Feels a lot like Christmas

The studio has been a flurry of activity this week, working late into the night to send off orders to their new homes across the world. This week heralded our final posting dates for most of the world, bar Western Europe (which is Tuesday 11^th December) and the UK (Tuesday 18^th December), and all orders placed from now on should arrive in the new year.

Since I also work part-time at a lovely craft shop and art space in the heart of the Cotswolds, my evenings have been spent catching up on orders, and days off have been at the heat press and the sewing machine, pressing totes and stitching lavender bags, pencil cases and felt pouches for pocket mirrors. Feeling festive midweek, I decided to make roast chestnuts but had a minor accident when one rolled away whilst I was attempting to piece the skins, which resulted in plaster-covered fingers and general fumbling when it came to using my sewing machine again! All seems healed now though, and I’m back on full form for the sewing in the week ahead! Every spare moment is geared towards making, packing orders or answering enquiries and updating sites. Although it is exhausting, it is also exulting.

My lunchtime post office trips have been taking considerably longer than usual, as I waddle in with bags of packets and parcels under both arms. It seems that the post office has become a gathering place for creative entrepreneurs, and I’ve come to recognize regular customers who seem to be on the same time table as me, also laden with bags of posting. With nods of recognition and semi-awkward grins all around, we acknowledge that we are major contributors to the queue, and share a desire to sincerely apologise to the people behind us, particularly the poor guys at the very back who only came in to buy one stamp. Last Monday I spent a full 55 minutes at the counter, much to the dismay of the patient folk in the queue behind me!

Studio Inspiration and New Tote Bags

I gave my studio a good spring clean this week because I have a tendency to collect various scraps of interesting materials and memorabilia which may one day make something wonderful, but, inevitably, never get used! The result is a studio full of rather lovely bits and pieces which unfortunately just turn into clutter, and could be more valuable to someone else who might actually use them. But whilst I was clearing the space, cleaning scraps of thread and fabric which got swept onto to the edge of the desk and onto the floor in my haste to start some new, crafty project, I began to notice how beautiful some of the most basic of craft materials are. The piles of lined up thread spools which I gaze at daily, for example, inspired a lovely colourful illustration which evolved into a tote design, which is for sale in the Mystic Moose etsy shop.

I am now looking around my studio in a new light. I have already taken inspiration from my typewriter, and my blue typewriter tote is one my my more popular items in my etsy shop, but I haven’t yet fully appreciated my sewing machine, or the piles of lace and wool I seem to collect and never have time to use!

New Desk

This is a doodle of the wonderful table we bought for the Heat Press last week. The press, whilst magnificently useful, is unfortunately rather heavy and has forced several lovely tables into a bow-legged stoop. We found this beauty right at the back of a second hand furniture sale, with the top unattached and in need of some tender affection. But it was old, and sturdy, make of some solid dark wood – I am unsure of which since my wood-telling skills are not at their best. I saw its potential immediately, and the perfect height to lever the Heat Press handle, (previously I had been growing concerned about injuries caused by pushing the heavy handle up and down when it was too high for me!) and had the added benefit of drawer storage, perfect for transfers and set squares. Normally I am not fond of desks with built in drawers, as I tend to fidget in rotating desk chairs and end up feeling trapped by the lack of leg space, but since I would never sit down at this desk, only stand and press bags, it was perfect! After a lick of blue paint, the studio was looking rather beautiful for the coming spring.