Breaking the Ice!

 Here's a question for all you craft seller's (or anyone): How do you 'break the ice' with a potential customer when selling face-to-face?  Do you plunge straight in when they approach your stand and tell them about yourself and your products; start talking about the weather (or some other neutral subject); or wait until they pick up an item and then start telling them about it? There must be a very fine line between engaging them or scaring them off.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked, at short notice, to take my crafts to sell at an 'open house' event.  The hostess did all the organising, asked lots of people to come (I asked a few but had limited time) and didn't charge me to attend.  I was glad that I made a contribution to the refreshments, in the form of some mini muffins to serve with tea and coffee,  because I didn't know she wasn't going to charge me.

 In the few days I had to prepare, I made sure to finish the cathedral window cushion and felt bunting (both above). It's surprising what can be done when there's a deadline! I'm pleased to say my things went really well (my best yet) and I sold a variety of items, including the CW cushion! I also had a lot of good feedback, comments and chats.  I'd like to take all the credit but I have to give a lot of it to the hostess, who was great at introducing me to everyone who came and, therefore, 'breaking the ice' for me!

I like to make things, but not being very good at striking up conversations with people from cold is a dilemma. My new job at the salon has helped, though, and I think my chatting skills are improving.

I may have another one or two functions to sell at before Christmas, so more deadlines should get things moving around here. I made myself a new bag first, though, because if I don't get it done now I don't know how much longer it would have been. It's a new style for me with the outside pocket and flap fastening - I might try a few more like it for the sales.  The fabrics are left over furnishing scraps from my auntie plus khaki cord from a pair of trousers.

As I also sold my last baby quilt at the sale, I've started making another one.  I'm not sure if I like it yet. I've done my usual thing of starting to make it and seeing where it goes, rather than planning anything. I'm not sure it's even suitable for a baby!!

Bye for now
Teresa x

A Random Photo Collection! (and a new winner)

 Hello folks! It seems ages since we last had a chat so, despite having only this random selection of photos to show, I thought I'd pop by for a catch-up.

A bag made at the request of a friend, for her to give to her friend's daughter on her birthday

 Despite having little to show, I have been busy. The crafting I've been doing has been mainly ongoing work, on projects you've seen already. But I don't want to bore you to death with them, so that when I show the finished article it's an anti-climax.

Crops in a field on our village walk (I thought they'd have been gathered in by now!)

I've had 3 craft projects on my to-do list for the last few weeks (finish the cathedral window cushion, finish the felt bunting and make myself a new bag) but other, more pressing, matters have taken over, such as:

View back across the fields on the village walk

-  Wedding shopping and organising
-  Helping out with son's and daughter's businesses

A large (very large!) caterpillar found in our garden. More pics

- Getting used to the routine of my new job (or not, as the case may be!)
- Proofreading 2 manuscripts, a short story and a website.
- Finishing the last assignment on my proofreading course.

Fabulous full moon a couple of weeks ago

It's also been quite a feat keeping on top of the garden produce.  At one point we resorted to handing courgettes over the hedge to anyone who walked by when we were in the garden (if they wanted them, of course). Beetroot has been cooked and pickled; courgettes have been cooked, frozen, stuffed or turned into chutney; runner beans have been cooked, frozen or given away and lettuce has been eaten, given way or (I'm sorry to say) left to rot.

I've been keeping up with blog reading as much as I can, so I know you've all been keeping busy, too. I hope to have more to show for myself soon - so let's see how many of those 3 projects above I can get done by next time!!

Oh, and I nearly forgot.- Since I haven't had a reply from the original winner of the Caroline Zoob book, The Hand-Stitched Home,  I've re-drawn the giveaway and the new winner is Scarlet from The Finished Article who I've sent a message to and hope to hear from soon. Fingers crossed!

Bye for now

Teresa x

So Lucky!

The other week, I finally got around to spending the vouchers I received for my birthday in March.

I took my daughter with me to enjoy the afternoon tea for 2 at The Angel Hotel. As well as the 3 tiers of scrumptious goodies above, we had scones with jam and cream and pots of tea.  Other people having afternoon tea around us took some of their cakes home in boxes because they didn't (or couldn't) eat them all. We didn't need a box!!

