wishing you all a very....

and thank you for all your support and friendship during this past year.

I have decided to close this blog on the last day of 2008. I have a couple more things to share with you so will hopefully post a few more times.

I would also like to do a final giveaway, so if you would like to be entered into the draw please leave a comment before the 30th December sharing with us the funniest Christmas present you have ever received .


I hope that you all have a wonderful and peaceful holiday with those you love.

with warmest wishes
Ginny xx

edited to say.... just closing the flour loft blog ... it seems the right time, but will be still blogging at sweetmyrtle and commenting on all your fab blogs as usual (you can't get rid of me that easily!)
...and for the future who knows?

lots of love to you all....i am now off to wrap presents and hope i get them labelled correctly as i have had a few glasses!
xxx

Finally...

I am so pleased with myself as I have finally added some items for sale on our website!

I think it was the email from a lady wishing to buy online and alerting me to the fact that i had only 2 items in our shop, which prompted me to sort it out. So thank you Bevon! I hope to add further items when time allows.

For those of you who maintain a website, Etsy or similar you will appreciate that it's not often the making of items to add to a shop but the photographing of them and putting them up there which often takes much of the time. I have a few items which alice and I made a while ago but due to poor photographs have never made it to the website. I am having to put aside my desire to rephotograph them and just use some of these photos as the lack of both light and time don't permit me to take more and as this is the time of year when we generate more sales i would be foolish not to .


I am also pleased that i have gotten around to posting too despite the obvious difficulties of two cats sitting in front of the screen. When i sit at the computer it is like a magnet to them, as is the external sound box that sits on the table and gets very warm... they like to sit on it... and we have to keep checking the vents in case they overheat and we end up with two exploding cats. They are very sweet though and so affectionate to each other. They are now curled up on the computer desk just in front of me... and i can now just about see the screen.
They also like to follow the mouse arrow....




Orders are still occupying some of my work time and these are a few stockings which I have recently made.




Christmas is not far away now... i can't quite believe how quickly it has come round again. It is Firework night here in the UK now and i expect fireworks and celebrations will be being enjoyed elsewhere in the world too. What an amazing and historic day it has been.
g x

Our Halloween...

I don't remember celebrating Halloween as a child at all. These days children in the uk seem to get very excited about Halloween (maybe it's the sweets?) and with any excuse to dress up we have gradually got into the 'spirit' of things. The girls really enjoyed making cards and decorating cakes to take round to our friends for Friday night's festivities. We usually get together with friends for food and games. Apple bobbing being the funniest thing ever. ( i don't know if i cheated but i was lucky enough to find one with a stalk this year!).

It has been very chilly here this week and we even had a light dusting of snow... in October.
Baking and soup making has been my reaction to this... and wearing lots of layers. I am now also wearing bed socks at night (for those of you who are interested in an update of my chilly feet)... my mum has knitted me a pale blue pair (very pretty) from an original 1940's pattern that was passed down from my grandma. I am sure my grandma would be pleased to know that my feet are now toasty.

I hope those of you who have been on half term have survived and had a great time. All back to normal routines for us again. I have some stock to make this week for the Vintage and Handmade Fair as time is whizzing by and it's less than 3 weeks away. I will also be adding a few more items for sale to the website which is overdue an update.
Have a Happy Week.
G x

apple pips...

Cut an apple in half across the centre to reveal a 5 pointed star (mine looks like a flower too).

To find out which beau (or belle) loves you the most take out two pips and call each one a name of two possible loves.

Press one each side of your cheeks.


The one to stay on longest is the one who loves you the most.

Wishing you all happy festivities.
g x

Sew Fabulous Fabric and draw winners

Today is the 18th of September ... publication date of our first craft book Sew Fabulous Fabric.
It is a really exciting day for us!
As we are new authors and not famous there are no trumpets fanfaring and no book launch parties...aah! ... maybe one day though?!
We do, however have a book event planned next month on Saturday 18th October at our local Waterstones in Farnham. If you are nearby please do pop in and say hello.

