CRAFTER OR EVENT ORGANISER - CAN I BE BOTH?

Hello everyone

Wow!  What a hot week it has been.  If anyone dare says we haven't had a good summer, I will be just a little bit upset.  Okay, I know we still have lots of potential summer-time to go, but so far, so good.  The garden loves this weather, means lots of watering, but everything is blooming (including the weeds!), my tomatoes are doing very well and the sweet peas are gorgeous.  We planted some near to our back door and they have done really well, they are in a position where it is easy to water them, which really does help.

This week was spent getting work ready to photograph to send with my application to take part in the Farnham Maltings Christmas Fair.  This was a very successful event for me last year, so I really would like to be part of it again this year.  One of my submissions was a hessian bag I had decorated with glittery butterflies - these bags have proved to be and still are very popular and I do enjoy working on them

I don't take part in many fairs these days, I am more 'this side' of the table and working on my application did make me stop and think about where I am going.  Organising events is incredibly time-consuming and hard work and even though I have planned for my events to take place in the last four months of the year (one or two at the beginning of the year as well), they still take up around 2, sometimes 3 hours a day on admin.  I have also added a new string to my event organising bow: Surrey Village Vintage.  The aim of these events is to have all things vintage, but only vintage - I am being helped with this new venture by Fee Fraser, who is my 'Vintage Consultant'.  Fee has a lot of experience in this area, lots of contacts and great ideas to help the events go well, standout and become established.  If you are into vintage, check out the events on the website and make a date to visit one of them.

As the title of this blog post says, can I be a crafter and an event organiser?  The event organiser part of me wants to continue with them because apart from the hard work, I really do enjoy them and the chance to see an incredible amount of beautiful handmade work all in one place makes if worthwhile.  Much better than a department store - and the staff are often much more fun and friendlier.  When I begin work on an order or to make some stock, or browse a website of gorgeous card-making materials, fabrics, ribbons and buttons, I wonder why on earth I am spending so little time on what was my original craft-world, and craft-love.

It isn't decision time in Christmas Pie Crafts, but possibly time to become more organised so that both crafting and event organising can be part of my life without feeling one misses out.

Off to the garden now - our pond is looking a bit too full of water lily leaves.  Beautiful though they are, they are rapid growers and soon cover the surface of the pond.  The fish just about manage to peek out - mind you it is partly their fault that the lilies grow so well.

Have a great week everyone - see you at my next blog post.

Jill

MOVING FORWARD AND, YES, STILL CATCHING UP

Hell everyone

Hard to believe we are rushing towards another Bank Holiday weekend.  Although I no longer 'go out to work' (I work from home) I still look forward to weekends, and Bank Holiday ones are just as welcome as they were when I was a wage-slave.  Hope the weather is good as we are holding a birthday BBQ for a friend of ours - nipping in and out between rain showers to do the cooking is never that much fun (but I do seem to be able to delegate this job to Richard).  But then isn't that what Bank Holidays are for?  Dodging the rain, hoping for sun and getting a mix of both?

Earlier this year, I held a Vintage Bazaar in the Merrow Village Hall.  Vintage events are becoming more and more popular, but there do not seem to be many taking place around this area.  With that in mind and with bags of enthusiasm, Fee Fraser of Thimble & Thrift, and I have begun a joint-venture to create events for vintage enthusiasts (both stallholders and customers) and our new venture is called Village Vintage.  A new venture is always full of excitement as well as 'oh goodness me, will it work'.  I hope so, we both have lots of skills and experience to bring to the pot, so if you are around for our first event (19 September 2015) or you are interested in having a stall, do get in touch.

My moving forward and catching-up has involved lots of changes in my life; not all good ones.  My sister was diagnosed earlier this year with Parkinson's Disease - she is a very lively, fit and active person so this has come as a blow to her and our family.  Not long after this 'news', a good friend had a stroke - a minor one, but still life-changing.  It is hard when you really do not know what tomorrow will bring; we can plan as much as possible, but the future is definitely not in our own hands.

Because of the changes around me and changes in my life, I had to make decisions to give some things up.  Sadly, I decided I had to give up fostering kittens for Cats Protection.  It was a very hard and difficult decision and I really do miss having them here, but it became harder and harder to fit in the viewings, vet trips, the support they needed, and it also often felt unfair to my own furry gang.  I still support the Woking Branch in ways that I can, but I do miss those kittens.  I also had to give up managing the accounts of a friend's church - again a hard decision, but necessary.

Now I think I am bang up-to-date with life in Christmas Pie-land.  I am off to Chelsea tomorrow - really looking forward to it.  I go every year with a good friend who like me loves to garden and it is the highlight of our gardening year.  I get to meet my favourite Heuchera people again, Plantagogo, and this year I also want to check out Euphorbias - lovely structural plants.

Have a good week everyone, and enjoy the Bank Holiday no matter what the weather does.

Jill