Gunby Hall Rose Day

 So we are back at local National Trust property Gunby Hall for our second year of Stalls. This year some of the stalls have been moved out of the courtyard and located around the garden this time there were some in the walled vegetable garden and some tucked in on the side of the main lawn, this is where I was. It was a much more sheltered spot then the courtyard which can be a tad breezy. However I do feel the foot flow past the stall was alittle less than our previous position and maybe some signage and a few more events in this location people will find us better. As you can see the gazebo looked good with the matching cloths working well.

I tested out a new display piece for the felt cats and sausage dogs its a vintage cake stand. I like this piece and it does free up abit of space on the stall as we keep adding new lines combining two items together and adding abit of height but I'm not completely sure about it yet, I'm not sure people are seeing them quite as well on it as the original baskets, I'll try it on a couple more stalls before I make my decision.

A new item on this stall were these cute vintage teacup arrangements with faux flowers in, these attracted alot of attention although I didn't make a sale of them, fingers crossed for another time. I'm also hoping to turn some other tea cups in to pincushions. Items that did sell well this time were the handmade cards, which I was pleased with and will have to find time to replenish the stock of them, lavender bags were also popular again as always.

I also provided a fresh flower arrangement to decorate the church which held a service as part of the day. I think this made up for me having to miss my duties in the choir and helping with tea at the Burgh morning service. The Gunby Church is such a quaint little building and is often open when the hall is open do remember to pop down and have a look at it if you visit.



We shall be back at Gunby on Sunday the 6th of August. as part of NGS day Do be sure to find us.

Woodhall Spa Country Show

 So this was our third year attending Woodhall Spa country show. This year our stall was on the edge of the marquee allowing us to display the crochet bunting.We maybe weren't quite as busy as last year be we sold a good mix of things with the lavender bags and Friendship teas being popular as always. We also had some repeat customers who purchased items off us last year and were pleased to see the expanded range of felt ornaments.

The new felt Sausage dog ornaments made their debut at a fair and lots of people commented on them. I'm hoping to also get some on Folksy before long.
Someone also commented on having seem our items in Stuff with style so that's reassuring that they are being seen.

Overall I was pleased with the layout of the stall, still liking the longer brown cloths we introduced last year, Beginning to think about possibly painting the white crates as they are getting abit marked with moving about so much, maybe a blue color to tie in with the branding.
A couple of gripes from this show, this is a large show which has both a Craft marquee and individual trade stalls under gazebos outside so I feel the organizers could be a tad more selective in traders inside the marquee I stood opposite a large double stall which didn't appear to have anything "Craft" on it. Also the show is technically on till 5pm but being a Sunday show it always seems to quieten down around 4pm, however I personally feel stall holders shouldn't start packing up until told to by the event organizers as it puts off anyone who is still around from looking in the marquee. But there's my couple of personal moans for a change.
Next stall should be Rose Day at Gunby Hall on Sunday the 25th of June.

Branching out abit more

So as well as being able to purchase mine and mum's lovely crafts in Snapdragons Florist, through our Folksy shop, when we are out and about at craft fairs and in Stuff with Style in Woodhall Spa. My handmade cards are now available to buy from Tastee farmshop in Gunby.
So when your next popping in their for a tray of their yummy free range eggs why not have a look for them.

So this is the current range I have send down, starting with a bunch of Chickens, appropriate for a farm shop and eggs. These are made using the very popular Hey Chick set from Stampin up, this was a limited edition set I'm really glad we picked up.  These are done on square cards which are a nice size between the mini ones and the standard ones great for when you just have a little something to say.

 Next is the always bestselling banner style cards. these are done in a range of colours and embossed card patterns to suit all sorts of occasions.

 The next little set are a colourful collection using the circle of spring set they have cut away centers on the floral wreaths to show a sentiment.

 A few using the pedal pusher set. I thought the tandem bicycle had a nice country vibe to it, and the little birds in this set are too cute for words.

 A few floral cards with some dainty colouring in I really like how these ones turned out even if they do take abit longer to create with the colouring.

 A couple of cards on a larger base to give a variety of sizes to choose from. A pretty birthday card and a sympathy card the background for which I made using a new lace border stamp I think its rather effective.