So what shall we do to mark today? What about a virtual launch? Not sure how to do one really but my guess is a bit of bubbly and lots of cake with some good company.
Anyone care to join Alice and I?...we raise our glasses to toast the arrival of Sew Fabulous Fabric... hic!

please help yourself to a piece of virtual cake...

and some bubbly...

And now for the bit, as they say, you have all been waiting for...the winners of the draw for a free book.
Firstly we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered. We were overwhelmed with how many comments there were and offers to review it on your blogs and we thank you so much for all your lovely messages and good wishes. It has been great to make some new friends and to have some new blogs to read too.

Alice and I did the draw this morning, picking out 3 names as we have 3 books to givaway.
All we needed was folded up paper containing the names of each entrant... 54 in all,

a lady with a long nose (do i win Pip?), a green hat and a baby.

The names were then put into the green hat by the lady with the long nose and then the baby... the very cute Rufus picked them out, helped a little by Alice.




The first name out was Karen .... well done to you. We really hope that you will enjoy the book x



The next name drawn was Louise from this is my patch and home is where the heart is and the final name to be pulled out of the hat was miss sew and sew.



Well done to all of you and if you could please email me your postal addresses i will send the books out to you.

For anyone who is still interested in buying a book it is now 'available' and can be purchased online via Amazon and other similar sites both in the UK and USA. It is also listed on some Australian sites too. It will also be available in local book stores and if it is not in yours just ask and they should be able to order it in for you. It is also available from our publishers David and Charles.

So back to the bubbly.... cheers everyone... this has been fun! ...and fingers crossed for us for good reviews!
warmest wishes to you all.
ginny and alice xx

Sew Fabulous Fabric and a competition...

In November 2006 Alice and I exhibited as 'folkydokee handmade' at Country Living Magazines Christmas Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. We spent a fair bit of money on this show to achieve a warm friendly little shop like space with a counter made by the lovely Rod (my other half), a wooden style floor, a gold painted border a with Merry Christmas stencilled greeting and a mock up mantlepiece where we hung our handmade Christmas stockings.

Country Living Christmas 2006

As many of you who do these kind of shows will know it is very hard to have space to store everything, put samples of all the product ranges on display and to also make the space welcoming and uncluttered and importantly fit us both on the stall (we come as a pair!) and allow space for folk to come in and browse.

As a small company we could only ever afford a small space but the long thin ones always worked best for us as you get a lot of wall space to hang products and still have room for browsers to come in and have a closer look. We achieved what we had hoped for and i think it was all worth the extra time and money spent as we received lots of lovely comments about our little space. I feel it also was an important element in why we were approached at that show by the lovely Ali from the publishers David and Charles. This meeting was the start of an exciting collaboration for Alice and I which has now reached completion.

Ali, who had been drawn to our stall and our recycled textile products asked us if we had ever considered writing a book. We had both toyed with this idea before having both had teaching backgrounds, but had never really pursued it.... (i secretly always thought i would write a self help book.. god knows i am an expert as i have read so many.. but that's another story). We arranged to meet to discuss the possibility of this after the Show.

The next stage was for us to submit a synopsis of the structure that a book would take and a list of projects. We had to wait a while to see if our proposal would pass various stages, costings.. etc. Finally we got the go ahead and then began... With the sad loss of Alice's baby Poppy in mid pregnancy, working towards Hampton Court Flower Show and with the Summer Holidays in between, we certainly had our work cut out...

Creating the projects for the book was such fun and the process of writing the text a real creative challenge which we both loved. Alice and I have different styles so we were constantly editing what each other had written. The book contains beautiful illustrations which accompany our step by steps drawn by Helen Philipps and for the project photography we were so lucky to work with the wonderful Simon Whitmore. These photo shoots were tiring but great fun.



The book was finished back in April and we received a copy in July.... this is me (photo taken by my 10 year old) with my copy... i could not stop jumping up and down i was so excited... i am on the phone to Alice sharing the excitement.

Here is a little sample of some of the projects included in the book, having been created from a mix of recycled fabrics, natural fabrics, remnants and scraps as is our style....

