Was it good for you?

Seasons Greetings.

I hope it was good for you. This was my applique Christmas card design for those special cards I needed to send.

Preparations finally got underway, oranges studded with cloves. The orange on the right is last years that has been sat on the top of the radiator all year long. It has totally dried out but still faintly smells.

Gifts were wrapped. I luuuurve brown paper. A little bit of ribbon and a home made gift tag makes it all very special.

A little home made baking was accomplished, after all it's not Christmas in our house with out a sausage roll on Christmas Eve.

Our local butchers shop always has a lovely window display but at Christmas time it looks very 'traditional country' with pheasant, rabbits, duck, and partridge. Well I think it was partridge, I'm not very good at poultry with it's feathers still on.
I know it's a bit gruesome but it did actually look quite beautiful.

Wonderful Man and I attended our local auction mart on Christmas Eve morning for the annual auction of 'dressed poultry'. I really wanted to take some photos but I felt a little conspicuous as it was full of 'locals' mostly in wellies and flat caps, with ruddy weathered cheeks. We've only lived here 5 years and still quite often feel like tourists, (they say you have to have 3 generations in the graveyard before you're classed as a local!) lol. There were some real characters there, it was wonderful, I wanted to photograph them all and make sketches but I really felt out of place. There were tables and tables of turkeys and geese of all shapes and sizes, all locally reared and the largest being 36lb 8oz!
That's bigger than sneaky dog.

Talking of sneaky dog, here she is with her gift from Santa.

She's keen to make sure no-one else get their hands on her bone.

Best give it a big lick so no one else wants it!

All the best

Love Fi x

Christmas Treasures Craft Fair.

Well this was my practice run at setting up my craft stall on Friday evening up in the attic. Everything is precariously balanced on half of the double bed as that was the only piece of furniture that could replicate the length of a 6 foot stall. Even if it was a bit bouncy and wobbly.
And here is the real thing.
Can you see a pair of beady eyes peeping through my dangly snowflakes?
Lets take a closer look.
The beady eyes belong to Wonderful Man. Actually they're rather lovely twinkly blue eyes but I'm getting sidetracked.

Starting from the left we have, crochet hanger, cushions, bunnies, crochet purses and Christmas Danglers.

In the centre we have felted and applique pictures, a handbag, fabric cupcakes, fabric mince pies, crochet flowers, crochet mitts and Christmas wreaths.

And on the right we have Wonderful Man eating pork pie, crochet snowflakes, packets of floral bunting, lavender hearts, embroidered brooches, greeting cards and shopping bags.

PHEW!

Now you know why blogging has taken a bit of a back seat of late.

I'm not quite sure what Wonderful Man made of it, him being a craft fair virgin. I think he rather enjoyed it. I know I did.

Having a dummy run certainly paid off as I had time to have little wander around while everyone else was setting up their stalls. I have to say Addingham Memorial Hall is rather a splendid venue. Nice and bright and warm with a further room at the far end used as a cafe area with a little kitchen. Yes very pleasing.

Wow look! Action shots!

People whizzing around getting ready.

Isn't this pretty. This is Carols Cupcakes. They were so perfect I thought they were soaps to start with but no, they were the real deal.

This is the lovely Tea With Martha. The ladies were a little shy and I was rather jealous of their fairy lights.

Shabby Chic Designs, they've obviously posed for photos before. Nicely symmetrical, looking towards each other, yep definitely done it before.

This was part of Sally and Sophie's stand, Throstle Nest Treasures. Sally organised the whole thing, making us all feel very welcome. Lots of lovely gifts and shabby chic with a country feel.

I seem to have missed a couple of stalls with the camera, there was a lady with gorgeous French soaps, another selling Phoenix cards. A gentleman who made lots of scrummy chocolate goodies. (I purposefully kept well away from him, one nibble and that would have been it, move over Dawn French I'm going in.) Another nice lady who had been very busy stitching nice bright quilts (lovely to chat with but I have no idea what she was called.) and then only just turning up in time, 'While Isla Sleeps', two young mums who made lovely personalised cushions and bags for children.

And lastly a very, very lovely lady who sells vintage pretties in the Cakewalk in Ilkley. I intend to take a look next time I'm in the area. This should have been a picture of the hoards of people who flooded into the hall the minute we opened the doors. Unfortunately the weather didn't play it's part and was absolutely foul for most of the day. Consequently the hoards stayed at home where it was cosy and although I did quite well converting 1 in every 8 customers into sales. I would have liked a few more 8's to convert!

So instead I photograghed Addinghams rather splendid wall hanging. (I spent rather a lot of time admiring it while waiting for my 8's to come along!)

But

on the bright side.

It didn't snow!

No it saved that for today!

Nearly alllll day!

Not that I mind I have plenty to do. I have lots of goodies to upload to my Folksy shop over the next couple of days...

love fi x

Crinoline Cushions.

Today I am thanking you all on behalf of my Mum and Dad who were very touched at all the lovely comments you left on the previous post. My Mum emailed me and said...

"Please thank all your lovely bloggy friends and let them know how great it was to read all those very lovely comments, it makes you feel really special . They don't know how much that cheered me up after all the formal form filling etc. that has had to be done recently... seems to be no end to it!!!"
(My Gran died a few weeks ago so Mum and Dad have had a lot to sort out.)

There you go ladies, don't underestimate the power of a few kind words here and there. You really made their day, but I know all about that. After all you make my day, most days!
Oh! Nearly forgot...Rachael. I believe the Hardanger pattern that my Dad is embroidering is inspired by a picture but he makes up the pattern himself. (He quite often does his own thing. lol.) The crinoline lady cushions have been made by moi for a
Christmas craft fair.

And lastly I thought I'd share a little bit of the design process for a new project with you. Don't laugh... this is where I scribbled an idea for a cat softie. It's very glamorously squished at the bottom of my shopping list. Well I found myself waiting for an hour in the doctors surgery and you know what it's like, your mind just wanders sometimes. lol.

love fi x