MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

We survived the storm without any damage - although heavy flower pots in our front garden travelled a few feet!  Jill and Richard told us that quite a few trees had been blown over in the roads around us, but that we had been very lucky.  Good news, because some of us Pie cats like to climb trees.  I hope everyone who reads my diary didn't suffer any losses or problems because of the bad weather.

Jill took part in the Woking Cats Protection Christmas Fayre on Saturday and fame struck me again!  A visitor to the event spoke to Jill about her blog and said that they read my posts.  Jill said something to me about my head getting too big - I don't understand that, but I rather like being famous.

I have been very well behaved recently, no birds, frogs or other creatures have disappeared because of me - am I losing my touch or are they all wise to me and keeping out of the way?  I am still building up my collection of feathers - well I would if they stayed where I left them!  Every time I bring in another one, the previous one has disappeared.  Is there a sneaky feather thief around here?  Or, even worse, perhaps the birds they originally belonged to are taking them back?

Time for me to go out to play - I have had to come home earlier each day this week because night time seems to be arriving earlier than last week.  Something to do with those clocks going back to wherever clocks go to at this time of year.

Have a good week everyone - see you next Wednesday.

Milly

BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES

Hi everyone

A wet and windy week and just hoping the weather men have got tonight's stormy forecast wrong.  In the last 'great storm' we spent two weeks without electricity and don't fancy going through that again.  We do have frequent power cuts here, mainly mini ones thank goodness, and think it may be due to having overhead electricity cables - no not the 'great big pylons' in my garden ones, but no underground electricity delivery around here.  good job one of my makes is candles - might just need to get on and make some more.

Thank you to everyone who visits and comments on my blog - I do love to read your comments.  Very often they are great advice too.

This last week has been (almost) wall-to-wall card-making, bag-decorating and fabric wreath producing.  I was booked into two events yesterday - tricky I know, but one was going to be covered by my cake-making friend Linda.  Because of my involvement with the Woking Cats Protection branch, I managed my stall there and it was a good day, despite the frequent bouts of rain.  My mini-cards sold well, Christmas gift bags also sold and another one of my decorated jute bags was snapped up.  It was, naturally, a cat-filled event - as someone said to me it was one of those rare occasions where you can talk non-stop about your cats and not have people look at you as if you were completely bonkers!  there were lots of cat-themed stalls there and I know the branch raised some much-need funds, so a good day for everyone.  Here are some photographs of my stall including one of my Scottie Dog jute bags - I had made and sold one the previous week and felt another one was a must-make.

Sadly, Ripley Craft & Food Fair was a different story.  Nothing of mine sold - I don't think I can recall experiencing a 'no-sales event', so at this stage in my craft business life it came as a big shock.  The weather was pretty grim and as stall holders are housed in summerhouses, sheds and gazebos, not always the best places to be.  Apparently at least four stallholders didn't turn up or bother to notify the organisers - so unprofessional and unfair to Claire who works hard and always has a waiting list of stallholders to be involved.  As the products that didn't sell have always sold well before at this venue and sell well at others, what was the problem this time around?  

Linda and I shared this event each having our own items - was this a bad idea?  Could it be that the cake/bread buyers saw only them and didn't think other items would be for sale at that spot?  So disappointing and we have made the decision that apart from our joint venture in the Secretts Christmas Emporium, we will manage our own stalls but each offer a very limited amount of each others stock.  We think it is the right decision and to be honest, less confusing for customers.

Despite the forecast, the weather here is gorgeous at the moment: sun, a little wind and mild.  It's time to do some gardening - have to make the most of that time before it gets too wet.  I hope you all have a great week and don't forget to nip over the read the blogs taking part in this week's Handmade Monday.  If you fancy promoting your Christmas stock or an event, please do get in touch about being a Friday Guest blogger - it would be lovely to have some Christmassy-themed posts.

Jill

A DOUBLY EVENTFUL SATURDAY

Hell everyone

What a grim day weather-wise; heavy rain and wind already and more on the way.  Hope it disappears before tomorrow as I am taking part in two events - at the same time!  Well, that was the plan but as you know it is impossible - but in the future, who knows.

As many of you know I am a volunteer for Woking & District Cats Protection and tomorrow is our Xmas Fayre.  Last year I was a helper at this event and this year I am a stallholder.  the event is taking place in Brook Hall, Brox road, Ottershaw, Surrey, KT16 0HG and is open from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.  Apart from lots of lovely things to buy there will also be great refreshments including bacon rolls - the only reason I am going!  If you are in the area, a cat lover or support of the work done by Cats Protection do come along to this event.  yo can find out about the gorgeous kittens and cats currently looking for new homes, meet man y of the volunteers and do some early Christmas shopping at the same time.