Simon Whitmore's photographs

a full contents list can be found by clicking on the book cover
in the side bar and following the search in book facility.

To celebrate the launch of Sew Fabulous Fabric I wanted to run a little competition open to all bloggers as as thank you for all your support and comments over my last (almost 100) posts.
Our publishers, David and Charles have kindly given me a few free copies of 'Sew Fabulous Fabric' so, these are up for grabs. You don't have to answer any questions to enter or live in the uk as we will post the book worldwide (please note that it is written in English), but what we would ask is that if you win you could write up a little review of the book and post it on your blog.

Our books official publish date is 18th September, although i understand that it is now in stock, so i will do the draw on the 18th September at 9am. Good luck.
ginny and alice xx

p.s. a thank you message for Diana from Pebbledash who sent me one of her wonderful handprinted cards to wish Alice and I good luck with the book launch... so lovely of you, thank you so much x

a Dorothy dress

We have now completed the tongue and groove of the third wall in the studio space,(hooray!) but it still needs painting. Only one more wall to finish now. I am so itching to get in there and to get all my books, beads and fabrics in one place as most things are still in storage.

Despite the fact that the new workspace is still not complete i have managed to sew albeit on one end of my dining room table.
We do not have much space in our tiny house so unfortunately i can't leave the sewing machine set up as we use this table to eat our meals at and the kids also do their homework there.
I know many crafters manage this way. I was spoilt having the Flour Loft Studio. But soon i will have my new Garden Studio and it will be amazing.

I had another special commission to do last week. A Carnival costume to make for my eldest. Her schools theme was Hollywood, so after finding some...

blue gingham...

and some ruby slippers...

i made her a Dress and blouse and we set about transforming her into Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz... completing the look Buster went as Toto in a straw handbag as we didn't have a basket.


We ragged her hair the night before the Carnival to give it a little more body as it is usually dead straight and went to town on the make up. We had to buy some lipstick just for the occasion as i don't own any.

Here they are together with lots of make up on and my little one dressed up like her school friends as a Samba dancer.



The Carnival was great fun, the weather was sunny and the kids had a ball.
g x

Rufus

Today i met a one day old baby. His name is Rufus. He was born early yesterday at home after a wonderfully natural labour. Everything went well and he and his mum are doing great. He is so perfect with skin so peachy soft. I am truly smitten. Luckily i will see him lots and i have also been asked to be his 'fairy' godmother. I had better dust off my wand!
There is something so special about a new life, i can't quite explain how i feel holding a newborn... i think for me it is the miracle of life, it represents hope, and the future. all truly amazing.

So welcome to Rufus and Congratulations to Alice and Nick. x

Our Bank Holiday

We were so lucky this May Bank Holiday to have glorious weather here in the South of England.
My brother in law and his girlfriend came down to visit. These visits usually combine football with a wee bit too much to drink. This did happen but i also witnessed brute strength, lots of dust and some circular saw action. The two brothers took out the old window and made a opening for the new door into the soon to be 'garden studio space'. This was the result....



While they were partaking in brute force us 4 girls went off in hunt of some Maytime festivities.
We managed to find my older sisters folk group who were dancing locally along with 3 other local 'sides' in an event organised by Pilgrims Morris. She belongs to a Ladies North West Morris group. They wear clogs with bells attached and often dance holding garlands.
Some years ago i made her a little folk dancer doll in her colours. Before you ask... no my sister is not the one on the top left!!




We also found these beautiful gardens and Castle ruins. The girls got snap happy with the camera. These are their photos... My eldest got really excited when she saw the lady bird photo opportunity. (top right...click to enlarge)



I love watching them take photos. It gives me a peep into how they see the world, especially when they are given the freedom to shoot whatever they want to. The camera also has a film setting. Now that they have discovered that there is no stopping them... we have just been watching some very funny video they took around the house discussing to camera the clutter and the mess. Maybe they want to send it off to 'Clutter Nutters'?! We had better watch out.. or worse still... 'How clean is your House?'

