When is an Airshow not an Airshow?

This past weekend we had a stall at the wonderful Shoreham Airshow which is normally resplendent with magnificent, awe-inspiring flying displays but this year the Gods had other ideas - low cloud, rainy, misty days and high winds put paid to all but a few flights which was a real shame.  Last year we were blessed with blue, Californian skies and a full program of flying including the incredible Avro Vulcan (the only airworthy XH558 Vulcan remaining which has a sound beyond belief!)

The incredible Avro XH558 Vulcan at Shoreham Airshow 2009

The south of England really suffered this weekend from horrible weather and the safety element was brought home on Sunday when the first flight of the day by a glider display pilot ended badly with a crash during the landing attempt.  Our hearts were in our mouths as the paramedics attended at the scene for almost an hour.  Fortunately, the pilot managed to scramble away from the badly damaged craft upon impact and is, according to an official statement from the display team, currently doing well in hospital and in good spirits which will come as a huge relief to all who were there.

Needless to say, there were very few displays on Sunday (the worst day for weather) which must have been a huge disappointment to those who had paid to come along.   Fortunately, there was still plenty to enjoy at the show including, in no small part, the craft marquee with some wonderful work on display.  Despite it all, we had a pretty good weekend!   I know that many visitors were appreciative of the huge amount of work which the organisers of the show put in to the weekend and the fact that they managed to have any flying at all (including a Catalina Seaplane, an amazing display of skills by the Harrier team and mock dogfight involving the Spitfires and Hurricanes, plus at the close of play on Sunday when an impromptu display by a Chinook helicopter pilot who was working with the Air Cadets and not there to do anything but standard ferrying to and fro of workers around the site during the breakdown of the show).   Hopefully as the show raises money for the RAFA, people will be thankful of the small amount of displays they did see and the great stalls available at the show.  

So may I add my congratulations to RAFA and the team at Shoreham - in such dire circumstances, you did an excellent job and kept smiling throughout (even when you had to stand in the rain for much of the time!)

Lancaster Bomber

Last year I made some peelable designs of a Spitfire, Lancaster and Hurricane which were popular and got lots of attention.

Hawker Hurricane

Spitfire

Mustang

This year I added the Curtiss Tomahawk (AKA Kittyhawk) and North American Mustang to the collection of WWII planes. 

I will be adding these to my online shop soon.

Tomahawk

There was still one more plane I really wanted to pay homage to and after a quick call to check I was OK to use the image, here it is:

Avro Vulcan

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust keeps this amazing plane in the air by constant fundraising (I am giving a donation to the trust for every sale of this design sold).  If you have ever had the honour of seeing this plane in the flesh (so to speak) you would want to help too - even if you are not that interested in planes!   If you would like to know more about the XH558 and the Trust, go to Vulcan to The Sky  If you can help the cause, please do - believe me it is worth it!

Next weekend is a three-dayer at Rudgwick Steam and Country Show so please join me by praying for better weather!  Three days in a muddy field is fine at music festivals but the prospect of wading through mud to get to and from a smelly port-a-loo doesn't fill me with joy!  Oh the life of a crafter is so salubrious, you have no idea!

Fingers crossed everyone...

Flying Time, Great Features and Hidden Monsters...

Flying Time...

Where does the time go?  I can't believe it has been so long since my last blog posting when it only seems like five minutes ago. 

It has been pretty busy here since I posted last - we have been to the Lingfield Steam & Country Show - a fun weekend event with lots of steam engines, animals and vehicles along with activities for all ages.  Can you believe I sold a great number of Christmas designs at this show - on the first day of August!  I do try to take my box of Christmas decorations to shows where I won't be back again before Christmas but usually don't expect to sell more than one or two so I was really thrilled to have so many bought so early in the year (I always recommend that people buy their Christmas decorations as early as possible as keeping full stocks is very difficult as the season gets underway).  Does feel a little strange however, selling snowmen and Santas is sweltering heat!

Is it Christmas Yet?

