Slowly recovering

Slowly recovering after the show and life is getting back to normal.  We were surprised to hear how many people told us that they read our blog, we thought that we only had 10 followers!!  Also nice to know that even the Moda rep is prepared to wind us up.  On Saturday whilst I was in the shop and Joan was at the show, Alan the lovely Moda rep rang me to say that Joan had just bought loads of stuff and had spent a fortune.  Luckily she had already rang me to say that she had got four layer cakes and a pack of jelly rolls so that spoiled his trick and saved me from having a heart attack - its me that spends the fortune and have been placed here to give Joan a heart attack not the other way round.  

Sadly our new range of Lakehouse fabrics didn't arrive in time for the show but they are due in the next few weeks so we are really looking forward to that as they are gorgeous, we can spend the time worrying about where we can put them later.

 

 

On Saturday Tansy Wilson ran a button jewellery workshop for us which was a great success  

I have asked her to come back and do another one for us in October so will let everyone know when later on.

There are a few places left on our Dawn Cameron Dick Machine Quilting workshop on Friday 8th April and also Anne Baxter's Triangles on 14th April, if you are interested please ring us.

End of show

Well we have completed the third day and survived although my feet would disagree.  It was quieter today which gave us time to talk to other stallholders and even spend some money which was good news.  Attached some pictures of the stand which we managed to put together incredibly quickly one of which is decorated by Joan. 

day one over

We got to westpoint this morning just after 8.30 and rushed around like mad things trying to get the stand looking half way decent.  Luckily Joan and I have set up stands before so can work together easily without getting in each others way.  We didn't even know what time the show opened, thankfully it was 10am so we did have enough time to get quite a bit done.  My lovely husband called in to give us a bit of support and to tell us, yet again, that we had not set up the stand properly.  When I explained why we had set up in our own way he told me that he had worked in marketing for years and knew better - we hope to prove him wrong.  We sent him off shopping for refreshments as he is very good at that.

Day started off slow which was a bit worrying but got better as the day went on and we met quite a few of our customes along with a lot of new ones.  Anne Baxter was shopping and if anyone sees her you should ask about the lovely tasteful fabric she was buying at the time. 

We also met the ladies from the Taunton shop along with other stall holders oh and before I finish I should just say that we are definitely not closing the shop.  Bizarrely some of our customers were telling us we were closing - this is news to us and is definitely not in our plan, unless Joan is already fed up with me and I know that if she was she would tell me in no uncertain terms.

Sorry no photos this time, I didn't take my camera and tried to take some on my phone but can't send them on which is really annoying (just another technical problem that I will have to overcome).

Tomorrow I am in the shop and Joan has a new partner (maybe she is fed up with me)! So go and say hello to her and Trish - who is much more polite than I am

Debby

Panic & depression

Realised how totally unready we are for the show.  Went to set up this afternoon with my lovely husband and realised that everybody else (who have obviously being doing shows for years) were much more organised with hanging things, shelving, twiddly bits etc.  Our two sad little tables and plug socket looked a bit rubbish and even our colourful fabric could not lift the mood.  We dashed back for an extra table (which Chris then decided to tell me that he had given away so we then went over to Joans house to pick up a shelving unit which I had forgotten to ask Chris to get on the way over, only to find that Joan's husband had been home and locked the garage which Joan had specifically left open so that we could get the shelf (would not like to be in his shoes later).  So we grabbed an old garden table from Joan's garden before the neighbours decided we might be burglars.
Chris then spent the rest of the day telling me how we needed to this and that and how we should have thought about it all earlier until all I could hear was blah blah blah. 

So if you see two stressed women in a bare corner of the show please come and talk to us.

Debby

Panic

Not written on the blog for a while - we have been running round like headless chickens getting ready for Westpoint show which starts on Friday. 

Joan thinks she has RSI from cutting and folding fabric for the last week and I arrived in the shop this morning to be confronted with a huge pile of new fabric to cut and fold which seemed to take all day so I think she is probably right.  Not as bad as last week when Joan was at a class and a delivery van arrived with a large package and said he had another three boxes in the van, I nearly fainted.  My plan was to get it cut before Joan got back, the lovely Ann Mclaren was in the shop so she offered to pick Joan up to give me more time but there was not a chance I could sort it out.  Luckily the fabric was so lovely it was not a problem and I am sure that we ordered the range together.  I think that I am getting paranoid!

Annoyingly we have another load of fabric on the way but it won't arrive until after the show - hopefully we will sell so much that we will need it to fill the shelves.

If you have any of the Musgrove squares don't forget to get them back to us by the end of April (not long to go) its lovely to see them all

Debby

Memory quilt update

We have given out loads of memory quilt packs and I thought it might  be really interesting for some of you to see what other people have done
                                               

I apologise as I am not sure who these squares belong to and I hope they don't mind us using them to help others.

These two squares depict the 60's and are completely different

These two squares are also completely different - one stitched and the other attaching a card of button thread

 Close up of stitching on 40's square

As soon as I saw this it reminded me of being a child racing up and down with my brother and sisters.


So for those of you that are not sure what to do the answer is anything that reminds you of the era you have chosen and it can be whatever you like.  I hope this helps but you are always welcome to ring us.

We have also been running our workshops for a while now and thought it would be nice to show what the Beginners group got up to







Elaine working away at her first quilt




Jeans log cabin - first of many




Nicky's Union Jack cushion - not quite completed



Another view of Elaine's quilt



Sarah's first cushion - she managed to make 2 on the day  



These are just a few examples of what everyone achieved. 











Our Beginner`s workshop last Saturday went well and everyone seemed pleased with what they produced.  Several people went home with more than one cushion, and several more came into the shop on Monday to buy fabric to make another one!  Elaine produced a quilt top which everyone was very impressed with - not bad for a beginner.  Jean and Jenny both went for log cabin, Sarah, Teresa, and  Denise a stripe with an appliqued flower, Ellen made a combination of squares and stripes - she got so carried away that she popped out at lunch time to buy more fabric for another one!
Nicky did her own thing and made a union jack which we all loved.

The next workshop is Cathedral Window, Debby is beavering away at the samples and muttering something about whose idea was this - it was hers!  Life is too short for cathedral window as far as I am concerned.

Our Thursday morning classes are going well.  We are making a sampler quilt using a variety of techniques - watch this space for progress.