BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Hello everyone

Long time, no write.  I think I should write a blog post about the all the excuses I can come up with about not writing a blog post.  I did promise myself that no matter what I would write a post every week, but this year that promise has gone to pot!  Despite, as always, having plenty to say, because I join in with the Handmade Monday gang I feel guilty at not having any makes to show and share.  As time is whizzing by since my last post, I thought 'hey, join in anyway'.

What have I been doing since my last post?  In between the usual million and one things we all get bogged down with, earlier this year I applied to take part in the Farnham Maltings Christmas Fair, sent off my paperwork with photographs of my work and as you can imagine, the next few weeks were 'will I, won't I' times.  I was so pleased to receive an email telling me 'you have been successful'.  It is a two-day event, used to be just one-day, and so many people have said it is hard to get into, so you can imagine I am extra pleased.  Need to get on with making stock now - can;t make excuses for not doing that.

My latest Godalming Bazaar event took place on Saturday, 6 September.  From an organisation point of view I felt it was successful in that there was plenty going on at the event (craft workshops, wildlife charity, Town Crier and great refreshments) and we had a fantastic 512 customers through the door (compared with 247 visitors at the last Godalming Bazaar event).  Those of you involved with craft events, on both sides of the stalls, know getting customers through the door is hard work and getting them to stay and buy is even harder.  Of course there were moans - not everyone was pleased, not everyone did well, but it is very hard trying to please everyone and I am sure one day I will realise that it is a pretty impossible task to do that, but for the time being I shall continue to try to achieve the impossible.  I have had some great feedback from customers: very impressed with the variety and quality of work at the event, liked that there were not too many stalls selling similar items, great to have make-and-take sessions, first experience of a craft fair and pleasantly surprised, and definitely going to come along to the next one.

On to the next one which takes place on 4 October.  I have arranged two make-and-take craft workshops (I use two halls at the Godalming Borough Hall so one in each will be a great attraction), a face-painter, one of the stallholders is offering Henna Tattoos, another is giving Reiki and Indian Head Massage tasters. Plenty to interest and encourage people to spend time at the event and buy from a fabulous range of handmade items.  Oh, nearly forgot also have You-Ukes joining us between 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm.  Will I please everyone?  No, of course not, but it's great fun (and flippin' hard work) along the way.

Several foster kittens have passed through our home recently and gone on to fabulous new homes.  We are kitten-less at the moment, but there are plenty more out there waiting to be taken in, looked after and re-homed.  It does get a little easier parting with them, and I know they are going to good homes, but if I had a much bigger place.........

That's me more or less up-to-date and this week I will be catching up with my fellow crafters taking part in Handmade Monday - I bet there will be lots of Christmas-themed makes to have a look at.  There seems to be lots of new crafters joining in, so it will be nice to see what they all make.

Have a great week everyone, looks like we are going to have some more sunny days.

Jill