Last weekend, we were at a new show for us - Step Back in Time, near Battle, East Sussex.  We really didn't know what to expect  and after an interesting start (no plan showing where your stall was, and not enough space in the marquee for everyone who had booked!) we had a great weekend.  Good weather and lots of visitors makes for a great combination!

This coming weekend is another Steam Fair at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum in Chichester - bring on the soot!!   We always come home covered in a liberal coating of the stuff and feeling like a 60-a-day smoker!  Hopefully the weather will be kind to us again to bring out the usual crowds.

Great Features:

I have been really lucky to be featured on two more great blogs:

• Look at the Crafters
• Zaks Jewels

I feel really pleased that anyone would want to write about little ol' me so thank you one and all for letting me have space on your great blogs.

Hidden Monsters:

OK, so I know you are still wondering about the rest of the title of this blog.  So I will put you out of your misery...

Yes, it relates to moths (yikes - even typing the word makes me shiver!)   I have decided that one of two things is true (or maybe both?):

1. Moths do not talk to one another to warn about dangerous houses containing black moth-eating monsters
2. Moths have death wishes and/or are stupid as they keep on coming!

Last week was a major milestone for me (but not one that I wish to repeat too often...)  As you know if you have followed my previous posts, my encounter with Godzilla the moth began when he cased me out from above the bathroom door.

This location, it turns out, is a real favourite for our dusty, fuzzy, yukky, 'get out of my space and stop dive-bombing me' flying friends.   And last week, I found 'Godzilla 2 - the revenge' lurking above the bathroom door (this time on the inside of the bathroom).

Now normally, my knight in shining armour/shorts would come racing to my rescue but as he had already left for work, I knew I was on my own! 

My options:

1. I could get my ladder and try the 'squish' technique.  If I missed, I guarantee, I would have fallen off the ladder and would have no doubt that as I lay on the ground, the little monster would have come and landed on me just to rub it in!
2. I could close the door and use our other toilet for the remainder of the day until my aforementioned knight returned home to his castle and maiden in distress.
3. I could turn to my new-found hero - Mr Dyson!

Option 3 looked the only viable choice and lo and behold, Godzilla 2 had an unexpected thrill ride courtesy of my purple 'Animal - never loses suction, even when disposing of moths' (maybe not the right slogan but it works for me!)   Problem is, I am now a little afraid to empty it incase Godzilla 2 forces his way out of the bin after he has been building up strength eating dust - after all, that is what they are made of! (does that make it cannibalism?)

Warning!  Moths Not Welcome!

Hopefully, the message will get out to the moth community and our address will be off the radar for a great place to hang out.   Lets hope so!

Birthday Celebrations

If you read my last blog entry, you will know that last week was my hubby's birthday and we were heading up to Yorkshire for a brief visit to celebrate with the family.

Well, a wonderful time was had by all.   The drinks and conversation was flowing, the food was fab and the company even better!

Great company is the perfect recipe!

We had a great meal at Table Table in the new Gateway Plaza in my hometown of Barnsley, South Yorkshire - if ever you are in the area, do try it out!  The meal was great and very reasonably priced (so we could have more wine!!)

As you would expect from such a momentous occasion, the conversation was sensible (ish), restrained (not) and in no way did I inhale all the helium from the balloon to do my own squeaky rendition of Happy Birthday!!  (I'll get my coat...)

Phil and his cake with five candles

Phil, myself and 'that' balloon

So, the secret is out - my husband has reached his half-century but still isn't above balloons, party poppers and, of course, a cake with candles.   

As it was a Friday evening and the Barnsley Fire Brigade may have been having a busy time of it anyway, it was decided to limit the candles to a more respectable five and avoid risk of serious injury to ourselves and all the other diners that evening!

The Mums enjoy an evening tipple

Even the weather Gods were kind - we were able to sit in Mum's garden sipping bubbly (just a normal Friday then!) before leaving for the restaurant and also on Saturday morning before everyone headed home in the afternoon following a cooked breakfast which would rival any hotel!

Mental note, skin which hasn't seen the sun for a long time burns really quickly!  Ouch - as my shoulders are normally covered when outside at craft fairs (nice tan on the lower arms though) but were exposed last weekend, I now have some very burnt shoulders!!!

