A new home !

WARNING .... this could be a long post so you might want to get a cuppa and a biscuit before settling down to read it !

OK - are you ready ??  Then I'll begin ...

As I haven't been around for a while, I haven't been able to tell you the exciting news ... we're moving !!  

Yes, after 3 brilliant years in our little purpose built Shedquarters in my garden, we are now bursting at the seams and working not only from Shedquarters, but also using my summerhouse as a storage unit and renting a mini warehouse !!  Sadly, it has become impossible to continue working like this .... we spend a lot of our time going backwards and forwards to the warehouse bringing stock back, which then goes into the summerhouse and is then transferred to Shedquarters when we run low on stock in there.  We also spend an awful lot of our time looking in boxes for stock that might, or might not be in there !!  We're not very organised at all !


So, I had to make a decision.  If I want to grow my little business into a bigger business and offer lots more fantastic product lines, get the wholesale side of the business up and running and have regular "open days", then we need to move.  It was a hard decision to make, after all, Blooming Felt was born and has grown up to be nearly 7 years old in my house, but I'm pretty sure it's the right decision.

So, the hunt for suitable premises was on.  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find the right place.  There wasn't a huge amount on the market anyway and I was quite specific about, not necessarily the type of building, but where it was located.  Craft businesses, in my mind, shouldn't live on industrial estates.  We don't want to be looking out of the window at giant lorries delivering goodness knows what to other premises, or hear the constant sound of cars being mended / revved up etc.  We want to be somewhere relatively small and quiet and close to home.  So, despite being on the books of all the local commercial premises agents, no-one could offer us what we were looking for.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and start looking at the classifieds section in the back of the local paper and spied an advert for workshop / office space in the next village to ours saying the following "NO MOTOR TRADERS".  Hmmmmm - that's interesting I thought and called them straight up.  Half an hour later I was at the address looking at 2 vacant "sheds".  And they really were sheds ... former chicken sheds.  It's fate, I thought !  We have a Shedquarters and we need a new Shedquarters - it's perfect !!!!  Well, sort of perfect.  It needs quite a lot of work to get it to how we want it but it will be fantastic once it's done !  (It's also nowhere near as pretty as my current Shedquarters, but I suppose chicken sheds aren't particularly pretty!)


Fast forward to today and I have just signed the lease !  My lovely builder friend is starting work on the unit today and I have ordered .... wait for it .... hot pink carpet !!!!!!!!  I know, it's mad to have a pink carpet but d'you know what ?  I don't care !! It's Blooming Felt Shedquarters and if we want a pink floor, we'll have a pink floor !!!!  


All of the walls will be white and with a hot pink carpet I think it'll look perfect !!  White is, of course, the perfect backdrop to show off all of our lovely colourful felt goodies so I foresee a number of trips to Ikea to get lots more storage units (thank goodness for Ikea !!) 


I'll try and post "in progress" pics on a fairly regular basis - we're hoping the conversion works won't take more than a couple of weeks so you won't have too long to wait to see the finished article ! 


Stick with us everyone ... it'll be worth it :o)))

  
xx


We're back !!!

After taking the decision just before Christmas to stop posting on this blog, I have now done a complete u-turn and decided that we'll bring it back to life !!

It's extra work for me, but even though we have a blog on our website, I find that's very "business" orientated and this little old blog always let me post all sorts of random stuff on here including family stuff, holiday stuff and of course, business stuff.  And let's face it, constantly talking business does get a bit boring even though Blooming Felt business stuff is NEVER, EVER boring !!

I'm not sure how many of the people that read this blog also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc and I suspect I'll be duplicating some stuff, but there will be lots of "new" stuff on here and as FB doesn't let you run competitions then we'll do them through this blog instead :o) 

So - we're back !!!

Hopefully you haven't abandoned us completely and it would be lovely if you could spread the word that we're back with "News from Shedquarters" and perhaps leave a little comment on this post so that we know you haven't forgotten about us.

If you don't follow us through other social media type sites, then you won't know that we are now stocking 1mm thick 100% wool felt !!  It has been a long time coming, but it's finally here - 30 colours at the moment, with the likelihood that we'll be taking the full 70 colour range from the supplier VERY soon 


And in my next post I'm hoping to have some even more exciting news to tell you.

In the meantime, do please leave us a comment and let us know you're here !!

See you next time
xx

WE'VE MOVED !!!


In a bid to keep everything in one place, and in the hope that it might be a bit easier to maintain, our blog has now moved onto our website.

You can find all the latest news from Blooming Felt Shedquarters here

We try to update it on a weekly basis, along with our Facebook page, Twitter account and Pinterest account.