 It took me 3 visits to The Woolcroft to decide what to spend that voucher on.  I wanted the large knitting needles, to knit my home-made t-shirt yarn, but couldn't decide what else to get. There was too much choice - but I eventually decided on this lovely book; mainly for the stylish photographs. Apparently, you can buy ready-made t-shirt yarn now - someone's got their finger on the pulse!

On the crafting front, I've been trying to finish off some of my larger, ongoing projects, so there isn't much to show. This is my tumbling blocks quilt progress. The finished size was, as usual, governed by me stopping when I'd had enough of it. You can see that I've worked out a shape to fill in the top and bottom, to make it straight - next, I have to do the same for the sides.

Car Update. If you remember, we had to leave our car in France, and it was delivered home a few days later.  Well, I'm pleased to say that it is now fixed and back where it belongs. The repairs weren't cheap but, luckily, the money came back to us in fortuitous circumstances a few days later.  First, when looking for son's passport, hubby found an old building society book. He cashed it in and closed the account resulting in enough money to pay the labour costs for the car. A couple of days later, I received an unexpected letter from the HMRC with a tax refund that covered the price of the parts!!

Bye for now
Teresa x

France, June 2013

Our base for the week - Moulin de Garreau

 Hello all!  We got back from a lovely week in France in the middle of the night, the Sunday before last.  Our car came back the following Friday!!! But I don't want to start on a negative note, because we did enjoy ourselves, so I'll leave that until later.

The lake we walked around or fished in.

 There was so much to do at the house we could have amused ourselves there for the entire week, but we did take time out on a few days.

The Green Room (ours!)

 The weather picked up nicely after the drizzly drive down from St Malo and we didn't have another bad day until the day we left, which meant it was more comfortable to drive in.

 This is the first of four evening meals we ate at the house.  I think I enjoyed these meals more than when we ate out. It was quite a rural area where the locals didn't speak much English, so choosing from a French menu without much help was a bit hit and miss.  Who knew that 'gesiers' were gizzards!! Apparently they were quite nice.

 This is our communal sitting/dining area with the table set for dinner.  That shoe dumping area became quite messy by the end of the week!

 We dined alfresco a couple of times, making good use of the brick BBQ in the garden.

A couple of glasses of Pimms went down well while the BBQ was cooking.

A day on the beach at Isle de Re was just the thing on the hottest day of the week.

The 15 minute walk to the pizzeria was through the beautiful French countryside (You can't see the brick and tile factory on the other side of the road from this angle :-) We met an ex-pat at the pizzeria who works at the factory. He helped translate a little for us and arranged for us to go with the owner of the pizzeria to one of his wine suppliers, after we'd asked if there were any vineyards we could visit.  We met them one evening at 4pm and they led the way.  We would never have found one without their help because they don't seem to advertise for tourists.

There seemed to be a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, in general, towards tourists in the area, and sites of interest were tucked away down side streets with no signage until you were right there.  We followed a town map of Fontenay le Compte, that was in the house, in order to find a couple of gardens and a castle to look around.

This was the fate of our car after filling it up, following the day on the beach.  To cut a long story short, the steering 'went' when we were 45 minutes from the house. The following days involved 3 taxi journeys, 3 different hire cars (one with a crack nearly all the way across the windscreen) and many phone calls.  In total, we probably lost about 8 hours to-ing and fro-ing but, luckily, we had taken out extra European cover with the AA. The car couldn't be fixed in France so we still have that cost (and we haven't had the phone bill yet either), but it could have been so much worse.

Incidentally, in attempting to converse with the first taxi driver we told him we were from Wales (Pays de Galles).  OH told him, more specifically, 'Raglan' which he repeated like he knew it, which I thought was odd.  He must have been trying to think of the right words for the rest of the journey, because, when we got to the house, he turned to us and said, "My - girl (daughter we presume)  - work - Raglan - Arms"!!! We managed to communicate to him that our son worked there too and he said, "Small - world!"  

Small world, indeed!

-------

I haven't heard anything, yet,  from Penny who won my giveaway before I went away. I've joined Google+ but have yet to find a way to get in touch.  If I don't have any luck soon there's a chance I'll be re-drawing the winner.

Bye for now

Teresa x

Giveaway Result!

 Just a quick post to announce the winner of the The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob.  I was surprised there weren't more entries because I had lots more visitors than usual.

A little something I've been working on.