Thank you again to everyone who gathered for Phil's birthday and to Mum for making all the arrangements - it was a great weekend and, most importantly, Phil really enjoyed it too!

Cutting the Cake - Happy Birthday Darling!!

Another week... Another story!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE animals - all sizes, all types, I just love them all!  Well, when I say all I have to exclude one of God's little creatures - MOTHS!  They terrify me!  They should not be able to fly around - they are made of dust for heaven's sake!!  What are they for other than to come after me late at night when I am safely in my home????

Last week was, as you know, a bit of a 'mare here at Chez Ali's Craft Studio and was topped off by my encounter with Godzilla (the moth).  The size of a small vicious dog (OK, so I may have exaggerated a little here) it held me to ransom in my own home!!  I swear that moths watch me like dust-filled, winged CCTV cameras before dive-bombing my head for fun! 

So, my encounter with Godzilla was as follows... 

I was about to get into my lovely comfortable bed but needed to go into the bathroom first and... there he was, above the toilet door, watching me (I am not lying when I say he moved round as I walked towards the door to watch me move!)  I couldn't not go in to the toilet (I will skip a minute of the story here...) so with all the bravery of an ancient gladiator about to face the lions den, I went in and came out again (after doing what I needed to do - in the aforementioned skipped minute) to creep slowly towards where my husband was already tucked up in bed.  All was reasonably calm until...

Godzilla attacked!   He came at me with gay abandon as I ran like a poor-man's version of Usain Bolt into the bedroom!   Hubby was happy (!!?) to get up and help his damsel in distress (he didn't bother with full shining armor and white horse as it all seemed a little extreme and his shorts were closer to hand)   "Tell me, damsel in distress," he said "where is this monster?  Take me to him and I will slay him and save you!"  (Or words to that effect)

Well, there was a problem now - Godzilla was on the move and nowhere to be found!   After a thorough (aka quick look behind the curtains and light fittings) search, my knight in shining armor shorts declared "I can't see it - it must have left!"  What did it do?  Open the door????

I did not sleep well that night - I could feel the beady eyes of Godzilla watching me from his hideout, waiting to attack.   My normally brilliant stealth hunters were not much use either - both were fast asleep and had no interest in my plight! 

Halftime Score: Me: Terrified - Godzilla: Laughing

I will let you know the final outcome of the Godzilla battle shortly (nothing like building the tension!) but I want to fast forward a little to this week which has been very different indeed.

I know that you have all been losing sleep holding candlelit vigils for my toe (much appreciated) Well, your prayers and messages of love have not been in vain.  I told my toe about how everyone was wishing it well and it responded!   After a couple of days of snake-like skin shedding, it is now much better and well on the road to full recovery.  Thank you all!

This past weekend has been really fun - two fairs, one a bi-annual one so very well supported with lots of great stalls and events and hallelujah Great Weather!  The second one was my idea of heaven - a Rare Breeds animal event!  The whole event was simply brilliant with sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, cows, alpacas, rabbits....  The dulcet tones of all those animals in one place was amazing! (I told you I love animals).

Happy Birthday Darling!

This coming weekend is a little different for me - no fairs at all!!  

Friday is my wonderful husband's birthday and we are having a family gathering (all 8 of us!!) in Yorkshire to celebrate.  So we will be travelling to stay with my Mum and I can't wait to have a really great evening out with everyone.  (Will let you know how it goes at a later date!)  It is very unusual not to have a fair and it feels a little strange but we have a run of some of our bigger events coming up over the coming weeks and so it won't be long before the chaos starts again.

So, back to the epic battle between myself and Godzilla...

A couple of days passed without seeing the beast and even I was starting to think that he had opened a window, let himself out and closed the window again.... All was well until...

One night, I was in the spare room as hubby had gone to bed early and I didn't want to disturb him.  There is a window above the bed head and Misty was entertaining herself with some poor insect on the windowsill.   This time, however, she didn't get bored like she normally does and I started to wonder if I was ever going to get any peace.  In a moment of amazing brilliance (ahem) I didn't turn the light on as thoughts of Godzilla were still in my mind.  So, using the faint green glow of the alarm clock light, I tried to see what she was chasing AND THERE HE WAS, in full monster glory on the window frame!  What do I do?? 

