A Fair to Remember

 

Well, one Xmas Fair down and one to go (or maybe two as I've just had another invite to have a stall at a Fair in a couple of weeks time!) so I have a bit of breathing space for a week or two, and time to catch up with your blogs and share about the Fair!

 

It was pouring with rain when we arrived on Saturday (my lovely daughter made a special effort to get up early to come with me) at the lovely large and modern Village Hall at Rolvenden in Kent ( I never got around to sharing the venue, sorry!) and so we had to unpack the car in the rain which was a pain.


 

We met the lovely organiser Frances, looked for our stall and found we had a prime spot immediately opposite the doors - how good was that!

 

These photos I'm sharing are sadly pics of the mock up at home nearly week before the Fair, so not all is shown - lots more Xmas "25" linen hearts were there, as were many more covered journals - next Fair I will be better organised and take photos on the day of the Fair in action as I know that's what you all want to see - sorry!

 

There was only room for a few cushions on the table, but I took a shelf unit along with me which I placed at the end of the stall and was able to fill with other cushions.

 

 

On the day the green mini bunting was fastened properly along the edge of the table, and I had a sign with my name pinned to the front. I also had spent a day or two playing with Microsoft Publisher and printed off some pretty labels which I attached with linen string - and it all looked better than I'd hoped on the day.

 

So the stall looked pretty good, and the organiser seemed to love it all, so we just got on and enjoyed the bustle of the Fair - it was far busier than I'd expected, about 30 stalls in all set around the edge of the hall with an inner circle of stalls.

There were cake stalls and a bread stall, a cookery shop stall, toys, painted furniture, handmade soaps, jewellery, baby goods, home-cured cooked meats, cheeses and homemade preserves and all manner of other stalls - the atmosphere was very festive with live music, face painting and Minnie Mouse and Hello Kitty characters with their huge, rather scary heads!

 

And it was pretty busy the whole day, although it took a while to make the first sale which caused me a bit of angst to begin with!  Talking with some other stall holders an hour into the fair, we agreed that it was more of a social event for the villagers, as everyone seemed to know everyone else but they weren't taking out their purses, and at this early stage we were all worried we wouldnt even cover our stall costs!

But then they did (take out their purses!) and by the end of what seemed like a VERY long day it was well worth all the time and effort I'd put in - and I think it helped that I dropped my prices a little in the first hour after panicking that I wouldnt sell anything! Just a few "twofers" and a pound knocked off things seemed to help!

 

The fabric-covered Diaries and Notebooks seemed to be the best sellers of the day (one lady bought 3!), followed closely by the Lavender stacks, various Heart hangers from vintage linens and mangle cloth, and the little Cathedral Window pin-cushions I'd made recently (not shown here).

I made lots more journals than the ones shown here - I was still waiting for the 2013 Diaries and lined notebooks to come when I took these photos - it was a close run thing as they only arrived a couple of days before the fair.

Luckily I had partially made them up so could finish them off quite quickly, although I was still hand-stitching name labels on the back whilst I was at the Fair!


 

I thought it might be nice to add labels which told a little about the cloth used.

And I made new business cards and smaller simple labels to match.



 

 

 

 

 

 

(you can see this was still a work in progress as you can see pins in the heart where it still had to be stitched up!)


So taking a breather this week, catching up with friends real and virtual, learning from my experiences,  planning what additional goodies to make for the next Fair and what needs topping up.

Thanks to you all for your wonderful supportive comments these last few weeks!

Rustic Country Giveaway Win

 

A few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a Giveaway by Suzy at Rustic Vintage Country blog but have only just had a chance to say "Thankyou Suzy!" and to show you all the beautiful and diverse handmade goodies she made.

Can you see that wonderful paper butterfly perched on the lavender bags?

Suzy is very talented at making unusual decorative items from paper, so do check out her blog and on-line shops.

 

There were some wonderful chunky painted wood tags stamped with Christmas messages and perfect for adding to presents under the tree...........

 

......a beautiful fluffy ice blue and white crochet brooch.......

 

....some gorgeous lavender scented sachets printed with lavender.....

 

....the cutest little birdy ........

