Little treats

It's half-term this week. No sooner do I feel that we have got back into some routine after juggling through the summer, then the children are off again. Honestly, the life of a WAHM! My lovely Mum actually gave me a long work day today and took the children out.

Actually, not only did she take them out but she also went to Hebden Bridge to do my errands. She popped some kits into Amy at Ribbon Circus and picked up some jewellery from Rachel Lucie for some orders; mixing my business with the children's pleasure. Win, win ... for me ;-)

I got on with making up orders for a couple of new stockists that have come in this week and ordering some stock that I've been running low on. I was reordering some jewellery from Handmade by Hayley and I realised that I haven't even told you about it yet. Been too busy selling it! This jewellery is fab. It's perfectly priced for little treats for yourself, as well as making a great little gift for girlfriends, when you just need a little something.

It's all been equally popular, but my personal must haves are the Blue Double Strand and the Grey Shell. I guess they are the colours I wear the most this autumn. I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you, but go check it all out and see what you think. It's all right here.

Sunday Stash #5

Thrilled with my latest Etsy fabric purchase... Asanoha in navy (japenese ai) and mustard, from Chokichokifabric. A fabulous Japanese seller selling the most gorgeous Japanese prints. I think these will be perfect for my latest projects.

This Traditional Circles in mustard is next on my list...

Stunning Jewels

There's quite a lot of new things arriving at Blueberry Park at the moment. It's one of the perks of the job - shopping for a living - how can you not love it?!

The latest to arrive is the stunning jewellery from the talented Rachel Lucie Jewellery Designs. Rachel has an incredible eye for picking and combining the most beautiful stones and turning them into equally special yet wearable pieces.

I can picture 'Entwined' and 'Victorian Sweetheart' being popular for a winter wedding.

'Blue Moon' and 'Blush' are sure to be everyday faves.

And I've definitely got my eye on 'Love Charms' and 'Token of Love'. Oh, go on, I'll admit it, I've got my eye on all of them! After all, I did go shopping and come back with them in the first place!

Going check it all out here. I'd love to know which is your favourite...

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

Abel & Cole

Every now and then I get a leaflet through from Abel & Cole and every now and then I sit down and peruse it over a cup of tea. Their leaflets are always very enticing, beautifully photographed, with the produce looking scrummy. Every time I do this I put the leaflet on the 'action' pile to order.

And every time it ends up in the recycling, as time has gone by and so has the moment.

I'm not exactly sure why this should be such an issue. It's not as if I don't ordinarily buy organic fruit and veg. I have been for years. I think not only does it always look more nutritious and apetising, but (apparently) it is too. I'm not sure if that is wholly true, but I've convinced myself of it - well, there has to be a reason I pay more!

This week the usual pattern of: receive catalogue, sit down with catalogue, put catalogue on action pile, throw catalogue away, was broken. I guess the moment was right. I happened to have time after the 'peruse catalogue' phase to sit down and actually order. Or maybe it was the bribery of £50 off if I ordered 4 consecutive weeks.

I took a gamble. I know lots of us keep meaning to use Abel & Cole, but I don't actually know anyone who has. I think another reason for me is what if we get a box full of things we won't eat. I opted for the Mixed Fruit and Veg Box.

The box arrived this morning and as you can see, it all looks incredible. I am delighted. Maybe it's first time lucky, but there is nothing in there I wouldn't eat - besides still not being quite sure what to do with the chard/spinach - hey Twitter friends?!

I am a convert. I can't wait to get cooking and I can't wait for next week's delivery. And I can't wait to not have to pick it all from the supermarket!

So I hope I've convinced you to give it a try. I'm off to have a cuppa and do some more perusing - this time of recipe books. If you need the incentive that gave me the push I needed here's the code to get your £50 free: OCTOBERSUB50

(And thank you all for your amazing comments about what my blog means to you. I am honestly touched by all of them. x)

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!

New York, New York

We brought you London. And then we brought you Paris. Now it's the turn of another of our favourite cities...NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

With all the favourite bits of this amazing city depicted in the usual quirky Famille Summerbelle style, this is an amazing addition to the growing range.

Choose between plum or midnight blue - we couldn't, so we thought we'd leave it to you!
Just click here to find it in the shop.

Sunday Stash #4

I indulged in a little shopping at Fabric Rehab this week, in the need of some fun fabrics for pencil rolls. I love the dots that they have at the mo and thought they went rather well with these 4 funky ones.

I think the Lizzy Dish is my fave, but a certain little girl in this house has already lay claims on the Ice Creams. Which does raise the question - do we make things to be attractive to the mum's who are doing the puchasing, or for the children to be delighted? Tricky one. If I find a fabric that does both, I'll be sure to let you know.

Colour-It-Yourself!

No, I'm not barking orders at you! Just bragging about the fab new posters we have at Blueberry Park, from the talented Lucie of Summersville, Blu-Shed fame.

I am a big big fan of Lucie's work. Her striking repeating patterns work beautifully on the fabrics she screenprints.

You may also recognise her totem design she has had produced into fabulous gift wrap. (We are hoping to have this available for you pretty soon too.)

When I saw the colour-in posters that Lucie had produced, again using her well loved designs, I knew they would be perfect for Blueberry Park. I think they'll provide hours of entertainment for young and old.

Go check out all Lucie's other loveliness. I think you'll be a fan.

Little Miss Grumpy

I've been little Miss Grumpy today. I woke up in a bad mood. Something to do with being up too early. Something to do with being a Monday and having to get the kids to school. You'd think, 7 years later, I'd be used to that. Also it was cold. Really cold. And whaddaya know? The heating wouldn't come on. Now I was truly grumpy.

I called the Gas people and typically they said an engineer would be around sometime between now and 6pm. So I set myself up to being even more grumpy and got on with the day.

Children were deposited at school and up I went to my attic, glad that what little heat was in the house was rising up to my studio. I actually got a lot done today. Something to do with having to keep moving I think.

Typically Mr Engineer Man came just as I was heading out to pick up the little chickadees, but by the time we came back, via trips to the bank and PO, the house was so lovely and toasty. By then I was so ready to sit. And sit. And sit. We all gathered around the kitchen table doing homework (Noah), colouring (Ruby) and hand sewing (moi). Samuel found an even toastier corner and curlied up reading in the playroom.

I was recently invited to join a Hand Stitched Embroidery Swap on Flickr and we've just been given our swap partners. So I thought this was a perfect opportunity to sit and ponder over what I was going to do. I picked out a few fabrics that I want to incorporate and got started. I'm not even sure if any of this is going to make it to the finished article, but I had a lovely afternoon experimanting and playing.

I can't really say much more about it as it's supposed to be a secret. Our partners aren't even supposed to know who has them. So I'd better not say anything else. You never know, she may read my blog. All I can say is with the heating back on and all this hand-stitching, I am no longer Little Miss Grumpy. But that could just be the Happy Hour talking...