And don't come back!

Well sometimes, sisters have to do it for themselves and with remarkable bravery (even if I say so myself) I managed to get the window open and boot Godzilla outside!!   I can only hope that he goes with tales of the horror house with the big, black, furry beast who attacks moths and tries to eat them - other moths beware!

FINAL SCORE: Me: Alive   Godzilla: Gone!!

The house feels so much bigger now that our lodger has moved out and this week so far has been a marked improvement on the last!  

As they say in the song...  "What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours..."

OK hands up - who is singing the song now??  Tee Hee!!

What a week so far... Whatever Next?

I feel like I have come back from a big void without access to the Internet, problems with SKY (again) and a feeling of what can go wrong, will go wrong!  It is amazing how much you miss the Internet when it isn't there anymore.  The past couple of days have definitely been a case of 'Whatever Next??!'

Whatever Next????

Yesterday, our wireless router decided it didn't want to route anymore (guess the hot weather disagrees with electrics too!)  All was fine in the morning but when I went to check my e-mails at midday.... nothing!

Sometimes the router gets knocked offline by other wireless equipment in the area so a restart isn't uncommon but yesterday after the fifth or sixth restart, reboot, reset and any other re- you could think of it became pretty clear that all was not well.

A call today to tech support at the ISP created more questions than answers (not their fault) as the router appeared to be working and connecting to their server but it wasn't sending the connection to our laptops!  Was it something I said?  I try to be kind to our equipment and talk sweetly to it when it appears a little under the weather but this blatant snub was more than a little frustrating!

To cap it all, this was the last of a run of bad luck - my SKY+ remote died last week (have you ever tried to watch SKY properly without a remote??) and a call to their customer services (??!) resulted in a frustrating morning trying to get a replacement from them.  Finally they agreed but it wouldn't be with me until today - a whole 8 days from the day I called!!  Still, at least the chappy on the phone was kind enough to inform me in great detail about the weather in India so maybe all the money I spent on the call wasn't wasted after all (@@!*!$%) 

I have been like a teenager on Valentine's Day ever since - running expectantly to the door when the postie arrives but every day was a disappointment.  Well, I could take it no more and called SKY again today to find out when this elusive plastic answer to my dreams would arrive.  

Today's calls went as follows:

• Call 1 - through to a nice lady in Scotland who couldn't understand either why the remote had taken so long to arrive.  I was put on hold so she could investigate.  A couple of minutes later : cut off!! AAARGGH!
• Call 2 - back to India (no weather report this time so don't ask) to be told that the remote control order had been cancelled as there was no warranty on this piece of equipment - even though, as I gently(ish) pointed out - it was less than 1 month old!!  Solution - I could buy myself a new one for £25!!!   Needless to say, this customer service representative probably now wishes he worked for someone else and that someone else had the pleasure of answering my call!!   A 15-minute rant about what I thought of their company and service seemed appropriate (oh, yes I forgot to mention that I was told that I could contact Customer Relations if I wanted them to override the cancellation - but wait, you can't phone them - you can write to them!) Result: Total frustration, anger and stomping like a toddler around the front room!

Did I mention that the remote control for our TV also doesn't work properly???  There was a lot of getting up and down just to change the volume, change channels, etc. recently - well, actually that isn't strictly true - it was more watching crappy programmes because they followed what we had been watching but just couldn't be bothered to get up and crawl infront of the telly again to find something else to watch.

To cap it all off, I also have a very painful toe at the moment - probably caused by the heat - I won't go into details but it is agony  and not very pretty to look at and definitely not helped by the toddler-tantrum-stomping this morning! (it is infact the most painful toe in the world as I keep telling my husband but he doesn't believe me and thinks I am over-reacting! HMPHF, the very cheek of it!)    I decided that God was against me this week and going back to bed and pulling the covers over my head seemed a good solution!  But then I would probably stub my toe on the bed leg and suffocate knowing my current run of luck!

