Oh the stress !

Whoever said it was a good idea to exhibit at the Knitting & Stitching Show was completely mad !

I'm going round and round in circles, still making lists (from which not much is being crossed off), lurching from one thing to the next and never actually managing to finish anything.

Sadly, some of my stock that I was wanting to take to the show still hasn't arrived, one of the kits still needs making up - well, when I say 1 of the kits, what I actually mean is 1 design of kit still needs to be made up and we need to make up 100 of the things - arghhhh. Then all of the kits need tagging with swing tags (that's 300 kits !). All of the jars need to be restocked with felt balls etc., all of the price tags need printing, all of the stock needs to be divided between batch 1 (on the stand from day 1) and batch 2 (back-up stock) and in between all of this we are still trying to process the huge amount of orders that are coming in every day.

So, this email is to inform you that any orders placed between Saturday 2nd October and Tuesday 12th October inclusive won't be processed or dispatched until Wednesday 13th October. Many, many apologies for any inconvenience this may cause but unless we stop doing orders, we're just not going to be ready for Ally Pally next week.

Sorry again and if you're coming to Ally Pally next week, do pop by and say HELLO !!!!

xx

Child Labour ...

is alive and well at Blooming Felt !!!

When you buy your felt stacks, please spare a thought for these poor children (although maybe not so poor as I'm actually having to pay them !!)

Sarah x

Finally !

The kitchen is FINISHED !!!!!!!

Hurrah !

I can't believe it. Nearly 6 weeks after we started, the kitchen is pretty much finished. All that remains is for me to choose the material for the blinds and get them fitted.

Maybe now, we can get on an enjoy it !!!

This week has seen my little shadow start at "big school".

After the initial excitement of her first day, she has sadly realised that she's in it for the long haul. She doesn't like the teacher because "she bosses me around" ! Sadly my gorgeous girl, that is what teacher's do. "I told them that after refreshments, we always do colouring at nursery and they said I couldn't do it" - that's because you're at big school now and not nursery anymore. "How many more times do I have to go there?" LOTS !!!

It really breaks my heart when she tells me all these things. Of course, she has her brother at the school as well, but his patience is starting to wear a bit thin because she seems to spend the lunchtimes crying and the teachers have to get Sam to try and cheer her up, which was fine to start off with, but now he's missing playing footie with his friends and is getting a bit cross with Grace.

How hard it must be to be 4 years old.

xx

Last Days of the School Hols

To make the very most of the last few days of the school holidays, my very good friend Amanda invited the children and I to spend the day with her and her 2 cheeky monkeys at Bewilderwood in Norfolk.

What a fantastic day out !!! None of us had been before and we weren't too sure what to expect, but how brilliant it was.

Lots of treehouses

slides

zip wires

rope bridges

interactive story telling (note the felt outfits !!)

boat trips

exploring

laughing and smiling faces

Thank you our wonderful friends, for a FAB day out !!!

xx

I am SO angry !!

Why ? Because last night some thieving s**t (excuse my language, but I am ANGRY !) stole my 2 Victorian chimney pot planters from right outside our front door, whilst I was sitting not more than 10 feet away in the sitting room !!! Can you believe it ? We certainly couldn't when we opened the front door this morning and found 2 pots of bizzy lizzies sitting on the doorstep and no chimney pots anywhere in sight !

Honestly, I am stunned, sad, fed up, scared and ANGRY !!!

What really scares me is the fact that last weekend, we had a garage sale on our drive. Most of the people that came by were very nice, however, there were a few that I was a little bit suspicious of. But I didn't think anymore of it. I certainly didn't think about our very heavy chimney pots being on show. Now, of course, I am starting to think that someone who came last week had no intention of buying anything from the garage sale, but just have a good nosey around and see if there was anything worth stealing.

I did hear a clunk noise at around 11pm last night whilst I was in the sitting room, but thought it was Paul upstairs so didn't do anymore about it. How I wish I had looked out of the window, because I'm sure I would have seen the thief (or maybe even thieves as the pots would have taken 2 people to carry them), and could possibly have scared them off.

Now, of course, we are looking at getting CCTV set up all the way around the house, security lighting and automatic gates. I know that it's probably too little too late and that it's like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, but I am now very nervous about our house being so exposed at the rear as we have fields at the back and anyone could come up the garden and break into the house without being seen. Hopefully CCTV and security lighting might at least deter someone who thinks they might be able to break in.

We've now had to clear our garages as best we can because we've got a new car coming on Wednesday and I'm scared of leaving it on show on the drive.

I am terrified of working down in the studio at night because anyone could be lurking in the field / garden / bushes unseen.

What is the world coming to when you don't feel safe in your own home anymore ?

xx

We're getting there ...... slowly

At last, we have a "sort of" working kitchen. It has taken 3 very long weeks to get to this stage and sadly we're still not finished.

We are still waiting for the granite worktops which were finally templated on Thursday and have been lucky (!) to be told that we can actually have the original granite we picked - they managed to find some up North apparently. However, they need to get it down South from up North and then cut it and because there is a Bank Holiday weekend next weekend, we won't have our worktops until next Tuesday.