So an enjoyable long weekend with good company, lots of sunshine and gardening and most excitingly for me the studio space a little further on as we now have a door ... Actually 2 doors... but that's the next job... to take out the old door and to put the old window in it's place.
Hope you had a good time too. How did you spend yours?

1 year on!

It's my blog birthday!

I tentatively started The Flour Loft blog a year ago today. I had come across the world of blogs by accident after doing a few 'goggle' searches. Different blogs kept popping up and i found myself reading more and more and became inspired by the huge amount of creativity and passion which i saw. Initially this blog started as a background to the business 'folkydokee' which Alice and i have ran for the past 6 years. It has been a place for us to show some of the things we make and to keep folk informed of upcoming fairs and new projects. It very soon also became a place where i could share other interests such as vegetable growing, activities with the children and my enjoyment of taking photographs.




I have also been working on a major project with Alice during this past year but have been unable to show much of what i have been doing, which has felt a bit strange. The process has involved many late nights, pressing deadlines, lots of cups of tea and most of all lots of fun.This project is now near completion and i can soon share more with you. This of course is our book, 'Sew Fabulous Fabric', which is published by David and Charles and is released on September 18th 2008. It feels great to finally tell you the title. The book is about using fabric, particularly as you may have guessed, using recycled fabric. In the book we offer 20 different sewing projects which we hope the reader will be inspired to create using some of their own saved and recycled fabrics.

On Friday i drove down to Devon for a last day's photo shoot and on Sunday Alice and i sent off the final text revisions. The book is nearly ready for the print stage and we will see the final colour proof in the next few weeks. It is very exciting. I am waiting for an image of the completed cover to show you and of further details should you wish to pre-order.

Sadly this week the Flour Loft Studio will close.(more news of home spaces to follow) . I am undecided as to how to continue this blog. Should I change it's name or even start a new blog as a continuation? I really hope that in whatever form it takes that i can return to posting about mine and Alice's sewing projects and explorations.


I would like to finish today by saying a huge thank you for all the encouragement and support which you wonderful bloggers have shown me over this past year. Your comments and posts really do make me smile and lift my days.
g x

wishing you a very....

This is what greeted me this morning when i came downstairs.
The girls had been busy creating this Easter message from the geomagnets.

Hope your Easter break is filled with happiness and chocolate.
We are hoping for a visit from the Easter Bunny!

just a bit of fun...

Thank you so much for all your kind Birthday wishes.
I have been so spoilt... and have loved very minute of my celebrations.

I know many of you were excited (and some confessed to being a little envious) about the trip to see Hairspray. Well all i can say was that it was bloody brilliant.. if you get a chance do go see it. It is so energetic, the music fabulous, the dance routines amazing... i couldn't keep still...brilliant brilliant.... we saw the matinee and to think the cast would be repeating it all again that evening. now that's what i call stamina.

I have come back down to earth now and have been sorting out the house, washing, homework etc ready for the return to school/work next week. For those on half term... hope you have had a good week.

I will leave you with a mystery object...(not too hard) taken whilst testing out the new macro lens.

It is a close up of part of something given to me for my birthday from my friend Amanda
(hi Amanda!).

Leave a comment with your guess and i will put all those with correct answers into a hat and do a draw on Wednesday next week . If your name is picked out i will send you a little something (not sure what yet)?

Enjoy your weekend.
g
x

a year older...

It has happened... i am now in my 40's. It's quite a landmark really and has been an odd experience for someone who has always said that age doesn't matter it is how you feel. I still think this and know it is only a number but somehow, it felt like a different passage.

Firstly when written down it is quite a large number... not 50 or 60 granted but makes one feel that somehow you should at least now be a 'grown up'. (something i do not feel or think i will ever feel). I have received lots of lovely birthday cards, many with the number 40 prominent on the front. To associate it with myself at the moment, feels a little alien to say the least, though i am sure i will quickly get used to it, like one does to a new haircut.