And so to this afternoon....   I tried to turn the TV off using the broken TV remote - and it worked - twice (I had to have another go just incase it was a fluke)!  So, a challenge had been laid down - two more to go - well, can you believe it, the SKY one followed suit!

Surely, the Internet couldn't suddenly start working too, could it?   Well, as I am able to get online to post this, I guess the answer is clear!  Yes it could!!!  The toe doesn't seem to want to join in this miraculous regeneration but I guess I can live with that for now. (Still the most painful toe in the world....)

So, my message to the Little Devil who has been screwing with the electrics in our house for the past week, wherever you are, listen up...it was a funny joke for a while but seriously - stop it now!!

In anticipation of hopefully not being thrown into the cut-off-from-the-big-wide-world void again tomorrow, I will sign off before everything goes caput again!!

Surely this week has to get better (doesn't it??)....

Observations & Feline Entertainment...

During this hot weather, everything and everyone seems to be suffering - we really just are not happy in this country during extreme weather (hot or cold!).  It is truly a national pastime to talk about the weather in the UK and have a good old moan!

Therefore, to keep with the trend, here is just a small selection of the things that this weather has brought to my attention at Chez Ali's Craft Studio:

1. My paint becomes thick and gloopy in the heat which makes it very difficult to create nice clean outlines on my work - it now lives in the fridge to try to keep it cool. 
   A very interesting sight for any unsuspecting person looking inside!  Mind you as hubby is at work, who would be looking in my fridge anyway?!  Hmm.... Anyway, I digress...
2. Fur coats (especially black ones) and that bright, yellow, hot thing in the sky are not a good mix!  Just ask the cats, Blinky and Misty!  And they don't mind telling you frequently throughout the day (usually with a nibble and bite on your leg or elbow which will be repeated until you pay attention!)
3. There aren't enough places in the house and garden to put bowls of water for said cats.  I am rapidly running out of containers and spend so long going round filling them all up that I am considering just flooding the ground floor to save time!
4. Doors and windows being open do not make it feel noticeably cooler inside the house - it just means there are more flies coming inside.  Electric fans also just blow warm air around but do cause some entertainment as Blinky finds it really funny if the air blows up his bum!
5. Cats can (and do) suffer from hayfever!
6. Football teams and tennis players I am rooting for play much better when I am not looking at the TV screen!!  (honestly, I swear this is the truth!)
7. The vole population in Kent may soon be at serious risk courtesy of Blinky - the stealth hunter!
8. No food sounds appetising in this heat when I have to make it myself...
9. Drinking more does not necessarily make you feel any cooler, it just makes you want to pee more!
10. Finally, the lack of cool air in my craft room makes me look for any excuse to stop sitting at my desk with sweat running down my back battling with gloopy paint!!  Even doing the washing and emptying the dishwasher are preferable...

Yesterday, my internal moaning and muttering about being hot was relieved by Misty, our female cat who was also in my craft room trying to stay as cool as possible.  The scenario was played out in three stages:

Stage 1. Hot - Solution:  stay on the window but keep as low as possible - some breeze was coming under the curtain

Stage 2. Hotter - Solution: move away from the window as breeze has now died down (perhaps try putting head in cup if necessary!) 
She woke up when her whole face ended up in the cup!

3. Too Hot - Solution : stretch out on cooler desk (with cool air fan underneath) and push everything in her way to one side!! 

She obviously thinks that my craft work doesn't need such a big area!

Today, both cats were trying to stay cool - thank God for wood floors!  As I said, fur coats and hot weather....

In the foreground stretched out is Blinky, in the background sitting demurely is Misty and one of the many bowls of water dotted around...

Keep cool and happy crafting everyone...

Heatwave, sporting Brit humour and a solution to our misery....

OMG its sooooo hot at the moment isn't it?!   On Saturday I thought we were going to melt under our little plastic gazebo at the village fair we had a stall at!  

Just to give you an idea, the two of us drank our way through 3 cups of tea each, a full flask of orange squash, an ice lolly and two cans of diet Coke without one visit the toilet!  (I guess you can say we were sweating quite a bit!!)

