Big Birthday

I don't know why I always decide to post something here when it's ridiculously late and I've gone beyond tired. I should be tucked up in bed because I know that working too late and losing out on sleep is counter productive the next day, but I always do it, pushing on just a little bit more to finish off a job or prepare stuff for tomorrow.
Then when I finally give in to exhaustion what do I do? Well I intend to switch off the computer but instead I hit that button that says "New Blog Post" and away I go.
Well actually one of the reasons I'm here at nearly half past one is that we are just one day away from the build up day of the Country Living Christmas Fair in Glasgow and there are lots of worrying gaps in our stock levels. Just how much can I make in 24 hours?!!
It's been said already here that we're working to capacity and beyond at the moment so I won't go on about it. But it's pay back time after a rare weekend off. Definitely worth it though because we had a great time celebrating a certain Mr Embroidered Originals' BIG birthday - all of sixty years old last Friday! ( I can't really be married to an old age pensioner, can I?!!!)
So we decided to give him a birthday to remember...and this is how he spent it -

driving a Ferrari around Knockhill Racing Circuit -

cheered on by all of us - including a surprise visit from Laura and Nick. ( He had no idea they would be there).

Laura, Nick and I even got the chance to be driven round the course in another performance car after Bob's run. And Laura's comment in the front passenger seat on taking the first hairpin bend at about 80mph? "Holy SH*T!!(And that's from a girl who's been skydiving and bungee jumping).
Here I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Graham and everyone at Knockhill who squeezed us in on Bob's actual birthday, when I had only thought to try to book it a few days' earlier. He had an amazing time and we were made very welcome.

If you can open this video, just listen to that distinctive Ferrari engine sound.

Then afterwards we thawed out round a huge log fire in a local hotel and had some present opening, before tucking in to a lovely Italian meal.
The next day we had a little party with my sister and family, much wine and dancing ( embarrassment for my 14 year old nephew - although it has to be said John joined in too!)
Once Laura was safely dispatched back home on the plane on Sunday it was back to work, but with renewed vigour after the weekend off.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco..o..o....

 In fact it was my BRA I left in Las Vegas. But that's another story.
Yes, we're back.
After our ten day holiday in the US.
Three days in San Francisco, three in Vegas and three in LA and another day travelling home. Phew. Six flights, three hotels, one seven hour round bus trip, numerous miles walked in great heat and a wonderful time had by all.
Here are some holiday snaps. Not too many - I know how boring it is having to look at other people's holiday photos.

First off, San Francisco - a city of (steep) hills - up to the top, then down the other side, then up again and down again, and so on. That's me at the top of the hill, the one in the second picture.

The buildings are beautiful, like this perfect green wooden house.

Now a short flight and we arrive at Las Vegas. I wasn't sure I was going to like it and we were only really using it as a base to visit the Grand Canyon, but actually I did like it very much.

Here's the Eiffel Tower, Vegas style.

We don't usually stay in posh hotels when we go on holiday, but this one was a beaut. Pity about the tramp with the carrier bags. Definitely lowers the tone!

That tramp again, aka Bob. Loved the name of the burger place - and the stomach in the foreground has been deliberately stuck out!!

Yes, the Vegas as you know it. But I was impressed with the cleanliness and freshness of the place. 

We had an amazing day at the Grand Canyon and this was a little shop in a village called Dolan Springs, where we stopped for cold drinks on the way back.

When things got too hot there was always the hotel pool. (Bob's feet, not mine).

Right, time to leave Las Vegas and on to Los Angeles, just in time to catch their record breaking temperatures of 113 degrees.

We stayed in a hotel near this place, the Getty Centre - a quite beautiful example of modern architecture, perched high in the hills of Bel Air. It's a museum and art gallery housing the huge collection of works acquired by J Paul Getty. We spent a full day here and loved the building, the gardens and the views. Not to mention the paintings and decorative art.

This lovely lady is posing in front of one of those spectacular views ( probably blocking out at least two skyscrapers!).

Then down to the edge of the Pacific at Santa Monica beach to catch the sunset.

And here is the old couple enjoying a seat on the hop on hop off bus at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The smiles say it all. It was a fabulous holiday.

Oh wait, I had to put these last two in. This is a diner in San Francisco. I love the shiny, sparkly red plastic upholstery and the pistachio green walls. And what about that car!

Well, that's all folks! Except - the bra..... naw, nothing risquee there. I just forgot to pack it when we were leaving Las Vegas, and it was my favourite one too.

The End Of An Era

Way back in 1992 when Embroidered Originals was just four years old, we decided to build ourselves a studio/workshop to be split neatly in half, one end to be my workspace and the other end to be a shop.

This is our little shop. It is tucked neatly behind our cottage and is approx ten steps from our back door! A reasonable commute to work in the morning.
We used the plan of a garage and had it customised to suit, with insulation and plasterboard walls and proper flooring.

It's really been a success, considering it's all paid for and on our own land so there is no rent or rates. We've had a few transformations too, most notably french doors which we had put in the gable end to allow more light and the chance to open it up in the summer and a rather posh awning too (although that is showing it's age a bit now).

I've had a lot of fun playing at shops - in the early days I was forever moving things around, trying out different types of display, and I even have a shop till ( childhood dreams come true!)

