A new apprentice...

I recently ran a cutting and sewing day at my Church.  I had lots of children who filled bags with sand for my doorstops, some loyal cutters and sewers, and a new apprentice!
Olivia comes to our Church, and during the sewing day she made her first ever bag.  Here she is pictured wearing it.

The bag has since, I am told, had several outings.

Love Bletchley day

This is my third annual visit to Love Bletchley - an event where anyone can come and try out having a market stall in the centre of Bletchley for a day.  There are special activities galore, with lots of fun for children as well as a huge range of stalls.  Rates for charities are very favourable, and the people of Bletchley are lovely. 

 This year I was in a similar area to previous years, but on the other side of the road.  I've been experimenting with different ways of organising my stock, and have been putting out several of a particular style.  I think this makes them more eye-catching.

 

Inspired by a series Chris Duffett is running at our Church, I also had free gifts on my stall this time, for the first time.  I gave away about 30 of my little denim hearts. Inside the pocket of each I put a printed out Bible verse.  They seemed to be appreciated.

 It was an enjoyable day; the brief rain showers had little effect and I made a pleasing amount of money.  Now i have a month or so to finish off yet more animals - particularly elephants!  They sell so well - which is great.  I will also be restocking the hearts, ready for Harpenden and Stony Stratford.

Musical bag

This one comes with a nod to my husband and to my hankering some time back for a Candy Apple Red guitar.  No, I don't play a guitar any more.  No, I don't have time to relearn.  Yes, we have plenty of guitars in our house.  But it is a beautiful guitar!!
Hopefully some musical person will find this to be a beautiful bag!

Meet Fleur the Flamingo

Fleur is one of a new line for me.  The pattern, as with so many others of my softies, came from Funky Friends Factory.  Fleur was easy to sew, and I feel has a quirky appeal.  I have made both cuddly and doorstop versions, and hope she and her relatives will rapidly find new and loving homes. 

New style backpack

The pattern for this backpack came from a magazine, though I did adapt it fairly freely to suit the fabrics I was using.  I had great fun making these, however, and finished up with more than ten different ones I believe.  Hopefully they will sell well.

The new season starts!

Last Monday marked the start of my selling season, with my now annual visit to Ickwell May Day.  This is a truly traditional event, and a truly village one.  Children from all the local village schools process to the green, where their decorated hoops are judged and awarded prizes, and they - and adults - perform country dances and maypole dances.

The weather this year was not as wonderful as last year, but the rain held off until nearly the end of the dances, just drenching the adult dancers!  I managed to keep my stock dry, and sold lots of items to lots of interesting and interested people.  There were definitely some highlights among the conversations. 

It was also thrilling to see several of my bags from previous sales still favoured and used.  More than one previous purchaser commented that they lasted really well.  It was such an encouragement to see them being worn. 

A fabulous total for the day left me feeling very happy - though I do wish that the torrential rain had not hit me just as I was unloading the car....

Phanice's new shop

This is what Phanice's shop looked like on the day she moved in:

It used to be a fish shop - "samaki" is Swahili for fish.  Chris went with her to pay the first four month's rental and the first year's trading license from the money I passed on for this purpose.  She had previously passed on more money for Phanice and Eddy to buy stock to get the shop going. Because the shop is just off the main street, the rent was cheaper than expected so they were able to pay for 4 months' rent with the money I sent.

This picture shows Phanice with Eddy and one of Phanice's sisters.  Phanice, like Eddy, comes from a large family - she has five sisters and three brothers.  The sister shown here helped to redecorate and set up the shop.

I love this photo of Phanice inside the shop - she looks so very happy.  I pray that her shop will be a huge success.

Early Christmas presents!

No, not my new sewing machine (though that may merit its own post later!) but some photos from Kenya.

You may remember, if you have been reading this blog for a while, my explanation of my first "business sponsorship" - a young lady called Phanice who was selling items door to door but longed to have a market stall.  Well, friends who visited Kenya recently took with them the £300 to pay for (as it turned out) the first four months' rent on a stall, a year's market trading license and extra cash to stock the shop.  Today they sent me the photos, which I share with you:

 

Phanice looks so happy, and her "stall" is much more of a shop than I anticipated, which is even more wonderful.  I am so looking forward to seeing this for myself when I visit Kenya next summer.  

Bromham Ladies' Night

 

I had a wonderful evening last night at Bromham Ladies' night.  The Church was beautifully decorated, with free crafts, pampering and unlimited puddings.

We were entertained by Unisong, the local community choir, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

The money raised is being given to the Utange project, to help with the orphanage, feeding programme and, the latest project, building a high school in the village.  I had a fabulous evening of sales, making a staggering £378.

How does your garden grow?

This would be a great present for a gardener.  As with others of the applique bags, I have used a Hobbyycraft Fat Quarter pack for these applique squares.  I can see that I will be doing a lot of applique sewing after Christmas; I am already planning which lines I intend to stock up on in large numbers, and this style of bag is definitely one of them.