Yes, I know - it is Summer and we would all be complaining if it was raining and cold but come on!  There was no wind and everything felt like such an effort - it was like trying to walk through treacle just to get from one end of the stall to the other!   There were lots of lovely visitors who were out in force to support their village day and enjoy the beautiful weather, however it was so uncomfortably hot they all gravitated to the refreshment and bar areas which managed to locate themselves in shady spots and they really didn't want to move too far from there (can't blame them really!)

I had to have a slightly sadistic chuckle at the poor kiddies in their foil fancy dress costumes who were slowly cooking before our eyes!  They certainly had more in common with an oven-ready turkey than the wonderful Jubilee icons their represented (it was the 25th anniversary of the fair).  The winners were a couple of adorable children dressed as the 20 pence piece (one was the front and one was the back!)  

Rather them than me, I say!  We were too busy being the sweaty grumps behind our stall trying to lean into any breath of wind which happened to venture our way!

Imagine our absolute joy when on the way home we heard "Tomorrow is going to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures pushing into the 30s in the South East..."  Hurrah!!  A nice stall in a glass-roofed section of Hempstead Valley shopping centre awaited us!

We kept calm with two magical words which became a mantra - Air... Conditioning...   We packed our additional lightweight jackets as we both dreaded being cold on our stall.  Oh what a wonderfully cool day lay ahead of us....

Hmm, one slight problem - the dreamed about 'Air Conditioning' had to battle the blazing sun coming through the greenhouse centre roof and there was only ever going to be one winner - and believe me, it wasn't the Air-Con!   Again, references were made to turkeys and the kinship of feeling their suffering in fan ovens up and down the country at Christmas!!

"Still, at least we will be busy at the great little shopping centre with lots of visitors who we haven't met before and that will take our mind off the heat...", we thought.   All started well, the morning was steady and we met some lovely people, made some sales and distributed lots of literature.  Then, 2pm arrived and the place was like a ghost town - everyone had left to watch the crucial England-Germany grudge match in the World Cup!  I had a master plan, however!  A small handheld TV meant that hubby and I could watch the action from our stall (what a great plan that was!!)

We were both so disappointed that our team was knocked out of a major competition yet again in controversial circumstances (why does it always happen to us?)  But at the end of the day England were outplayed and Germany deserved to win.  However, I was very sad during the drive home to see how all the lovely St George flags which were flying from 99% of vehicles we passed on the way there in the morning were suddenly all gone!   Well done to the one driver who continued to fly the flag!!  Sir/Madam, I applaud you!

What a fickle lot we are - I support England and whilst I was bitterly disappointed by the outcome this weekend, it doesn't stop me continue to support them - however bad I feel, I know that they feel much, much worse!   At least we can enjoy the rest of the tournament now (Although a sweepstake at hubby's work means that we are cheering on Spain from now on!)

I've always loved Spain, ahem.....  Come on Spain...

All the jokes are flying around "What is the difference between a teabag and the England football team?... A teabag stays in the cup longer!"  "Did you hear that David Blaine is devastated that his record of doing nothing in a box for 42 days has been broken.... by Wayne Rooney!" , oh, they're all out there....

The house down the road from us has been keeping us amused with their own messages pasted to the bottom of the England flag flying in the window following each game - after the terrible 0-0 showing against Algeria, for example, the simple analysis was four words 'Oh Dear, Oh Dear'

It now reads 'At least the flag was free with The Sun'  Don't you just love the English sense of gallows humour!!

But, don't be disheartened, help is at hand ifyou need some cheering up yourself or know someone else who does, I have the perfect pick-me-up - nip on over to www.studiocrafts.net and brighten your life with a colourful window cling - I promise that they will give a brilliant performance and won't leave you pondering "What if..."!!

Football, Tennis & Sunny Days!

If you hate sport, this month must be a nightmare come true!!  What with the World Cup, Wimbledon, US Open Golf and Cricket ODIs too!  OK, so I can definitely live without cricket but the rest I enjoy watching. 