 

.....and a beautifully made crochet bag - the flowers are amazing!

 

 

Thankyou Suzy!

There is something so special about handmade gifts and items that far outweigh mass produced and poor quality, carelessly made goods. Give me "handmade" any day!

On the subject of which there is another post coming up very shortly about the Xmas Fair I attended at the weekend, so stay tuned!

I also have several weeks worth of your posts to catch up on, so apologies for not having visited for an age - I'm looking forward to enjoying an evening or two of blog-hopping around the world!

Just off to pour a glass of cold wine first though  ;)

Time's ticking away

 

 

 

 

 

and I'm still sewing like crazy everyday, every moment I can, until  I can't sew anymore.

Lots of  large vintage linen hearts, backed in navy ticking, and printed with French style graphics - am in love with this Paris one, hence the abundance of them!

There are a few holly wreath Ticking ones with "Joy" on them for festive tree hangers or to hang anywhere in the house during Christmas - I must make some more of these.

And then there are more cushions........these ones below are from a wonderfully soft vintage French floral fabric, backed in a vintage French metis, and tied with East if India striped ribbon.

 

 

 

 

and more book covers - as I'm loving the combination of this smart navy Ticking with black graphics, I have rather gone to town and and am in the process of making lots of journal covers.

 

for Recipes.....

and Gardening....

 

more Recipes.....


 

and some 2013 hard backed dairies have just arrived in the nick of time for making some Diary covers.


 

but what has disappointed me a little is that no A5 sized notebook or diary seems to be exactly the same as the next, and therefore my idea of having a selection of different book covers designs that could be interchanged with three different types of notebook (plain, lined and diaries) now won't work.

So my planned a "choose your cover then choose a notebook"  won't work, and instead I have to make sure I have enough choice of covers to fit each type of book.

Ah well, such is life.

Such a teeny tiny inconsequential matter compared with the reality the Americans are facing in the east coast of the US as they struggle to clear up the damage and fall out caused by  Hurrricane Sandy - when thinking of the suffering over there it kind of puts things into perspective. The loss of those basic things we take for granted - food, a home, power and water to drink and flush the loo - without these life is suddenly hard, and my heart goes out to those having to deal with these discomforts.

Back to my little life, with only just over a week to go before the first Fair I am taking stock of what I have made and what I still hope to make.

A few more journals to finish........

 

a few more lavender stacks, stuffed full of lavender,  to stitch up and tie into pretty bundles.....

 

and a few more cushions to make.

 

Sorry it's been another post about what I've made, but that seems to be all I am doing at the moment!

Thank you all for bearing with me as you view yet another load of things I have made!
But please know that I really appreciate your positive comments, they are so welcome, giving me the drive and encouragement to keep going with all this!

Churning them out.....

 

....by making better use of my time and adopting a "production line" approach.

.......cutting out several fronts and backs at the same time, then assembling them in batches

...and it's much more satisfying finishing off several things at a time as well as being quicker over all!

 

 

 

vintage white linen and vintage sheets cushions above

 

covered journals and diaries


 

 

 

 

Antique european grain sack cushions

more journals and diaries in ticking, toiles and ginghams with a french shabby chic feel


 

 

and a few more antique linen mangle cloth hearts, some large stuffed ones and smaller lavender filled ones

 

mild panic sets in every now and then, but I think I'm gradually getting enough stock now for the first fair in two weeks time, and am making what I want to be making using a mix of vintage and antique fabrics and new materials.

***
It's a bit chilly here in the south of the UK today so a good day for sewing!   I got a bit of head start this morning forgetting the clocks went back and not forwards.

So I was up at 9am (old time) thinking what a lazy lay-a-bed I was, at it was really 10am wasnt it?

Then tried to get everyone else up a bit later saying how late it was, until my daughter said I was two hours ahead! So my "up at 9 thinking it was 10 when it was really only 8 "  left me looking a bit silly - and I could've snuck back to bed for a while!

Still, I got several more journal covers made and felt quite smug, if not a bit silly. My family won't let me forget this for a while ;(

Thanks for your comments on my last post, and welcome to some new followers!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!