I used an online random number generator which picked number 8 out of the nine comments, which was lucky Penny Edwards.  Congratulations Penny - I hope you read this post because I wasn't able to find an email address for you as I'm not on google+. Please leave me a comment with your address (which I won't publish) so I can send the book to you.

If you'd like another chance to win, pop on over to Very Berry Handmade where Ali is also offering a copy as a giveaway, with a much more professional-sounding review than mine! But hurry because there's not much time left!

A pic from our local music festival - The bell ringers on the hotel terrace.

I'm off on holiday for a while so I'll check when I get back whether Penny has been in touch. 

Bye for now
Teresa x

Sunny Weather!

The longest sunny period for over a year (according to the weather boffins)!  It's very welcome indeed.

The old advertising sign is up on my shed at last, and the flower beds are in bloom.

We are optimistic that this year's garden produce will be better than last year - it couldn't be much worse!

Messing about on the river at Symonds Yat.  That's not us in the canoes - we're waiting for the ferry to come back so we can cross the river.  

Taken from the ferry as it's pulled across the river by the rope.  Thirteen of us have just had a lovely lunch. Half of our group are cycling back to the cars, but we are walking.

Bye for now

Teresa x

P.S. There's still time to enter my book giveaway here.

Book Review: The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob, and a Giveaway!

I was surprised and excited recently to be offered, a free copy of The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob, by the publishers, to review. Obviously, I jumped at the chance to receive a lovely, shiny-new, stitching book to look at. Not having reviewed a book since I was at school it was a little daunting. But of course, it was nothing like school; actually wanting to read this book, being the main difference.

It's been a little while since I've done any embroidery but, after being inspired by this book, I'll definitely be picking up a needle and thread again very soon. Caroline Zoob doesn't profess to be an expert embroiderer but rather calls the process 'drawing with a needle', the result of which is a very individual book, full of designs that are brimming with character. The stylish cover is the first clue as to what is in store.

Lovers of a simple, minimalist style would be in their element with this book, but those who prefer more elaborate decorative touches will also find much inspiration. I've picked out a few of my favourite pictures to show you.

Using the projects in The Hand-Stitched Home you could add embroidered detail to personalise your own possessions, or create new, decorative pieces from scratch. Whether an experienced or novice stitcher, this book has ideas for all levels of skill.

The projects in the book are arranged into five sections; Making pictures, On the edge, At the table, The soft stuff and At the window, followed by the extra, useful stuff, like templates, stitches and techniques. My favourite projects are the place mats, window pelmet and cushions.

It's written in an easy-going, chatty style, with Caroline's love of the art of embroidery, and the whole creative process, shining through. I like the fact that the list of materials required for each project is not too specific, allowing each individual stitcher to use what they may already have, match the design to their own colour scheme or put their own twist on it.

The instructions are easy to understand, and detailed enough to complete the projects, as pictured, but Caroline positively encourages interchanging the designs between projects, and experimenting.

The photography is amazing, showing off the designs to perfection, and I'm pleasantly surprised that the photo captions contain 'new', useful information (and are not just regurgitated from the main text).

Luckily for you, I've decided to give away this copy!! All you have to do for a chance of winning it, is to leave a comment on this post. It can be about anything you like, but if you need a little nudge, how about telling me your experiences of embroidery. I would also be very happy for you to blog about this giveaway, leaving me a separate comment telling me so, and, therefore, earning another entry. The competition is open to anyone, anywhere. I will draw the winner using a random number generator in 2 weeks time, on 19th June, and announce the result shortly after.

If you are not the lucky winner but would still like to get your hands on a copy here's a special offer for you.

To order The Hand-Stitched Home at the discounted price of £16.00 including p&p*, telephone 01903 828503 and quote offer code JS219. Or send a cheque made payable to: Littlehampton Book Services Mail Order Department, Littlehampton Book Services, PO Box 4264, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3TG. Please quote the offer code JS219 and include your name and address details. *UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Making Work for Myself!

 The sun has been putting in some welcome appearances recently.  When it does it's lovely and warm, although the temperature still drops quite significantly as soon as a cloud brings some shade.  I prefer that, though, to the sort of sunshine that leaves you longing for a cloud, for a little cool relief.

I joined my daughter and fiance a week or two ago to walk their dogs on the hill above their town.  We met half way with some of fiance's relatives who then walked back with us.