If you think tennis is boring, what about the amazing record-breaking tennis match between Isner and Mahut - at the time of writing this, they are just about to go back onto the court for the third day (10 hours playing so far) at 59 games each in the fifth and final set!  The mental and physical stamina required to play at the top of your ability for that long (in this heat too) is incredible - neither of them deserves to lose!

Fortunately, I don't mind sport at all and am loving this World Cup, despite the fact that as an England fan, there have been far too many squeaky-bum moments for my liking!

Grudge matches happen all the time and it really shouldn't have come as any surprise that our next match is against our old football-foes, Germany!   Sadly, as this game takes place at 3pm on Sunday, hubby and I won't be able to watch it live as we will be manning our stall at Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre in Gillingham, Kent until 4pm then of course there is the packing up to be done before we can get home.   I'm guessing that it is going to be pretty deserted from 3pm onwards but hopefully lots of people will be suitably disinterested in football and will come out to do there shopping when there are likely to be no queues!

The big question is, do we record the match and try to avoid hearing any scores and watch it when we get home or try to listen to as much as possible on the way home?

This hot weather is still creating the sweaty-knee syndrome (see last post!) which is not nice and unfortunately one of our cats is suffering badly so a trip to the vets is in order tomorrow morning to try to make her more comfortable before preparing ourselves for what is likely to be a very hot day on Saturday outside in our gazebo at the wonderful Nutley Village Day.  Still, I guess I would be complaining if it was cold and raining!

I have been creating new designs frantically each week to give as much variety and choice to my ever-increasing number of loyal customers (thank you to you all!) and the Diddy Designs series has increased to 11 different designs!  

One of my new favourites has to be the Diddy Dolphin

Diddy Dolphin - £2.00

and of the standard size designs, I am loving the Pretty Kitty and Campervan

   

Pretty Kitty - £6.99                    Campervan - £5.99

But they are just my personal favourites, why not check out all the designs and get your own favourite designs at www.studiocrafts.net

And if you are in the area this weekend, please do come along and see us either at Nutley or Gillingham - perhaps you are not interested in the football match on Sunday which makes it a perfect time to shop!

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot....

COME ON ENGLAND!!

Happy Days and Sweaty Knees!

So, is Summer really here? 

OK, so a little extreme but we can all dream, can't we!!

The last week has been gorgeous on the weather front and its getting hot, hot, hot!   Great news for our upcoming outdoor fairs but not so good for hubby who is sweltering in his taxi.  Sadly, whilst the older Hackney black cabs are built like tanks they don't have little luxuries like A/C - just extremely hot engines, great for increasing the ambient temperature to that of a large oven!  (Mmm, sweaty knees anyone?!)   I know the weather is getting better as he now has that classic tell-tale 'brown right arm' from hanging it out of the driver's window!  It was great when we used to travel to the US - left hand drive vehicles meant he could try to even it up!

Even the cats have found it too hot to stay out for long - the normally absent-whilever-the-door-remains-open, Blinky has been taking to our his bed in the afternoon for a siesta (hmm, maybe I should buy him a little sombrero to wear...).  Misty, of course, doesn't venture very far at all but her black fur heats up very quickly and she comes in for a roll on the wooden floors.

I have to admit that I have been suffering too from SKS (sweaty knees syndrome) and am extremely grateful for the large electric fan which resides under my desk!

This has been an extremely busy week - we were at the three-day Cuckoo Spring Fayre last weekend and I had a lot of orders to complete as well as stock to replace before this weekend - and, thanks to a Bank Holiday Monday working at the show, one less day than normal to do it all in!  Cue early starts and late finishes but I did it!!   Around 90 designs completed in just over 3 days!! (and each has to dry overnight between stage 1 and stage 2 of the process!)  I am pleased but knackered!!

I have also added a new section to my website today - Customer Testimonials. We receive such fantastic feedback from customers and it is great to be able to share these with everyone. To view the comments/add your own, please go to www.studiocrafts.net/testimonials/

Sunny days always seem to put everyone in a better mood - isn't it nice to see smiling faces instead of gruff expressions peeking out from under a brolly.  Still, I guess it won't be long before the hosepipe bans and general moaning about being too hot will start....

