New Display Panels

This weekend will see a change to the Ali's Craft Studio stall....

I have bought some new display panels to replace the rather old and tired pegboard panels which have seen me through the last 2 years - kindly donated by Mum & Dad who used them during their own craft fairs years ago, so I think they have served us all well! I will be keeping hold of them so they won't be disposed of just yet.
The new display is metal gridwall which should be a lot sturdier on outdoor shows as the wind can blow through them so they shouldn't be at risk of being blown over (which has happened on more than one occasion with the pegboard!) and are much more waterproof than the wooden ones.

All going well so far....  well, it is never that easy!  The panels come in a variety of sizes - all 2ft wide and starting at 4ft tall.  Not a problem, I thought.

That is, until I measured our trusty little car and found that 4ft panels won't fit!   So, out comes the old (very old!) hacksaw to try to cut around 6 inches off the top of each panel.  Two hours later and one board cut, the three remaining ones looked very ominous in the corner of the room!   I suddenly started to wonder if this was a good idea after all!  After a snapped hacksaw blade and a very aching arm, I managed to cut through the second panel on the following day (two in one day just seemed way too much!).

I decided to ask our neighbour (who enjoys doing up old, bashed up cars) if he had a better hacksaw he could lend me (rather than the old, rusty one I had been using) and literally, five minutes later, he delivered two perfectly cut panels back to me - he had an electric saw!!!!  Thank God for great neighbours!!

I will try to take some good pics of the stall with the new display panels in place this weekend - I will be at our local primary school on Saturday for a few hours and Stoneham Park in Hove on Sunday for our first outdoor show of the year - fortunately it does look like the weather is going to be kind to us on this occasion.

It hasn't all been work-related here this week, though.   Yesterday, one of our cats came in from the garden and seemed to be struggling to keep his eye open - I managed to wipe around it with some eye wipes (for cats) and felt around for any swelling and all seemed OK other than he couldn't open it properly - not normally too major a problem unless you only have one eye in the first place!

As Blinky and his sister were both rescue cats, we don't know how his other eye was damaged - it was removed when he was checked out after being found abandoned on a golf course - but it doesn't usually slow him down at all.  Yesterday, however, he bumped and bashed his way around until finally making his way slowly to the bed he has commandeered as his own to go to sleep it off.   I think it must have been simply a case of getting some dust or dirt in it as he is fine this morning (thankfully!) - I had visions (pardon the pun) of an unexpected trip up to the vets!

Hope you all have a good week and remember to be careful - as Blinky demonstrated yesterday, it is important to look after what you maybe take for granted.