My second 'appearance' tomorrow is at the Ripley Nurseries Food & Craft Fair.  Sadly, not me but my cake-making friend, Linda, is covering for me as well as selling her cakes and bakes.  She makes a great range of breads, so do go along and buy some and she also makes very tasty cheese straws.  The event is taking place at Ripley Nurseries, Portsmouth Road, Ripley, Surrey, GU23 6EY and is open from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.  Have a look at the nurseries' Facebook page for photographs of their recent events - lots of different goodies for sale.

I hope you can visit both of these events, not too far apart and both certainly worth adding to your list of places to go to tomorrow.

Have a great weekend - hope you manage to keep dry.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

Woweeee, it is windy here!  Cats and kittens like windy weather, makes us run around more.  Lots of leaves to chase.

We had a terrific storm last night.  Lots of thunder, wind, heavy rain and some lightening too.  I wasn't bothered by it because I am a very brave cat.  Jazz lifted up his head, wondered what it was and then went back to sleep.  The rest of the Pie cats slept through it.  Jill sat with Rosie and Violet during the storm and they didn't seem to be bothered by it either.  Talking of Rosie and Violet, Jill managed to get some photographs of them which have been added to their page on the Woking Cats Protection website - here is a sneak peek of one taken while they were having lunch:

Jill is taking part in the Woking Cats Protection Christmas Fayre at Brook Hall, Brox Road, Ottershaw, Surrey, KT16 0HG on Saturday, 26 October 2013 (10.00 am - 1.00 pm).  She would love you to go along and see her and she can tell you all about me and how wonderfully gorgeous I am.  Okay, okay, she will tell you all about Rosie and Violet too if you would like to know more about them.

That's me blogged out for the week - the sun is shining and I have to make the most of it.  Jill said something again this week about the clocks going back this weekend - again, she didn't say where they are going back to!  Why do humans have to make a cat's life so confusing.

Have a good weekend - see you next Wednesday.

Jill

PHEW - THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

Hi everyone

A very busy weekend following a hectic week.  It's definitely a feet up and watch television evening - well, it will be once I have done some more work.

Yesterday I took part in the Play Kenya Craft Fair in Pirbright and a great day sales-wise.  I sold my lovely black cat jute bag, as well as one I made in the week with a Scottie dog on a red sequin lead.  My mini-cards were a great success and I also sold one of my cuppa-candles.  I completely forgot to take photographs and my cake-making friend, Linda, took some instead but they may have to wait for next week to be posted on my blog.  The craft fair was pretty near to 100% handmade, which was lovely.

Today it was the Wedding Fayre at the Frensham Pond Hotel.  I have taken part in a wedding fayre at this venue before and it is always very well organised.  Mala, the Sales & Events Organiser, regularly visits each stallholder throughout the day to see how their day is going; there is always good follow-up after the event and a really nice touch is that we get vouchers for tea and coffee and a sandwich.  Lots of interest in my wedding stationery, a request for a quote and I hope there will be follow-ups once the brides-to-be have ploughed through the large bag of promotional material they collected during the event.

Earlier this week Mala asked if I could produce some wedding stationery to go on their welcome table - their colours were going to be purple and white.  I produced an invitation and place name card.  Mala also asked if I could produce two menu cards for the table, which I made in similar colours to the invitation and here are photographs of them:

The following are a of pic of my stall and a sample invitation I was recently asked to produce :

One of the highlights of the event was this cake:

Isn't it fantastic?  All those lovely vegetables.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The cake is made by the brilliant Cruikshank's - have a look at this website and you will see the gorgeous cakes he makes.  I asked him if I could take this photograph and promised I would add his details as a thank you.

It's over to Handmade Harbour for me now to catch up with everyone's week.  Thank you everyone who commented on my blog post last week - as always very much appreciated.

A slightly quieter week for me - hopefully - although I do have two events to make for on Saturday, but thankfully nothing on Sunday.

Have a good week everyone.

Jill

AN 'EVENT'FUL WEEKEND

Hi everyone

Fridays on my blog have always been reserved for guest bloggers who have a post they want to share about their products, a hobby, a favourite animal and sometimes an event they are either organising or are involved in.  Just for today, I am using the Friday Guest Blogger spot to promote the two events I am taking part in this weekend.