Working Animals & Heavy Horse Show photos courtesy of Weald & Downland Open Air Museum

So, before everyone gets sick of the Summer, we are going to make the most of our weekend under our trusty gazebo at The Working Animals & Heavy Horses Show at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in Singleton, nr Chichester this coming Saturday and Sunday.   Open each day from 10.30am until 5pm, it is a fantastic venue and the show has lots of great animals and events to entertain all ages along with the stalls for you to pick up some fabulous gifts.  The weather forecast is for two beautiful days with a very small risk of brief showers (which could come as a bit of a welcome relief if it is really hot!).

 

If you can, come down with the family and enjoy a great day in the good ol' British Summertime!  Knotted hankies are optional....

Disappointed and Enlightened - A week of extremes

Last Saturday we decided to support our local Primary School and take a stall at their Spring Craft and Gift Fair - it was only on for three hours and the stall prices were very reasonable so I booked two stalls to ensure that we had the display space required.

I asked and was placed in front of a window so my designs could be shown off in their full glory with sunshine streaming through.

All was going well - a couple of small sales early on and then.... NOTHING!

There was hardly any support from the school children or, it seems, their families!  It was very quiet and those who did venture into the hall just weren't buying - I guess they thought the 50p admission fee was enough to boost the schools funds!  

It was a tragic and disappointing day - I was upset that our day ended in a loss (plus now has - and hopefully keeps - the dubious honour of being the worst sales total we have ever had), but disappointed that the pupils/parents didn't seem interested in taking an hour or two out of their day to try to ensure that the funds were healthy enough to do all those lovely things that schools do for their pupils as little extras throughout the year.  I feld desperately sorry for the people who had taken the time to organise what could have been a great event to see such a poor turnout.

Fortuntately, Sunday showed how a community can come out in force and support local events.  We travelled to Hove (nr. Brighton) to an Olde English Fayre which was held in a small community park.  We set up our gazebo along with around half a dozen others dotted around, some carboot style jumble stalls, children's make & take stalls, a spinning demonstration and a few others thrown in for good measure.  The park was obviously open for people wandering through during the set up procedure which always makes for a fun time and I worried that there didn't seem to be many people around.

12 o'clock arrived and a brave (or maybe foolhardy would be a better description bearing in mind the hot weather) group of guys in chainmail and full regalia arrived to officially 'open' the fayre.  And boy, did the people come out!  It was busy right throughout the day (OK not everyone was buying but there were enough people there to ensure that we made good sales).  What a difference a day makes!

I did, however get to play with my new gridwall display (and forgot to take a photo!!) which worked really well - we are slowly getting used to setting things up differently but I am sure it won't be long before it is all second-nature again.

This coming Bank Holiday weekend we have a three-day show so I hope that it puts us back on track!  More details on the events page of my website - http://www.studiocrafts.net/

I have also recently made contact again with someone I used to be good friends with 'back in the day' (before the grey hairs starting appearing and lines on my face were only due to too much laughing!) and it was quite horrifying to realise that it is 21 years since we last saw each other (how can that be, I am sure I have a way to go before I reach my 30th birthday!)  Where does the time go???   We were housemates not long after I moved from Yorkshire to London and I was very sad when he had to return to his native Canada.  In my mind, I don't feel that different to how I was then but when I was trying to fill him in on 20+ years it soon dawned on me how similar now and then are to the proverbial chalk and cheese - we are both married, him with a family and it seems strange to think how much time moves on without you really paying that much attention to it.  It was only when I started writing down what had happened in my life and reading about his life since we were last in touch that I realised this.

So, from today - I vow to try not to let life pass me by, to sometimes take time to 'stop and smell the roses' and appreciate all the wonderful things I have!  I hope you do the same...

Take time to stop and smell the roses...

Oh and John, if you happen to read this - I am so happy that we are in touch again!!  I have really missed your friendship - you are a great guy so take care, eh! (as they say in Canada!)

Hope you all have a great week  x