My first big Christmas Fayre

Well, again I have been very busy as many of you getting ready for Christmas at home, day to day - work, children, home and making items for my Christmas stall. These are my bags that I made from Eco-fi which is a totally 100% recycled fabric and my new love!
I am new to the selling market and I have to say it is not as easy as it looks. It took a while to get used to people looking at the things I make and inside I was cringing thinking please stop looking, just don't look! Then the feeling of someone looking and walking on is even worse. But eventually I got used to it and even managed to engage in some really interesting conversations and sell some of my wares too!
Having said that there are many things that are great about selling face to face too, so here are my top three:
1. The enthusiasm from the customers about the things I have made and their true pleasure at finding something unique either for themselves or others.
2. Meeting other crafters and swapping tips about publicising your wares and discussing different techniques with each other - the people at this fayre by Belles Events (I won a fabulous prize in their raffle, yay!) were truly lovely to be around for the day. The girls next to me selling machine knitted wonders were so friendly they really made me feel at ease - and I have ordered some moustache gloves for the beautiful teen by one of them,  Lucinda Dickens who promises to be knitting all week long to fulfil her orders!
3. The chance to just sit quietly for the day and have my hands free to do with as I please - knitting a snood for lil' roo's Christmas present in this case. (Please don't take this the wrong way as I love my children, work and home but sometimes it's nice just to sit.)

Now this week is all about my girls and my home. The tree is up but the rest of the house needs some serious TLC and Christmas cheer so in between playing with the adorable tot, negotiating with the beautiful teen and working I will be buying more lights to decorate the kitchen and lots of festive decoration for my Victorian banister. Then clean, clean, clean and recovering the guest room aspect of my study, in anticipation of Oma and Opa staying for Christmas, underneath the explosion of craft that has happened in the last month. On to shopping for final bits and pieces on Saturday with food shopping Sunday. And finally not forgetting the hobby horse to make for the adorable tot (plus the unfinished onsie) and the continued knitting of the snood for lil' roo. Hmmm....I thought this would be a quiet week.

In this last dash for the finish line of Christmas day I wish you all plenty of energy, tons of goodwill and patience and a very peaceful New Year.

Have a joyful Christmas and thanks for reading :)

Procrastination is a handmade peg bag.

As usual because I have a deadline for a couple of craft fayres I seem to be doing everything but the work needed to prepare. I have to say that I am quite pleased about how this procrastination excercise came out, and will probably make a few for my stalls now, so maybe it wasn't total avoidance but creativity by another name!



 

This a peg bag made on request for a work colleague as her daughter has just bought her first house and is now the proud owner of a garden with washing line and wants a peg bag for Christmas - how could I refuse?

 

I made the pattern for it after cutting down a child size wooden hanger and tracing the top curve  then allowing a drop of 30 cm plus seam allowances of 1cm. It was very simple. I just cut three pieces (two in my main fabric and one in the lining) then cut a 12cm circle out of the front piece. As the lady in question loves cupcakes I appliqued one from fabric scraps and a button for the cherry - adding some vintage lace for the frill around the cup. Then taking a tip from Small Birdie's sister I used the wider sized bias binding around the edge of the hole. I then layered the front and back pieces right side facing and the lining wrong side to wrong side on the back piece. Machine stitched all round the outside edge and turned it through the hole on the front piece. Simple!

 

Small birdie, as well as a few others on this wonderful creation the world wide web, have had the fantastically cute idea of painting pegs to match. Loving all things vintage I went for the old style 'dolly' peg - two layers of emulsion in grey, blue and pink, dots of white emulsion using the wrong end of a paint brush and then two layers of outdoor vanish (I was paranoid that the paint might run when it rains - someone tell me if I am over thinking this!).

 

I think it meets the brief of 'a modern peg bag with a hint of Cath Kidston', what do you think?

 

These cold crisp mornings and chilly evenings have also driven me to my other procrastination projects - my attempt at knitting a huge stripey scarf for myself and also the handmade fleece onesie for the adorable tot. Am I the only one who seems to need four or five projects on the go to satisfy the lack of attention span?

 

Tonight after a lovely plate of Jamie spaghetti bolognese with a well deserved single glass of red I am strapping onto the sewing table for the long haul. Wish me luck, this girl has a six foot table to fill!

 

Keep warm and thanks for reading :)