19 October 2013: 11.00 am - 4.00 pm: The Play Kenya Craft Fair at Lord Pirbright's Hall, Guildford Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0JN

The event is hosting a wide variety of craft stalls to raise funds for Play Kenya - have a look at their blog to see what they have been doing recently.  As an organisation, Play Kenya is devoted to supporting emotionally damaged children through therapeutic play.  The aim is to support and give skills to local communities so they can make a difference to their children

20 October 2013: 10.30 am - 3.30 pm: Wedding Fayre, Frensham Pond Hotel, Churt, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 2QB

This is a beautiful venue for a wedding fayre, and en even better one for a wedding.  There will be a great mix of wedding businesses taking part in this event and you will get the opportunity to spend time collecting ideas and advice for your special day.  I will be there with my CPC Wedding Stationery hat on showcasing my beautiful range of hand-made wedding stationery, so come along and enjoy the day with us.

Hope to see you at both events and come back on Sunday to read my review of how they went.  Have a good weekend everyone.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

A down-in-the-dumps day today because it is raining, it's dark and it's cold.  All five Pie cats are indoors because none of us like this sort of weather.  Wet fur is not nice - the choice is either lick it dry or let Jill rub you dry with a towel.  Decisions, decisions.

Jill has been busy all week making crafty things for the events she has this weekend - this is great fun for us because we keep pinching bits of felt, cotton, ribbon and playing with them.  Not so much fun for Jill, because she wants them back!

Rosie and Violet are getting bigger every day and are very friendly - when I go up to the door of the room they are in, they rush up to talk to me.  I can tell them apart because Rosie is a little bigger than Violet.  They love to play and have lots of toys - some of them are ones I used to play with when I 'lived' in their room.

Pauline from Woking Cats Protection is coming to see me next week - ok, not me, but Jill and the kittens but I am sure she will want to see me.  I am actually rather famous - a lady at the Therapy Garden event on Friday told Jill that she reads my weekly diary.

I think it is time for a snooze - I wonder if the sun will be out soon.

See you next week

Milly

WORK, WORK, WORK - ROLL ON CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone

What a soggy and miserable day today is - only weather-wise that is.  I don't think it has stopped raining all day - thank goodness we did a bit of gardening yesterday as the ground is now pretty muddy.

A busy week again - it's that time of year, isn't it?  You just can't sit back and think everything has been finished, you are on top of your work and it's time to put your feet up, can you?

On Friday I took part in the Autumn Fair at the Normandy Therapy Garden.  A little surprised when I arrived to find that I was going to be in a small marquee - there were three other stalls in with me.  If you recall Friday's weather it was very, very windy and although the marquee was well anchored to the ground, the sides were flapping a bit, but we did have quite a bit of sunshine during the morning.  I know the organisers as I have held a card-making workshop there so it was nice to see Penny again.  Thank you everyone for the numerous and very welcome cups of free coffee.  The event was very well attended and I am pleased to say I made a small profit.  The Therapy Garden is a lovely place and if you live in this area or if you visit here, please do go along and have a look at it.  It provides great learning opportunities for people who may not get the chance to work with plants.  You can also buy vegetables there, plants and some pretty amazing wooden structures (plant frames, bird boxes, etc).

The only disappointment and nothing to do with the Therapy Garden is the signposting here.  About three years ago our Parish Council (PC) promised to put up signs to the Village Hall and the Therapy Garden (they are on the same land).  True to their word, they have put a sign up - directing everyone to the Manor Fruit Farm!  Great if you know that the land where the Village Hall and Therapy Garden are situated was formerly the fruit farm but if you don't live in the area, it will not mean anything to you.  I feel a letter to the PC coming on.

I made a few items of new stock and here are some photographs taken at the event:

This one is made with what felt like 1,000,000 ribbon circles!

An autumnal ribbon wrapped around a polystyrene ring, decorated with same ribbon ties and topped off with felt flowers and brown beads in the centre of the flowers

As you can seen, the sun did shine during the day 

A work-in-progress wreath.  navy blue ribbon wrapped around a polystyrene wreath and decorated with sea shells (bought from The Works, not removed from a beach).

I had a lovely order for a large quantity of my decorated jute bags from a friend this week - thank you Lesley.  I am going to enjoy working on these very much as they are to be butterfly themed.

I have a meeting at a local day centre on Wednesday to discuss holding regular card-making workshops there.  I should have more information for next week's Sunday blog and will tell you all about it then. I hope that not only will this be of interest to the people who use the centre regularly, but also to local residents, people who have attended my card-making workshops and newcomers to this lovely craft.