As you can see, I am having to make do with offcuts of wood as temporary work surfaces and haven't been able to put anything away in the cupboards and drawers because I am waiting for the lady from the kitchen company to come and clean them all. Please don't think I'm being all princessy here, but I was told by the kitchen company that once the kitchen was finished they would send a cleaning lady in to do it all for us (standard practice apparently). However, I've told the kitchen company that I can't wait until the worktops have been fitted in order for her to come and clean so she needs to come on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Otherwise, I shall be cleaning it all myself and billing them !!! (Update - it's Thursday and she didn't come - you can guess what's going to happen next !!)

The beautiful wood floor was finally laid last Thursday and the electrician finally turned up on Thursday evening and connected everything, so we could start to have proper meals again. Unfortunately we can't use the dishwasher because they haven't cut the kick-boards low enough and I can't actually open the dishwasher door !! But, I do have my beloved double butler sink which is doing the washing up job very nicely for the time being.

We were able to have pancakes for breakfast, courtesy of Betsy (I know, I should have taken a photo !) and also a proper roast lunch courtesy of Betsy's friend (known only as "the module" - no name as yet !!) Sadly, I had to turn Betsy off yesterday because the kitchen was like a furnace, so she will be fired up again once it turns cold and in the meantime we'll be using "the module" for our cooking.

So like I say, we're getting there ...... slowly (very slowly).

OK - enough moaning.

This last week has seen LOTS of deliveries. Quite a few for the Knitting & Stitching Show and quite a few which contained stock for the website. The additional 2 new ribbons I mentioned last time - Nelly the Elephant and Little Mermaid arrived and are now available to buy on the website.

I also took delivery of a new colour of JUMBO ric-rac - Jade (again, available on the website now)

And also 2 new colours of GIANT spotty buttons - purple and green (sorry - I need to take a decent picture of the green ones) - very funky !!!

Ally Pally is getting closer and closer and I'm still in a state of total chaos ! The bags for the new kits have yet to arrive, as do some of the final components, but I'm (fairly) confident that everything will be ready in time ... even if it means I have to work 24/7 from now until the show.

But until then, I have 2 birthday parties to get organised for my little monkeys, along with sewing copious amounts of name tags onto school uniform. I can't believe my little shadow will be going off to school the week after next. She's SO ready for it ... sadly, I'm not.

xx

ARGHHHHHHH !!

I can't stand it anymore ! Why on earth did I decide to get our kitchen replaced right in the middle of the school holidays ?

What an absolute nightmare. We have been without a kitchen for well over a week now. I am currently washing up in the bath and force-feeding the kids microwave meals. Last Friday, after a lovely day on the beach at Frinton (visiting Uncle Albert) I came home to find the replacement kitchen window in the wrong place ! I had to stand on tip-toes to see out of it !

On Tuesday, I was informed that the granite worktops we had chosen weren't available and so we would have to choose something else. Then, I came home on Thursday to find the kitchen units unpacked. On closer inspection it became apparent that the doors were not the doors we had chosen. To make matters worse, when the builders turned up to start fitting the kitchen, it didn't fit !!! Now you know why I'm shouting ARGHHHHHHHHH !!!

On Wednesday, our new AGA was installed - YAY ! Meet Betsy - the lovely new addition to our family.

Unfortunately, as the electrician hasn't done his job properly, we are unable to use her - BOO HOO !! Please don't ask why she's called Betsy - it was Grace's idea. She just came wandering into the kitchen and said "Ahh, look at Besty - isn't she lovely!" Yes, she certainly is. It's just a shame you can't see her in all her glory - she is NOT spotty though. Hubby put his foot down and wouldn't allow us to have spotty AGA - spoilsport.

OK - deep breath. I've counted to 10 so many times and now I've got to the point where I just don't care anymore. I can't see an end to this whole fiasco. But everyone keeps telling me how lovely it will all be once it is finally finished. All I can say is .... IT HAD BETTER BE !!!

In between all of this mayhem, I am trying to keep up to date with the website orders - do you people never go on holiday ??!!! I managed to unpack my huge felty delivery and split it into stock for the website and stock for Ally Pally. I have now realised that I am likely to be short on stock for Ally Pally so have had to place yet another order. Fingers crossed it will all arrive in time.

Components for all of the lovely new Blooming Felt kits are starting to arrive and all being well, we'll be able to start assembling and packaging the kits within the next couple of weeks - this is VERY exciting. I just hope everyone likes them !!

Now, the lovely embroidered ribbon that I stock. I went to place an order with my supplier and to my horror found that a few of the most popular ribbons on my website have been discontinued. How can this be ?? So, if you love "The Hedgehog Family", "Watch the Birdie" and "Fancy Flowers", then you'd better place your order now because once it's gone, that's it. I can't get any more. Sorry.

However, I have replaced them with some lovely new ribbons - "Football Mad" - for all the little footballers out there

and "Twit Twoo" for owl lovers

These 2 designs are already loaded on the website and waiting to go to new homes

These next 2 will be here very soon "Nelly the Elephant" if you like elephants

and "The Little Mermaid" for wannabe mermaids.

Right, gotta go. More stuff needs ordering for the show, the latest lot of website orders won't pack themselves and the bath is full of washing up !!

Sarah xx