A busy week

Hiya

What a busy week I've had ! I can't believe so much can happen in such a short space of time :-)

First things first - Congratulations to Karen Oh of Malaysia (yes, Malaysia !) who is the winner of the April freebie !! She wins one of my felted flower keyrings. I hope you like it Karen :-)

Earlier this week I received an email from a lovely guy called Robert of www.mrandmrashouse.co.uk . He is interested in stocking some of my products and has asked for some samples of my textile pictures, felted flower brooches and has also asked if I can make some purses. I am very excited about this, especially as Robert is keen for his items to be "exclusive" to Mr and Mrs House and also because I haven't ventured into making purses before, so I need to get my thinking cap on for this one !! Here's a sneek preview of the felt picture I've done for Robert - I hope he likes it.

Yesterday morning I popped into my local craft shop to get a few bits and bobs that I couldn't get whilst on holiday and was chatting to the owner as there was a leaflet on the counter about a Craft Jumble being held in June. What a fab idea !! Basically they ask people to donate any unwanted craft related items, including sewing machines, fabric, zips, buttons, threads, craft mags, pinking shears, embroidery hoops, wool, needles, knitting needles, knitting machines etc etc ... anything craft related that they don't want anymore. Then they hold the Craft Jumble and all proceeds go towards the Essex Air Ambulance - what a fantastic idea !! Anyway, I asked her about the sewing machines as I have been thinking about getting one for a while now - just a little basic one that I can use to make purses (for Robert), curtains for the children's playhouse etc. She said that a lady had been in the shop a couple of weeks ago and had bought in a brand new basic Singer machine that she had bought and couldn't get on with and so gave it to the shop to be sent to the Craft Jumble. Amazingly she said that I could have the machine for a £20 donation to the Essex Air Ambulance !! How lucky am I ??!! Of course, I haven't got the first clue how to use a sewing machine, but Vicky said she would call me once she had it up and running and give me a quick lesson. I'm really excited now and can't wait to get the machine. I'll still go to the Craft Jumble though because a. it's for a good cause and b. I'm sure there are lots of bits and pieces I can pick up.

I'm particularly interested in wooden embroidery hoops because I have a great project in mind for them. I bought this material (below) from ebay today (because I didn't spend enough money in the US !!) and plan to use this in the projects. Watch this space !!


Also, I don't know if you remember me mentioning about an advert in Crafts Beautiful magazine in my last post ? Well, my good friend at Paper-and-String has very kindly agreed to split the cost with me so that we can do a joint advert. I can't thank you enough S and am sure that the advert will be a good investment for us both :-) Our advert will be alongside the needle-felting article in the July edition. I will be advertising under the name "Blooming Felt" for this advert as I feel that all of the felt bits and bobs that I sell sit really well under this name. I won't be changing my main website name Picture it in Stitches, but if you type in

www.bloomingfelt.co.uk it automatically redirects you to Picture it in Stitches. I shall be redesigning my site (yet again) to incorporate this new name (as if I don't have enough to do !!!)

As I've had such a good week I've decided to offer another freebie to my loyal blog readers (including Cooper's nanny in Brentwood !!). So, if you would like to try and win one of my felted flower keyrings, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday evening. I will then draw one name out of the hat on Monday morning and then post the name of the lucky winner during Monday.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you all :-)

Sarah x