A very busy week which ends with a Craft Fair in Pirbright on Saturday and a Wedding Fayre at Frensham Pond Hotel on Sunday.  I have a feeling that this time next week, I might be asleep!

Between now and then it is work, work, work - no doubt the same for all of us involved in the world of handmade.  Have a great week everyone and don't forget to visit this week's bloggers taking part in Handmade Monday - would you believe it is week 138??

Jill  

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

It's busy, busy, busy here!  In the garden I have lots of leaves to collect, play with and then throw all over the place.  I imagine they are all sorts of things: the red leaves are butterflies, the brown ones are moths and the few green ones that land on the ground are frogs.  I seem to be spending less time in the garden every day as it doesn't get light until much later than I am used to and gets dark even earlier than I am used to - Jill said something about the days being even shorter when the clocks go back.  Not sure what a clock is and have even less idea where it goes back too.

Rosie and Violet are still with us.  Violet was a little shy when she first came to us, not any more!  She is nearly as brave and confident as her sister.  Every morning and a couple of times during the day Jill tidies up their room - cushions back on chairs, covers over the back of chairs - five minutes later it looks as though I have been in there!  Toys everywhere, cushions often on the floor, water bowl sometimes splashed all over the floor.  I am sure I behaved much better when I was in that room.

It's Coco and Poppy's birthday tomorrow - they will be one year old.  Not as old as me because I am 14 months and 8 days old, so very grown up really.  What shall I get them for their birthday?  A mouse, a frog, how about a dragon fly?

A very late Milly's diary today - Jill wasn't around first thing to help me open the laptop.  I am off to play with more leaves now, although Richard tries to beat me at collecting them!

Have a good week everyone.

Milly

IT'S GETTING BUSY HERE IN PIE LAND

Hello everyone

It's a gorgeous day here and possibly the last warm one for a while.  We recently had our 'green sacks' replaced with big brown wheelie bins.   A pain for storage, but as we are doing some heavy heavy pruning of

our fruit and other trees at the moment, it is very welcome - in fact we could do with two at this time of the year.  We shred and compost as much as we can and over the years our soil has benefited from the addition of our shreddings.  Today is also likely to be the last chance we have of cutting the lawn (well we like to think of it as a lawn, more a big patch of moss, weeds and some grass) because it takes ages to dry out and for most of the day it is wet from a very heavy dew and partially in shade.

As for everyone in the handmade world, it is a very busy time of year for me.  Making what we think will sell as well as what we enjoy making - do you find that very often they don't go together?  Something you were glad you had finished proved very popular and you had to make more.

This week was spent making cards, more gift tags, sample wedding invitations and I found time to decorate another jute bag; this time for Halloween.  I don't really 'do' Halloween crafts, but felt it was about time I made something and as the colours of black and orange are ones I like, I couldn't resist the opportunity to use them.  I am taking part in an Autumn Fayre on Friday at the Normandy Therapy Garden and think this might be a popular item, and here is a photograph of my make:

This week, time permitting, I will have a go at making a ribbon or fabric wreath in Halloween colours.  I have four events I am taking part in this month, one of which is a wedding fayre, plus a fifth one that a friend is covering for me/sharing with me.  This coming week is going to be hectic and I think I had better get back to work now - but I will do some gardening first as it is very relaxing and the sun is shining.

Don't forget to visit the Handmade Monday bloggers this week - as we move towards Christmas, they are blogging about lovely Christmas makes.  Thank you to everyone who visited and commented on my last week's post and I am so pleased my cat-decorated jute bag was liked by so many.  Using the feedback as a gauge of popularity, I think I had better make some more for stock.

Have a great week everyone - see you next Sunday (Milly will be here on Wednesday with her purrs of wisdom).

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

What a horrible, soggy day!  I could be inside for most of today snoozing and lounging.

Coco and Poppy like wet weather - how strange.  In fact in the summer when Jill was watering the garden, they often ran through the water.  Daisy prefers anything warm, so wet weather is certainly not her favourite.  Jazz doesn't mind any weather - well, except snow.

Rosie and Violet are still with us, but there is a family interested in them so paws crossed they may be off to a new home soon.  Jill says they are very cute and I can see that they have grown a lot since they have been here.  Jill has been trying to take some photographs of them, but they wriggle and keep coming up to the camera, but here are two that she managed to get:

Violet

Rosie

It is still grim and grey here, so time for me to snooze.  Not too sure if the sun will be out later, but I hope so, because I need to be out checking on the local wildlife.  I am sure they are already missing me.

I hope you all have a good week - I will be back next Wednesday when I hope the sun will be shining.

Milly