The sun shone today...I have proof...

Quite frankly it's been downright miserable here in the UK over Christmas and into the New Year, so to see a bit of sunshine while sewing today was more than welcome.

I think i paused for about 5 days after the Christmas craziness before being full throttle getting ready for Top Drawer. I actually only decided a few weeks ago to do Top Drawer and that was a mad moment of "help! It may be crazy now, but what am I going to do when the craziness goes away?"...make life more crazy obviously.

Most people plan doing a trade show for months, which is probably why they are downright more successful at it than I am.

Here I am cobbling together new designs in an attempt to look half-way professional and at least have a few things that look pretty, even if noone actually wants to buy them.

So I have a mad week ahead getting everything made, a stand sorted and get my butt down to London for a few days. I actually can't wait...and hopefully the sun will shine in more ways than one.

We are very lucky to have The Bowery in Leeds. The Bowery is that great combination of gallery, workshop, gifts and cafe.

It's a great place to meet friends for a coffee and it's always nice to have beautiful contemporary Artists' work on display to have a little peruse at after.

I have bought quite a few cards and gifts from here and currently have my eye on a lampshade that I keep seeing. One day soon I think I'll not be able to resist any longer...

As well as being lucky enough to live close by to The Bowery, I am also lucky enough to call them a Stockist. They came to see me at BCTF last month and it seems that other people must be as fond of the place as I am as things are selling really well and today I delivered my second box of goodies.

I haven't been in since delivering the first pieces and so hadn't seen the display. I have to say I was chuffed to bits to see all my things looking so bright and eye-catching. I am so pleased my things are doing so well here.

The only thing that isn't going too well, however, is my camera...the lead to my Mac is playing up and so am having to take photos on my iphone and as you can tell, it isn't quite cutting it. It was a pretty grey day too which didn't help much.

If you live near to The Bowery (it's in Headingley, Leeds) and haven't yet managed a trip, you won't be disappointed. And bear in mind it looks more tempting than it does in my dreary photos...

Lucky lucky me

A while ago I commented on one of my cyberspace friend's blog about how much I loved a shirt she had designed. (I would show you her original design, but I can't find the blog post!) Almost by return, the lovely Kylie emailed me thanking me for the comments and what were my measurements so she could make me one.

I was flabbergasted by her kindness. She didn't want payment, she was just touched by my comments and would be honoured to make something for someone who genuinely appreciated her work.

I accepted her kindness (well who wouldn't?) but only on the proviso I could make something for her. Kylie chose a pin cushion and needle set, which seemed insubstantial to be honest.

Today it arrived and I am blown away by how gorgeous it is, how beautifully it is made and by the fact that it is mine! Not only will I enjoy wearing this ALOT, but every time I do it will remind me of that lovely lady on the other side of the world, who I have 'met' and become friends with through this wonderful world of blogging.

Thank you so much, Kylie xx

(Now all of you, if you haven't come across 3 sheets before, go check out Kylie's wonderful blog and shop)

Lucky Number...

Yes, Aimee, of Live, Lush, Laugh, it's YOU!!

Just email me your postal address and one of my sets of Pincushion and Needlecases will be on it's way down under to you! I little something from Leeds, just for you!

Thank you all so much for entering and for your lovely comments. Hope I'll have some more things to inspire you very soon. xx

100 Followers Giveaway

Today I woke up to find that 100 of you lovely people out there publicly follow my blog. The fact that you like what I do enough to even bother to click that little button so you can keep track of me, means the world to me.

A blog is a funny thing. I like to look back at my own blog and see what we've been up to. I like to see how my creative journey has been changing and developing.

And I love reading all your blogs. They are an inspiration. They are interesting and funny. They allow me to 'meet' like-minded lovely people all over the world.

So to celebrate receiving my 100th follower and to thank you for being such loyal readers, I am having a giveaway. The winner will receive a Pincushion and Needlecase Set, along with a matching keyring (just let me know the initial you want). All you need to do is leave a comment as to why you follow my blog. If you don't yet follow, please feel free to now do so and then you can enter!

I'll announce the winner on Sunday 18 October, which gives you 5 days to think of something lovely to say! Good luck!

Favourite Sew Far

Not even I could have anticipated that I'd be back so quickly! But I just had to share with you the latest colour combo for the pincushions and needlecases. Definitely my favourite so far. Let's hope my stockists agree because a fair few of these will be included in the orders!

Brief Absence

Apologies for my absence all week. The Home & Gift Fair went really really well. I've got some lovely new stockists that I'm very pleased to be supplying. And there are some very interesting leads that I'm going to be following up in the coming weeks and hopefully have lots of exciting news to share with you.

The Fair was great on so many levels. As a working Mum who is constantly juggling with life, work and the universe (I know you all know what I mean) doing a Fair enables you to devote time guiltlessly on your career. It's fantastic and oh so rare to be able to throw yourself into that and not feel bad.

Also it is wonderful to be around so many talented people, chatting creative chats and meeting like-minded others, who also understand only too well the juggling and challenges that is involved. I met some fab people and had the pleasure of being in their company this week.

After all your words of encouragement about my pincushions and needle cases, I decided to offer them for sale. And hey, guess what? I sold some! Quite a few actually. So I'm already in the production line of them.

School officially breaks up for my younger 2 today and I always approach the summer holidays with a mixture of pleasure and trepidation. Obviously work can't close for 6 weeks so it's a constant juggling act. So if you don't hear from me very often it will be because the blog will no doubt take a very low position in order of priorities. It will kill me to abandon it somewhat, but all being well I'll be back in full force, renewed and invigorated, in September.

As if I have the time

Honestly. Will someone just shoot me now? I have so much to do for Saturday, but I just can't help myself can I? My 'to do' list is ever expanding, yet, somehow, it's beyond me quite how, I get busy making things. Not things that are for sale you realise. Oh no, that would be far too straight forward. Nope, things to make my stand look pretty. Things that are distracting me from what I really should be doing.

You know I'm a little obsessed with pin cushions at the mo? It seems this has now transferred to needlecases too. I know I know. I did tell someone to shoot me now!

It's irrelevent that I'm pleased with the outcome. It's irrelevent that they are quite pretty. It's irrelevent that I had lots of fun making them.

The point is that I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!

(Off now, sewing machine, fabric and any other distracting items put on a top shelf out of reach so I can try and get on with exactly what must be done...)

Building Blocks

I'm at a loss as to what has actually been achieved this week. It's been one hellava week on so many different levels and there is alot of preparation going on for some exciting new projects in the pipeline. You know what it's like when you are preparing for something major? It takes time. There is alot of ground work to be done, alot of building blocks to be put in place. And all this is happening before you can actually see anything concrete. Well that is what has been going on here.

Hence no blogging for almost a week (how did THAT happen?). And almost no making for a week either.

Last night, armed with a shed load of new fabrics from a trip to a new venue with Manda (that will have to wait for another post!), I really couldn't rest until I'd cut a hole in one of them. I'd taken them apart, folded them neatly, compared and contrasted, but nothing was going to satisfy me until something had been made. And since I didn't have a great deal of time to make anything substantial and since I didn't want to use up unthoughtfully any of my new luscious buys, I opted for making another little pin cushion. A perfect quick project for using a splash of colour.

I've been enjoying making pincushions recently. This red one is another 'knock up in a spare moment to satisfy a making craving' item. I have to accept that there is a time to sew and a time to plan and prepare. And at the moment it's the latter. And the quicker I get on with it, the quicker I can let you know what I'm up to...