And last week Mr D and I went to the first of a new regular Farmers' and Vintage Market at a nearby manor house.  We were delighted when we turned the corner of the stable block and almost bumped into an 'ostentation' of peacocks, which is, apparently, what a group of them is called (I just looked it up in case it comes up at our next pub quiz). There were at least a dozen of them!

We came home with some lovely, local, home-made goodies;  welsh cakes, leek and stilton sausages and wild boar and apple pies, laid out on a lovely big piece of fabric I got for £4 from one of the vintage stalls. We'll definitely go back again, when we have time to look around the gardens too.

A few days later, I went with my Ladies' Group on a visit to tour the same manor house, (Llanvihangel Court) followed by a pub meal.  If you're ever in the area (and it happens to be open) the house is well worth a visit.  I can't imagine there being a better example of a house of that age anywhere else.  The Lady of the Manor gave us the tour and pointed out many portraits of her ancestors, including her great-grandmother, who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.  Unusually for a 400-year-old house, there wasn't a speck of dust or cobweb anywhere, and every room was stunning yet homely, and although the furnishings were from all over the world and from different periods, nothing looked out of place.

On the crafting front, which has been a bit slow lately, I've added these small felt brooches to my collection. The felt is from an old felted jumper and is quite thick and sturdy, making it strong enough to hold its shape well.  The decoration is all reclaimed bits and pieces, including hanging ribbon, from inside new clothes, to make the bows (you know me - I keep anything that could come in handy).

I've also been recycling the already recycled!  I made a cushion cover a while ago with hexagons on a blue background.  It never looked like the vision I originally had but I was reluctant to waste the work that went into it.  However, when my daughter said she wasn't keen on it either, it was time to take action. I unpicked all the hexagons, stitched them into a block and made them into this zipped bag, with the blue from the cushion as a lining. As usual, I 'winged it' with the design as it's another different construction method. This time the seams are on the outside and are covered with binding.  I also used binding to attach the zip on the outside, which was quite fiddly, but meant there was no need for turning it all inside-out and risking sewing things the wrong way.

This was the cushion 'before'

Helen from The Patient Gardener's Blog asked me a few weeks ago where I got the pattern from for my summer top.  Sorry for the late reply Helen but I had to dig it out of the shed again to remind myself.  It's an old-ish pattern from Simplicity, No K2938, and includes trousers, a dress and a jacket too.  I tried, without luck, to remember where I got it from but am pretty sure I didn't buy it new.

Oh, and I mustn't forget............My new job is a part-time receptionist at a hair salon - at the salon I go to, actually!  I was sitting there, having my hair done a couple of months ago, chatting away to the stylist/owner (as you do) when she asked about my work.  When I told her I was redundant and looking for part-time work, she offered me the job. I've already done some 'shadowing' of the current receptionist and one morning on my own, and I start officially next week!  It will suit me quite well at the moment to work 3/4 days a week, leaving time for proof reading, crafting and helping son and daughter with their accounts.

Progress since last time:

Turned cushion into zipped bag
Added more patchwork diamonds to Country Living inspired quilt
Started cathedral window patchwork cushion
Felt brooches

Bye for now
Teresa x

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin




In light of the imminent demise of Google Reader, I've managed to transfer all the blogs I follow over to Bloglovin, and I've registered my blog with them.  What I should be able to do now is put this link in the sidebar information, so it's visible all the time, but I don't know how.  After I add another post this link will be out of sight! A possible solution would be to add a new page and put the link there, but that will have to wait for another day because I've got to get on over to Sew Mama Sew and enter a few more giveaways!

Bye for now
Teresa x

Win, Win, Work!

Goodness, it's taken me ages to get back here and post - it was much easier when I could put a quick something together in my lunchtime at work.

 I'd love to show you some photos from our performances of Anything Goes but I'm afraid cameras weren't allowed at the show, and I couldn't bring any costumes home to photograph because they were all hired! However, I can say that the run went really well, I enjoyed doing it (although, for some strange reason, not quite as much as last year), and we had a really good review in the local paper. We have one more performance of the title number, tonight at the Mayor's Show, and then we move on to the next project.

