WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE - SORRY, I MEANT WHERE HAVE ALL THE DAYS GONE

Hello everyone

It has been a lovely day here, chilly but reasonably bright and we had a little sunshine.  It was rumoured that snow was likely to fall this weekend, so no snow means happy days.

Many thanks for everyone who visited and commented on my blog post of last Sunday and my apologies for not returning the compliment to everyone who dropped in.  It has been hectic here and as anyone who is involved in selling knows this is just the beginning of the 'mad time'.  That time of year when everyone, yes us included, realises that time is slipping away and very soon it will be last posting time and the shops are shut and it is too late to get that last present you wanted to buy.

However, before that happens we still have lots of making and selling time, so all is not lost.  Five of my fellow stall holders from the Secretts three-day event have opened our Christmas Emporium; which is based in the Secretts Christmas Marquee.  Yesterday was our first day and for me it was very successful - much better than day one of last year's Christmas Shop.  We have arranged a rota between so that we don't have to do every day and today was my first free day - boy was I glad of some time at home as I had a large order to sort out and get ready for collection from the Emporium tomorrow.

A short post today as I have some hearts to decorate for tomorrow as I only have one of my large willow ones left for sale.  Have a great week everyone, don't forget to visit the other bloggers taking part in Handmade Monday and if you are local to Milford, Surrey, please come along  to the Christmas Emporium.  Not everyone is selling handmade goodies and I am sharing my spot with my cake-making friend, but there are lots of lovely things to see (and buy of course)

See you next week

Jill

A LOOOOOOONG WEEKEND

Hello everyone

We all know that the weekend begins on Friday and finishes with a relaxing day on Sunday - well most weekends that is.  Mine began almost at the crack of dawn on Friday setting  up my spot at Secretts Christmas Fair and finished at 4.00 pm on Sunday.  Those of you who do fairs know the drill, you take time and care when setting up and then it's a mad rush to put everything away as quickly as possible when the doors close.

It was a great fair for me and I almost doubled my takings of last year.  I think it was because I had extended my range of makes/items for sale this year to include my jute bags, more wreaths, gift bags and other Christmas decorations.  I had a great time, met some lovely new crafters, one in particular was Cathie Brooks who has seven cats!  As you can imagine we had lots in common.  Cathie very kindly gave me a bag of knitted catnip balls to pass on to my cats and foster kittens as well as some other lucky kittens and cats currently being fostered by Woking Cats Protection.  Thank you Cathie - look forward to seeing you during my time in the Christmas Emporium at Secretts.

I took some photographs of my stand, but think that must have been just after the mulled wine!  A couple of them look a little fuzzy but here are two that seem to be clear:

A photograph of one of the willow heart wreath I decorated - very pleased to say these proved to be popular so I will be decorating some more.

It is always interesting talking to other stallholders to get their impression of the event.  Some said seem quieter than last year, some said it was busier, some did better last year, some not as good.  It was a very well organised event and although very cold on Saturday, we were warmed up with supplies of mulled wine and free tea and coffee.  The only thing I would change is the name of the event - it is promoted as a food and craft event, but although plenty of food is available, not all stalls are selling craft work.  Perhaps food, craft and gift fair would be more appropriate.

Day off today and then back on the mad working treadmill tomorrow.  Back to Secretts on Friday to set up for the month-long Christmas Emporium event.  This is great fun, with six stallholders taking part selling a mix of gifts, craft and food.  If you are local or live nearby why not come along and see us.

Off to check out Handmade Monday now - I am running late this week.  It's a bit lastminutejilldotcom here.  Thank you everyone who visited my blog last week and left me lovely comments.  have a great week everyone.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

It seems to be panic, panic, panic here at the moment.  Jill is getting ready for her three-day event at the Secretts Christmas Fair this weekend, Richard is on leave and wants to relax and our home looks like a warehouse!  I have asked Jill if it really is only three days she is getting ready for.

Very, very frosty here and I have never been out before in frosty weather, neither have Poppy and Coco.  We all spent last winter as inside kittens, so this cold wet stuff on our paws feels very odd.  As it is wet stuff and I don't do wet, I think I will be inside today making sure I keep warm and possibly snuggling up to Jazz.  Daisy is very sensible, she stays in as much as possible in the cold weather.

It's a very short post this week as Jill is telling me she needs 'my' laptop.  Cheeky devil.  I am off to find a warm spot to snooze in, but I will be back next week.  have a good week everyone - keep warm.

Milly

IT'S ALL GO IN THE CHRISTMAS PIE CRAFTS WORKSHOP

Hello everyone

As it says on the packet above, it's all go here and exhausting too.  I know it is the same for everyone involved in any sort of business at this time of year, but those of us involved in the world of handmade know that it seems to be doubly exhausting.

I took part in my last wedding fayre of the year today and have five quotations to prepare and hopefully future contact from people who said 'I'll be in touch'.  I know we all hear that occasionally, but the optimist in me is hopeful.

The weather here today has been lovely - I was hopeful that the good weather would bring the brides out and I wasn't disappointed.  Lots of other lovely wedding sellers, but the most eye-catching was a wedding cake stand (they always catch my eye) and here are photographs of two of the gorgeous creations by Alexander Taylor that were on display at today's fayre - what a talented person he is:

A burger, hot dog, box of fries and a coke.  I wouldn't want to cut into it.  The designs are so out of the ordinary, you couldn't fail to be amazed by them.

Love and peace man - a Sixties themed cake.  Incredible!

Alexander's wife and her father were on duty today and as you can imagine there was a lot of interest in their stand.  The best bit was seeing the look of 'I don't believe it' on visitors faces.