Secondly others seem to have an expectation of 40, asking you how you feel, how are you going to celebrate entering another decade and so on... I do like to mark festivals and significant moments in our families lives and enjoy gathering friends and family together. One large party seemed too much pressure on the actual day... so i shied away from this but as a result decided that as i am 40 all year i will celebrate all year. (any excuse).





My first celebration was a family treat to see Mary Poppins in the West End. I wanted to do something that my girls would love and remember. This was the first big London show that they have seen and they loved it... we all did. Fantastic!

A 'grown up' , 'decadent' trip away to Winchester came next. A mixture of shopping, treats, fine food and luxury lodgings. Thoroughly recommended to ease one into their 40's. Then an unbirthday party tea at mums with a visit from my sister and all this happened before my actual birthday!


My birthday morning started abruptly with no 'lie in' but girls bouncing on the bed at 6.30 wanting me to open their specially wrapped and chosen presents. They were very excited and had gone to a lot of trouble making cards and presents .... a scoubi bangle from my eldest and a rainbow picture from my little one. Once they had been rushed off to school, a little later than usual, we relaxed into a very chilled out day. My man had the day off so we went out for a pub lunch and played with my new present ... a sexy macro lens for our digital SLR camera. We have both wanted this for a while and couldn't justify the cost, so my 'big' birthday was a good excuse to finally buy it. I do have to keep reminding him that it was my present though!




He knew i wanted a homemade cake so... as time was rushed the girls chose a chocolate cake for me but he felt he should still make one. He never ceases to surprise me and he secretly decided he wanted to make a lemon drizzle cake. True to form this was 'googled' and the recipe he found was this one. It was gorgeous and the best thing was that he had made it especially for me. So another birthday tea followed .... this one with candles, wishes and cake, and we finally finished the day with a quiet drink out.

So i really have been very spoilt. On Friday night i also spent a fantastic evening out with my local girlfriends.. i felt so happy and so lucky to have such great people around me to call my friends. My good friend Sarah surprised me with more cake.. a beautiful homemade fresh raspberry filled Victoria sponge which even had candles on... everyone sang 'Happy Birthday'.... i blushed... we all had a piece.. so yummy. My oldest friends who live away couldn't be with us so i am planning a Summer party in the garden. Not that i am greedy or anything.. i just love bringing everyone together.

On Saturday morning i reflected on this birthday week and i know i have had the best birthday ever. In stark contrast to my 35th when i had an intensely low period in my life, things now could not be more different. I know i have been 'milking' the whole 40 experience... well, what the hell, i am only 40 once and i really do feel that while we are all rattling through our lives we must never forget to enjoy them. So here's to enjoyment, wherever you are, whatever your age... go and celebrate your life.. unlike cats we only have one! g x

pictures are of a wire and recycled beads heart made for me by my talented sister J.

My celebrations continue next week when i am off with both of my sisters to see this.

Happy New Year

As this year draws to a close and a bright new year, full of hope, possibilities and excitement approaches, many of us like to take time to reflect, take stock, review and make changes in our lives. Hopes and dreams may be voiced, resolutions made and future paths laid before us.
My year has been full to the brim but at the same time very rewarding. There has been great sadness and many tears but also so much laughter, fun, creativity and good times spent with family and friends.

The future is always uncertain, we do not know what lies ahead, we can make plans, work towards our dreams and make choices. I plan to live well, for myself and my family. I want to listen and observe the subtleties of nature, the wonder of life and feel grateful. I shall savour every moment of this precious precious life in the year ahead.


This year i have so enjoyed becoming involved in the blogging community. I am blown away by everyones creativity and passion, whether it be cooking or crafting something, gardening, sharing stories or just making us laugh. I feel enriched by reading about your lives, loves and celebrations. I have learned so much from so many warm and brilliant people. 2008 brings many personal changes, some exciting, some scary.. i am going to face these changes head on. (even the turning 40, which i plan to celebrate for the whole year).

Wishing you all a very very Happy New Year.


Thank you for all your friendship this year, enjoy your celebrations and see you in 2008.
g x