Come visit .... we'd love to see you !!

Exciting News !

Remember, ages ago, I said we had some exciting news in the pipeline ??

Well, I can finally reveal what it is !  If you're one of our followers on Facebook or Twitter - you can switch off now because you will have already seen this news when I announced it earlier this week.  BUT, if you don't use either of those things social media type thingy's, then I'm REALLY excited to tell you that Blooming Felt are writing a BOOK !!!


I can't tell you how excited I am !!  I'm stunned that the publishing company that approached us at Ally Pally last year, want to work with us to produce a book stuffed to the gills with projects all designed and made by Blooming Felt !



I am even more stunned to think that in little over a year's time, there will be a book on the shelves of fantastic bookstores such as Waterstones, Foyles (and hopefully, lots of lovely independent bookstores) as well as online through Amazon, with my name on it !  It's bonkers, it really is !!!


We're hopeful that we can combine the launch of the book with next year's Knitting & Stitching Show so that we can sell copies of the book at the show and I might even sign a few !!!  


Form an orderly queue now !!

xx

PS.  We're a bit stuck with choosing a name for the book.  So, if you fancy being in with a chance of winning a signed copy, all you need to do is make some suggestions for the name.  I'll be taking all of the suggestions along to the publishers on the 28th June, and if we pick the name you suggested, you'll be getting a signed copy of our book once it's published next year !!!  Get your thinking caps on and leave your suggestions as a comment to this post please  xx

Friday Freebie !

Just a real quick post as it's half term and I've got 2 little ladies running about, talking in American accents and demanding that I put the Princess & the Frog on !

It's been a long time coming, but I have finally managed to upload a new tutorial to the website.  It's a felt desk tidy / bits & bobs box tutorial and you can download it for FREE from the Blooming Felt website here.







I do apologise the amount of time that it has taken to get a new tutorial up on the site, but I've had a very good reason, I promise !  And I'll be back next week to tell you all about that reason ..

Have a great weekend 
xx

A little bit of this and that ... part 2 !

Following up on last weekend's post about some of the stuff that I got up (that wasn't work related), I thought you might like to see what I've been up to this week !

My children's school will be having a Jubilee Street Party (in the playground) this Friday and all of the children need to dress up as either Kings or Queens or in red, white & blue (as you do !)  The smaller children have been asked to make a crown to wear on the day, and there will be prizes for the best crowns.  Here's our entry ...


How handy that I happen to run a craft supplies business !


I'm thinking that maybe it looks more like a Pope type of hat - but hey, it's the taking part that counts !!

Now - I'm afraid that I can't let this blog post be published with at least some news of what's new on the website !

This week we took delivery of a FAB new range of buttons !  We've got ...

JUMBO buttons - measuring a whopping 83mm 


Cute Scottie Dog buttons


Fun Flower buttons


and
Beautiful Bow buttons !


Also, we've managed to restock the bucket bags that we trialled a little while ago.  Now available in 8 different colours (the same as our purses), they're perfect for embellishing with needle-felted designs, buttons, ribbons, felt flowers and loads of other stuff.


 
Keep enjoying the sunshine peeps !

A little bit of this and that !

Today I thought I'd do a blog post about what I've been up to, rather than boring you all with what's new on the website.  

Don't get me wrong, I love telling you about everything that's going on with Blooming Felt (and I do have some VERY exciting news that I need to tell you about soon), but sometimes it's nice to read about what people get up to outside of the "day job" !

So, this weekend I needed to drop a couple of orders off to local customers (service with a smile and all that!) and on the way back home, decided to pop into a Craft & Antiques Centre in Battlesbridge.  It turned out they had a Vintage & Makers Market on at the same time



 Lots of classic cars were parked up at the back, along with the most fantastic 50's music blaring out of loud speakers - I felt like I'd stepped into the Grease film set !





Whilst in the marquee I spied one of my very lovely customers, Claire of Beautiful Things by Claire Mackaness (that's Claire at the back - Grace is doing her modelling thang at the front!)



So, after having a chat with her and treating ourselves to a couple of her lovely goodies, Grace and I took ourselves off and had a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake .... as you do !



Mr Postman also delivered these 2 books this morning (is it wrong to get totally over-excited about books ?)

Image of Homespun Style

Image of Bazaar Style

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know that I'm looking to do up our sitting room this summer, so these books will provide lots of inspiration.  They're what Ally Pally Ali calls "coffee table" books !  Well, seeing as how I don't have a coffee table, they'll be my "bedside table" books instead !!  

So, that was my Saturday.  Sunday news tomorrow !!

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