I had planned to make an all white range of wedding stationery for today and I managed to make some of the range.  My thanks to Jan of Handcrafted by Picto for the suggestion to have a red trim.  A great idea and I did just that using burgundy velvet ribbon and diamante embellishments.  Here is a photograph of them - not very good because the lighting at the event wasn't great:

In the Christmas Pie Crafts workshop, I have been back on the make, label and pack treadmill.  The fear of not having enough stock is hanging over me: have I got enough of this, should I make more of that, will they sell.  I am sure my fellow handmade business people know this feeling.

I bought four heart-shaped willow wreaths recently and have decorated each them in a different way.  The light has gone now and I cannot photograph them, but will do so during the week and post them on my blog next Sunday.

This time next week, I will be breaking down my stand following my three-day event at Secretts Garden Centre - I am looking forward to it (and feeling nervous about it too) and will be making stock up to the very last moment (probably during the event too), but there is that 'oh dear, I hope my things sell' feeling, and I will let you know next week how the event went.

Back to the treadmill now, but before I go don't forget to visit the bloggers taking part in Handmade Monday and a big thank you to everyone from last week's linky party who visited my blog and commented - always appreciated.

I have had a couple of people say they are interested in being a Friday Guest Blogger - that would be lovely and I look forward to you joining in, can you email me on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com and we can arrange dates, etc?

Have a good week everyone - Milly will be here on Wednesday and I will be back next Sunday.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

Grey and soggy weather here, not good weather for cats.  Lots of leaves to collect and chase, but not many feathers to bring indoors at the moment.  Perhaps all the birds are wise to me and hide when I go outside.

The good news of the week is that Rosie and Violet have been re-homed.  A lovely family came to see them on Saturday and on Monday Rosie and Violet were taken to their new home.  We will miss them (well, I might not miss them all of the time) but I know they will be very happy with their new family.  Jill said there will soon be more kittens here, so I will be able to pull faces at them through the door.

This time last year I was a foster kitten here and it's quite hard to remember what that was like, because when I moved in I became the Boss Cat!  Despite being rather small I am in charge; I tell the other Pie cats what to do, push them out of the way if they dare to move in on my food bowl and I make sure I get all the comfortable snoozing spots everywhere - preferably on a lap.  However, I do remember what it was like to not have a home or have any idea where one might be found for me and there are lots of cats and kittens out there in the same position.  If you love cats and would like to adopt one, please visit the Woking Cats Protection website and have a look at the gorgeous cats and kittens (although not quite as gorgeous as me) who are looking for homes.  You can tell them that Milly sent you.

Don't forget to make sure your cats are kept in at night - particularly at the moment with these weird things around called bonfires and fireworks.  Not too sure what they are, but Jill and Richard have told us that they can be dangerous.

Have a good week everyone - see you next Wednesday.

Milly

MAKE, LABEL, PACK. MAKE, LABEL, PACK

Hello everyone

How are you?  I hope you survived the storm of last Sunday night/Monday morning.  Quite a few trees were uprooted around here, but as far as I know no damage sustained by homes or people and no loss of power.  I know there are lots of moans and groans about the 'event' being over-dramatised by the media, possibly because it was under-dramatised back in 1987.  It, did, however give us a chance to prepare for potential problems.  Because of past bad weather, loss of power, etc some time ago we invested in a generator - it's a small one, but at least it means we are not lit just by candle-power during the frequent power-cuts we have.  It was interesting to see people in supermarkets shopping as though they were never ever going to be able to get to a food shop again!

An event free weekend, thank goodness, but the last one for a long time - I think my next event-free weekend is the one after Christmas.  After my three-day Christmas Fayre at Secretts Garden Centre, I am

having space in the Christmas Emporium  (doesn't that sound good?) and on Friday of last week, Linda (who shares the after-three-day-event space with me) and I attended a lunch and meeting with our fellow emporium-ists to review the floor plan, marketing and promotion, duty rota and all the other little bits and pieces that needed to be dealt with.  We may all have different products to sell (not all handmade) and certainly we all have different ideas, viewpoints and plans, but we all want to sing from the same song sheet throughout the event.  We talked about having Christmas carols playing when we were open - perhaps we could form a singing group?  Uhm, perhaps not.

This week I have made what seems like 100's of mini cards, some more jute bags (one which has a lovely owl as the design) and loads of Christmas cards - no photographs unfortunately as I am pricing and packing them as soon as I have made them.  I already have 4 large cardboard boxes full of stock and that's without all the loose piles of things everywhere, the large laundry bags full of table and wall coverings, bags and all the other things needed at an event, and the tables, racks, etc.   Thank goodness Secretts is near to me as I have a feeling it might involve at least a couple of trips to offload what I need for just the three-day event, let alone the longer one afterwards.

Now it is back to make, label, pack and even more make, label and pack,  A little light relief from making Christmas stock is my final wedding fayre of the year at the Old Thorns Hotel, which takes place next Sunday.  I haven't done a wedding fayre this late in the year and I am wondering if it will be as busy as those I have attended recently.  I want to make one completely brand new range in all white with a ribbon trim - haven't decided on the colour yet, hope to have photographs for you next week.

Thank you everyone who visited my blog last week and an extra special thank you to those who commented - I love feedback, its always helpful and often gives me ideas of things I need to change and/or new things to make.  Don't forget to drop in on this week's Handmade Monday blog party and read what everyone has been up to during the past week - lots of lovely Christmas makes are appearing each week.

If you would like to be a guest blogger, now is a great time to join in.  You may have events or a new product range that you want to bring to peoples attention - how about a blog post here?  Get in touch if you would like to join in or would like more information.

Have a great week - see you next Sunday

Jill

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