Please Mr Bank Manager...

I just wanted to prove big cats vanity from the last entry. I wasn't making it up, honest...













This morning we went to the Bank Manager (deserves Capitalising, that one) to see if we can get funding to bring in this amazing new machine embroidery thread into the UK - Hemingworth Polyselect. It is gorgeous, if nice Mr Bank Manager says yes we will launch it at our trade show.

It has this dust proof protective cap which stops tangling & breakage, and is available in 300 colours.... now all I need to do is get a machine that'll cope with it....

Righto, back to work...

Some things I have made this week whilst I haven't been writing this blog...

well, obviously my aims of writing more regularly were slightly too high - but I say its pretty good going that its not once every couple of months any more. Give me a couple more months and I'll be doing this daily - just you wait...
Anyway, I've not been idle while not writing, I have been a busy bee. Everything else has dfallen to the wayside, because this week I decided I was going to make stuff. It was sewing this week. For those of you who know me you'll know I really can't sew, but this week I was going to give it a try. thank god I have loads of ladies on hand to give me advice, as I am sure I wouldnt have completed a single project without the help of customers, sales reps, my mum, the postman...
so, this is a makeup/ wash bag (made with the expert advice of jane the moda fabric rep)
I used sticky velcro for the fastener and then sewed it on, it was good to get the positioning right with the sticky, and also it didn't move when i sewed it, brilliant, I'm all for the easy way out...
I also made this cushion with a rose thingy on it - it's made of linen so I had to do double the amount of sewing for fear of the fray. But I like the little fraying it's done, it makes it more messy, like something I would have in my house. hang on, I do have one in my house. or at least I will once I move out of my mum's attic, big cat would ruin it otherwise, with her constant plumping up of the cushions with her claws.

Help me help me help me... you get the gist...

Have you ever had a job to do that you just don't know where to start? I've got one of those, it's called The Eternal Maker...
I have spent the last week or so (inbetween my buttoning duties) reading up on crafts. Looking up websites, books, magazines, everything I can think of to try and teach myself. At the same time I am trying to teach my mum what I am learning. This is not quite an impossible job, but it is close. Before you all start thinking I am being rude about my mum, let me set you straight. It's not an impossible job because she is unable to learn it, it is an impossible job because I am unable to learn it or teach it to her. There is just SO much. Because we want to cover a wide range of crafts in the shop, it is not just a matter of learning about scrapbooking, or patchworking (although, each of these is a degree in itself I suspect). And I am being scared off I think, by the mountain that just seems to grow every day. I know once I get started it'll get easier, but figuring out where to start is taking its toll on me, believe me. The worry of it all is invading my dreams. Where once I used to dream about buttons, (sad I know) now I am dreaming about this beautiful shop, with it's beautiful workshop space, and lots of beautiful customers (aren't I nice). But there is nothing to sell, no products to try, nothing. Oh dear I think I am working myself up into a state. And because mum is at a show, and everyone else has Fridays off, there is no one to tell my woes to but Big Cat (even Little Cat has better things to do) and she just looks at me blinking, as if to say, what do you expect me to do about it? Well, Big Cat, at the moment, let's just say that you would probably do a better job than me.
So, the point of this self-pitying rant is that if anyone has any good ideas they would like to help out Big Cat with, let her know, I know she would be very grateful.