 The last three are abit more manly as I never seem to make enough blokey cards. Sketchy images from the wetlands set paired with brown card blanks deep green card and a hint of copper embossing. For something subtle but different.
So thats the cards I have currently send down I think there's a nice mix and good selection there and I'm hoping in the future there will be lots of different ones if these sell well.

And here's the basket of cards complete with sign saying they are made by Hannah's craft cottage.
Fingers crossed they sell well.  

April how did that happen

I really don't know where this year is going to. Guess last month I was rather busy with the flowers for Mother's Day and I'm starting to get bits and pieces made behind the scenes for my wedding. (sorry readers but you'll have to wait till the middle of next year to read all about that. )

So as promised here's a post about the crafty gifts I received at Christmas. My sister added to my collection of Toft patterns with the new Imaginarium book, Like the Edwards menagerie which are animals all based about a basic pattern so they have a family look to them these are all monsters. Pictured with the book is my fist monster made in a three round stripe pattern with funny fingers and toes.We call him Squigley monster

 The extra unique part about this book is the flip feature so you pick different heads, arms and legs to go on the basic body, and with added colour changes and spots this means for a nearly endless range of monsters to be created, I'm going to have so much fun with this. There's also lots of inspiration in the book to get you started.

Carrying on with the crochet theme a friend got me this kit of star wars crochet. The kits comes complete with book of 12 patterns and yarn ect to make a yoda, which I have done and storm trooper which I haven't dot around too yet but I did raid my wool stash and find bits to do the darth vader. These are super cute and are going to be hanging out on my dvd shelves in the future.

I also received this rather lovlely needle felting kit of a fox. Needle felting is something I've fancied having a go at for a while I now have two kits (a friend got me a flower brooch kit for my birthday) so now I can when I find the time. Look out for a future blog post about how I got on trying this new popular craft.

A peek inside the box shows everything I need and this kit is made in my lovely Lincolnshire which is rather nice and nice surprise since the sender isn't from the county.

In our house at Christmas we have fill your own crackers which we try to find awesome little extras for mine this year have these super cute pom pom makers in them which make the dinkiest pom poms. I've been thinking about getting some for a while so was really pleased. thinking how I might incorporated a few pom poms in to the wedding crafting.

In this post I'll just quickly share with you my latest toft critter I made it for another baby which has just made her appearance in the family.  Its a swaledale sheep, now technically I didn't have the pattern for this sheep, I believe it was handed out a a yarndale a while back but I had seen pictures of it online and from this I think I managed to work it out. Mixing and matching from other patterns in the series. The body is done as standard and when assembled covered in fleece as other sheep are. The legs are done with a black foot cream for a couple of rows and then with a colour change about every three stitches to give the black and  white molted appearance I maybe didn't get these precisely even but then real sheep aren't that even so I'm happy with the outcome.

 The head is quite clever I think the nose is a cream with the rest black and eye patches are the same as the ones in the panda pattern and the awesome horns I found the pattern for in the imaginarium book on one of the monster heads.
I rather pleased with the finished sheep and hope they find a happy home with their new family who like a walk in the Yorkshire dales.

Here's the card that went with the sheep I first one suing the new bookcase builder set from stamping up I think this shall be a versatile set and I love the not the norm sentiments. This one says "Today's little moments become tomorrows precious memories" Isn't that sweet for a new baby.  

Branching out

So something very exciting happened for Hannah's Craft Cottage at the weekend. We took our first batch of stock to a shop in near by Woodhall Spa, to join other local crafters selling their items. The shop is called Stuff with Style run by the lovely Stephanie, you can see their facebook page here.

I'd heard about this treasure trove of local talent thought facebook and a few weeks ago gathered up some sample pieces of our range and contact details and plucked up the courage to go check it out. Its one thing to sell my crafts in my shop and at fairs its a little daunting to take them somewhere else and ask someone if they are good enough for them to sell. Luckily Stephanie is super friendly and seemed to really like our bits.  

So since then I've been selecting pieces and making new stock to make up our first box of stock. I've selected a range of things to see how they go and will adjust based on sales, and as new items join our range. In the fabric items there were some pocket tissue holders £3.99 each (pictured above), nail file holders so handy for handbags £2.75 each, fabric hearts lovely and decorative £3.75 each and lavender bags £2.50 each.

