A dinky little gift bag

The new design

As you know, I have some serious catching up to do - both in reading your posts, and in letting you know about me.  I apologise if I have missed any births deaths and marriages (which is the only time I ever iron), but you have never been far from my thoughts.

One of my designs that has taken up my time, is a gift bag.  It started life as a child's bag, requested and designed for The Old Rectory Tearooms in Castle Combe (a more idyllic little village is not to be found!). Unfortunately Anna had a price bracket the bag needed to fall into and this affected the design.


However a conversation with Grug Studio, Dolgellau, led to the bag developing into a much more complete design, way back in September. Despite the higher price it has proved a very popular item in the run up to Christmas, when I believe it stepped from being a child's bag, to being a gift bag.

WOYWW - Well 'tis the holidays

You didn't seriously expect me to keep it tidy did you?
Obviously I haven't been working on my desk this week.  Due to my sewing machine fire on Wednesday and I have been playing with children and doing a little bit of jewellery making on my lap!

OH has respected my desk reasonably well, but I can see my daughters dressing gown and t-shirt on the corner, and I am certain I wouldn't have put it there.  There is the self healing mat, out of place because I lent it to him and it looks like it has been returned. A sewing machine motor (in a box), some cheque books, some tracing paper as I have been sketching a few designs. Well, just about everything really!


But I know my chaos worries a lot of you, so I have a second photo, this took 4 minutes to arrange (including a short break to help my daughter clean a rhinoceros! ).

The pile is things I need to drop off - mother and toddler group cheque book, jewellery boxes and return a spare sewing machine motor and pedal.  Just on the edge of shot is the other pile,which is jobs I need to do: fix my earring display board, take up do the hem on my daughters school trousers. Oh and the homeless bowl is still there, and still full - I am hoping the ipod lead is at the bottom of it!

Tomorrow is my day at Grug Studio so I get a whole day child free so I shall be back in the mood for craft work by the time I come home.  It also means that I shall have time to blog hop (mind you in theory I should be rushed off my feet with customers), so I should have plenty of time to visit What's on your workbench Wednesday via Stamping ground.

WOYWW - Getting better

Good morning Whats on your workbench Wednesday.  Following last weeks chaos I felt I had no choice but to come up with a new system.  It is unfortunately still work in progress because one chest of drawers has yet to arrive and rather a lot of things are still waiting to be sorted through.

I decided the first thing to do was rearrange the bedroom.  This meant moving 3 chest of drawers, one bookcase and one double bed and of course 3 sewing machines and their table.

When I finished, I looked at OH and said 'isn't it exactly the same, but the other way round?' and the response was 'whatever keeps you happy'.

I ordered two chests of drawers (and parted with real money - quite unheard of for me). But you can't spot them because of the chaos, and because one set is still in a warehouse in Swindon. (The big arrow points to the corner of one drawer, just visible!!).

Anyway the outcome is looking very promising.  I have one side of the table for free motion embroidery, one side for glue, one side for straight sewing and one side completely burried under things still to be sorted.

Today I have to make 9 doorstops for Grug Studio, Dolgellau, so my blog hopping will be dotted throughout the week again.

WOYWW - the end is nigh

Good morning WOYWW-ers (what's on your work bench Wednesday-ers), this is the sight that greeted me this morning. Not great.

I didn't bother putting the ironing board away at 10.00 last night, because I knew that once I had despatched the children this morning I would be straight back to sewing (papercrafters: sewing involves ironing)  (If you look in the background you can see I was very good and hung up the iron).

The book on the chair is pressing a daffodil greeting card.  I was one card short to despatch to Aberystwyth for Funki Blue, so their parcel can go today.

But why on the chair? Well today I will let you look over the back of the sewing machines. (Cue psycho music)

 

  Actually, you lose the sense of depth from this angle, so you will never know whether the sewing machine is taller or the pile of stuff behind!

My daffodil greeting cards were part of Fairetail, Machynlleth, window's display for St David's Day, and yesterday my doorstops and books made it into Grug Studio, Dolgellau's window display.  I only dropped off my samples to Grug Studio in the morning, so this week I have to make like mad to replenish my stock.

So why is the end nigh? Well, I have always promised myself that when my business turns a reliable profit regularly, I'll treat myself to a decent storage system, but I think I have to take my current order rate as a sign that the business is going to become reliable.  Because I can't continue in this chaos.