Above is my stall at the craft fair I mentioned last time.  Within the first 5 minutes of the doors opening I sold my first item!  It was a small pink baby quilt and more than covered my costs for the day.  Which was good because I didn't sell anything else after that!  Advice for selling at craft fairs often mentions having a 'story' behind a product to make it more interesting and meaningful - I found the opposite (where the customer has a story for buying the item) is also rewarding.  The granddaughter of the lady who bought the quilt was having a baby girl soon and the baby was going to be the first girl born into their family in nearly 50 years.  I felt quite honoured that they chose to buy my quilt for a child that was obviously very special for them.

I've had a couple of lucky wins lately!! First is this sweet little book that was reviewed and given away by Ali of the wonderful Very Berry Handmade.  I'm dying to have a go at one of these tiny little characters but I don't know where to start - there are so many to choose from.

Ali also sells bundles of lovely Liberty fabrics and I was thrilled to find a little package of pretty scraps in with the book.

My other lucky win was a packet of multi-coloured buttons from Craftseller magazine, that will be a very handy alternative to my stash of mainly browns and whites.

I'm having a stall at another craft fair this weekend and have managed to finish a quilt for a baby boy, this time.  You never know ......!

And I mustn't forget the lovely Marivel of Cristali Designs who very kindly awarded me a Liebster Award.  I think I'm supposed to say something about myself so, here goes:

My favourite colour is orange
I love to read, sew, sing, knit, crochet etc.
My middle name is Mary (so is my daughter's, it's also the first name of 2 aunties and was both my grandmothers')
I also like to watch The Mentalist, Marivel!
Oh, and I've got a new job - probably (more details to come).

Bye for now
Teresa x

Biting the Bullet!

It feels good to finally finish a project and lay it out - but not if you're unhappy with the result and know that changes have to be made.  I joined all the crocheted hexagons together, crocheted an edging all around and gave it a light press. This was the result!  It's intended to be a baby blanket but, with the hexagons being quite big, the result is a bit floppy, and I don't like the uneven sides.

There was no easy way out so I just had to 'bite the bullet' and start unravelling. It's better if I do it immediately so it doesn't end up on a pile of unfinished items that taunt me every time I catch sight of them.  So, straight away, I undid the edging and sat down to work out how to make half hexagons that matched.  Once I'd worked it out, I luckily had enough yarn left to make six of them to fill in the gaps on the sides.  I had to find another similar yarn to make the edging but I think it works well and I'm now much happier with  it.

 

I've had the crocheting bug recently and have almost finished another baby blanket.  I did have it finished once, but - you've guessed it - I was unhappy with the result and am in the middle of a re-do.

The colours are a bit muted for some reason in this photo (my rubbish editing skills probably!).  It's my attempt at dressmaking for the first time in over 20 years.  I made it up in size 18, but 16 would have possibly been enough; I didn't want it too tight, though.  This was the only suitable fabric that I had enough of and although it's not my favourite I didn't want to waste some new, expensive fabric with my experimenting. All I need now is some sun!

I don't know if I'll have much time for crafting or blogging over the next week or two.  I'm doing a craft fair on Saturday and then the mad week of rehearsing and performing starts for Anything Goes.  Why I booked  a fair in the middle of all this, I don't know - it seemed like a good idea at the time.

After it's all over, I think I need to do a bit of reorganising at A Time for Stitching.  My profile is out of date, I could do with a new banner photo and, with the imminent demise of Google Reader, I need to get something sorted.

Bye for now
Teresa x

"600 Months (and 1 Week)!....

......or 18,262 days, 438,288 hours, 26,297,280 minutes, but hey, who's counting" (as my son put in my card).  That's how old I am today!! Some of these numbers don't seem big enough to equal 50 years!

My daughter made me these delicious cup cakes.

I received lots of beautiful flowers from family.....

 .....and friends.

 I'll need to get advice on keeping this alive.  Any tips will be gratefully received.

OH, daughter and fiancé and I spent part of the day at Caerleon. Despite living only 20 minutes away from these Roman ruins, I've never been to see them.  We saw the amphitheatre (above), the museum and the Roman baths.  It was absolutely freezing, but the sun was out and apart from the amphitheatre, the rest of the attractions were indoors.  After a pub lunch we headed home for more cards and prezzies (including a subscription to Craftseller magazine, and vouchers for a wool shop and afternoon tea for 2) before a group of 16 friends and family headed out for a meal in the evening.

Back with more crafting next time!

Bye for now
Teresa x