 All the items sent have been labeled up wit the Hannah's Craft Cottage stamp, branding is important, I'm really pleased with how they look.
In Stuff with style all the different crafters work are all mixed up together arranged in eye catching ways and coordinating colours so the tags will make items easily identifiable as mine.  

Lavender bags with a range of pictures on new themes coming in Snapdragons florist soon.

 In my hand stitched felt range I have sent four different designs for now. Some of my super cute toadstools (£3each) from the woodland autumn range because I think they are lovely all year round.

 Some of the felt Russian dolls,(£4.99 each) just in time for mother's day this coming weekend.

 Of course I had to send some of my lovely detailed partridges,(£9.50each), perfect for country gents and ladies which frequent Woodhall.

And our popular felt cats,(£4.99each) hopefully soon to be joined by some dogs when I get time to perfect my pattern.

In crochet I have sent some of my brightly coloured Quirly birds (£3.99each) I have added to their quirkyness by naming them all I hope they find happy homes soon.

Also some pretty crochet flower brooches (£3.50each) a pretty adornment to any hat, jacket or anywhere. Displayed on large luggage tag making a lovely gift.

 Some of Mums sure neat and intricate Tatting has also gone for something different. A selection of bookmarks (£5each)

And keyrings (£2.50each)
So why not have a pop along to Woodhall Spa soon and check out my items and all the other lovely bits Stuff with style has to offer. Supporting local talent.

March already

So it's March already not sure how that happened.
If you can bear to cast your minds back I'm going to do a couple of blog posts about Christmas, One about the crafty things I made for Christmas and one about the crafty things I got for Christmas (cus my friends and family know me so well.)

As an early Christmas present for my sister I made these cat decorations, I used the same template I designed for my general felt cats which I sell and adapted the extra pieces and embroidery to make them look like her cats.

I even managed to freehand embroider their names on the back. I'm rather pleased with how these turned out and my sister was very pleased with them too.

  Oh course I made a batch of Christmas cards lots of them had tree themes this year. the cut away tree punch ones looked good and I was also pleased with the lovely as a tree ones which have sheet music paper behind and vellum with embossed dots for a snowy look in front, these were for my choir buddies.

I had a commission for a couple of Toft critter for my Mother in Law to send to family. This Bridget the Elephant and Austin the Rhino have gone to live with a lovely pair of twin girls.

A cousin of mine was rather impressed with the felt cats I had made for my sister so with lots of looking at Facebook pictures of her two fluff balls I managed to make a pair for her too.

 Again I managed to freehand embroider their names on the back.

 On a baking front I experimented with 3d ginger bread for a games night with friends. I'd had the cutters for a while and have been trying to find a time to try them out. I used the recipe provided with them and although it takes a while to come together (so much so I thought I'd left something out it was so dry.) the end result is really tasty and keeps its shape really well. Along with the 3d bits I also made lots of mini angels and gingerbread men. With the speed which my friends demolished it I think was alright.


I also gifted a couple of crochet quirky birds to my brother in law and his partner but forgot to photograph them before they headed up to their new home in Scotland,




It seems like a very long time ago now but there you are crafty things I did for Christmas.

Christmas at the Mill

The local festive event was at held on Saturday the 10th of December at our windmill
There was craft and charity stalls, raffle, refreshments, live music provided by a band and school choir and a visit from Santa in his mill grotto.

Thanks go to my wonderful fiance Alex for his
help setting up, packing up and for taking these lovely photos of the stall.
This year the stalls were moved upstairs above the granary tearoom. I think this worked well as there was more space, and it was lighter and warmer up there.

I did surprisingly well at this event which shows that as an event it is improving every year which is very good for the community.
The lavender bags were popular as always particularly the Christmas designs.
The fabric tissue holders and nail file holders also went down well as useful stocking fillers.

The knitted Christmas stockings and crochet quirky birds also attracted some attention. Overall I sold a good mix of items which was nice.









More pictures of the even can be seen here on the town website. this event was my last fair of the year and we're looking forward to next years events already. Here's to a new year full of crafting.
Merry Christmas to all my readers.