand stamped bedlinens from Lulu & Nat. They were so fresh and crisp.

And now for something completely different... Michelle Mason's bold and beautiful felt rugs and other lifestyle pieces were extremely eye-catching.

I'd had the pleasure of meeting Rachel, from Lollipop, at Pulse last year. I love the striking simplicity of her products. And I definitely want these stamping label sets and canvas shoppers for Blueberry Park.

Jane runs Snapdragon which is so much more than an online store. Go check it out. And what she can only do with a needle defies the imagination. Stunning little pieces of stitched artwork were made into mirrors, egg cosies, tea towels, tea cosies, cushions...

Trudy, from Buttongirl, is yet another talented embroiderer and her stand was exquisite.


So much to see, so much to buy. So much to put on hold whilst I put my energies into my two other projects. (But don't worry all of you - I will be buying - very soon)