final post...finally!

I have been trying to find the words to write my last post here at The Flour Loft... hence the space since my last post...
It is so hard to express just how overwhelmed I am with the support and friendship that I have encountered here in this little piece of cyber space... I have met friends who brighten my day with their cheery and warm messages, I have received lots of encouragement and great advice too and have also made some very special friends.



I just want to say thank you to each of you who has visited and left a comment and also those of you who I do not know but who I hope have enjoyed reading my ramblings here.

The Flour Loft was started when Alice and I shared our Flour Loft studio and were working under the name of 'folkydokee'. With the studio vacated last Spring it now seems time to move the blog on too. Perhaps I shall be able to talk Alice into joining me with an 'alice and ginny' blog one day. In the meantime we are working hard creating the final projects and writing the text for our next craft book which is due out in October 2009. Further details of what we are up to I will try to add to our monthly catchup page (not yet updated) on our 'alice and ginny' website. Please do keep in touch either there or come visit me on my photoblog, 'sweetmyrtle', where I just enjoy posting photographs that I take and sometimes I write a few thoughts down too.

I am also delighted to say that Kitty has won my giveaway, so if you could please mail me you address I shall send you a little something x

So thanks again and although this blog has now come to it's natural close I will still be here in blogland and visiting all your lovely blogs as usual.

with warmest wishes
Ginny xxx

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

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 giveaway and a breakaway

The giveaway first.
Drawn by my two girls at the Dinner table on Sunday. The name they both pulled out together was......

Congratulations to Emma at Sew Recycled. I will send you the little springtime bundle.

Thank you to all who left a comment guessing correctly that it was indeed a galvanised watering can, roseless but nevertheless perfect and it arrived displaying a tag with 'C1940's ' on it. Amanda said she couldn't resist it especially the 40 bit... she's just rubbing it in... she's 40 next! I was thrilled with it especially as i know she would've loved to have kept it. x Thank you also to those who left a comment for the first time, it was nice to meet you. If i haven't thanked you already, i will be off to check out your blogs soon.

Secondly the breakaway.

Well i'm not going anywhere but life has been hectic and i feel shattered. I have been going to bed early this week and i really need it. That balancing act, me 'juggling all those balls' , well i guess i have dropped some, anyway i need to be kind to myself, not take on to much and hence the blog 'break...away'. I will be back as i do enjoy the little space we all share in blogsville. Until then enjoy the newness and hope of Spring and i leave you with a little bundle brought for me by my man who has just been to New York and found Purl Soho.


p.s. Alice and I are taking part in a FREE Open Day at RHS Wisley this Saturday 8th March 10.30am till 3.30pm. It's all to do with growing your own veg. For further details click here.

g
x

A manic day, a givaway and some perfect cards

Today has been manic.. i just haven't stopped.. even my hour off whilst the girls are at Brownies didn't happen. We were invited to join in a 'fairtrade' talk with guest speakers which was really interesting, and better still was the chance to buy some produce... so Divine chocolate and double choc chip cookies for us..mmm! so all good in the end. It is Fairtrade fortnight at the moment, for further information check out fairtrade.org.uk.

Whilst at the studio today Al and I sorted out a little bundle for the mystery photo draw. So if you would still like a chance to enter and win a few little Springtime crafty goodies...

(sneaky preview of a few of the bits)

then please leave a comment with your guess.(see last post or click on mystery photo link). I will give you a few extra days and will draw at the weekend when i am less busy.

I will leave you with a link to my friend Caireen from the patchwork dress.

I brought some of her eco card packs recently and wanted to share with you how fabulous they are. Each card and envelope is made from carefully chosen pages from beautiful magazines. She has such a flair with theming each pack (comes in a set of 4) and they were such a delight to write and perfect to send as thank you letters.

My friends all loved them.
(thanks Caireen)

Caireen has a beautiful blog and for anyone interested in a great original eco product you can buy her cards here.

Have a good Thursday!

p.s. did you know that the Fairtrade logo depicts a person waving? I didn't. Have a look.. it's such a strong recognisable image but i suspect if asked to draw it from memory most of us couldn't.

g
x