When it first opened, I ran embroidery classes in it two mornings a week which was a bit of a joke. Not the class itself  I hasten to add, but the space, or lack of it. There were around ten class members sat around two tables down the middle with the shop displays around the walls. So when customers came in they had to scramble around the table to see things. It all got a bit chaotic so I moved the classes into the house after a while.

Then I also organised "Open Evenings" for groups such as Ladies' Circles. Another hoot. Wine and cheese and a relaxed shopping experience, except it's hardly relaxed when thirty women are crammed in a space the size of a small kitchen and the wine is flowing! Mind you it was always fun and they were always generous in their purchases.
Oh and fond memories of individual customers....like the American lady who I found one morning before 8am standing in the middle of a pile of dirty washing on my kitchen floor. I was in my dressing gown and had just gone upstairs for more laundry. She just beamed at me and asked if she could visit my shop. When I told her I would need to get dressed she told me not to worry about that, so I let her into the shop and served her in my nightie!!
OR the lovely couple from South Africa, who had read a little piece about our shop in a Scottish tourist brochure back home, and decided it would be one of the main attractions when they came to the UK on holiday. So they caught a flight from London to Edinburgh, then a taxi the 40 miles or so to here (what must THAT have cost!) and didn't bat an eyelid when they arrived and saw just how tiny the shop was. They spent a LOT of money and went away in the taxi back to Edinburgh airport very happy.
OR the man who arrived at 5pm on Christmas Eve one year when it was pitch dark outside and I was stuffing the turkey. So I wiped my hands and opened the shop and he proceeded to do all his Christmas shopping for the female members of his family - wife, sister, aunts etc. Another good customer.
ANYWAY, where is all this going? Have you guessed the MBD (major business development) yet?
No?
Well, I'll tell you.
(Drum roll) After 18 years of our shop open to the public, as of Friday 17th September it is going ....to....CLOSE!!!
No longer will there be a shop part anyway. No display shelves, no till, no opening hours, no early morning (and late night) visitors, no requests for personalised cards when I'm serving a family Sunday lunch,.
In a word....FREEDOM!
Freedom to take over the whole area of the workshop as just that, a workshop/studio. Where there will be a place for everything and everything in its place. (Why do I hear so many snorts of laughter, dear readers? Do you know me that well?) Well at least there will space to swing a cat, and I can't wait to sort it all out and make it a wonderful working environment, worthy of some photos here.
But WHY, you say, when you like playing shops?
Well I suppose the novelty has worn off a bit after all this time. And we're busier than ever with our trade customers, our website and mail order customers, not to mention the retail fairs we go to. Something had to give because after all we're not in our twenties anymore.
My choice was to close the shop so that our time would become our own. We can work all night if we like and then take the next day off to go somewhere.
And go somewhere we are. Firstly the Trade Show in Glasgow this weekend and then we're off on holiday to sunny California for a couple of weeks before the Christmas rush starts. Woohoo!

I Need Matchsticks...

to prop my eyes open. It's yet another ridiculously late night. (Why do I punish myself with these? It's plain crazy and I'm too old for this nonsense!) But here I am again, four minutes before midnight precisely and I'm zipping around the time wasting "social network"- Twitter and now Facebook. Gawd.
Social networking is supposed to good for promoting your business. Hmmm, well I'm sure it is for those dedicated to keeping their name up there. But it is soooo time consuming. I don't believe they can be tweeting and facebooking all day long and still be producing their work at the same rate. Either that or they are superman/woman and I'm a mere mortal.
Anyway, I think I'll wean myself off Twitter for a bit and concentrate my attention back here in my little virtual home.
Today was a real busy one with a lot of shop orders coming in for our new Christmas cards, so there's PLENTY of work to done in the next few weeks.
I've also started adding the Christmas cards to our website and you will find them here. I'd love to know what you think of them, by the way.
And that MAJOR business change I hinted at in the last post.... I'll tell all soon but I want to have some photos to go with the revelation so please be patient.

Get Ready Folks!

Well, summer's almost over and almost like the change of the season, my thoughts have returned to my blog.
Quite a lot has happened since I last recorded anything here, and a great deal more is about to happen, including a MAJOR business decision. ( More about that later).
It's been a busy summer and things aren't likely to slow down now until after Christmas. But that's good.
I will make time to keep you up to date and I'm planning a rather long and involved post very soon.
Today I was belatedly designing Christmas cards and preparing a Brochure of them for the Trade Show coming up in a couple of weeks.
I think I'm pretty pleased with what I achieved today - the creative juices don't always flow so easily - and I've got seven new designs.
August just disappears for us because of the Fringe Craft Fair. It's an outdoor craft market at the end of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, open seven days a week for three and a bit weeks.
I blogged about it last year with pictures here.
This year there was less rain, believe it or not, which means more visitors and more sales, so we were happy bunnies.
Well I'll be back soon with an explanation of that business decision - I'm off to bed tonight - yawn.
Here's a picture first though - I think it's too boring to have to read a blog with no pics!
Apropos of nothing, this is a favourite snap of our two when they were little ( a long time ago). I've always liked this picture as it seems to capture the moment so well.

Look at Nick's blond curls! I love his little baby neck and big sister Laura is so tall compared to him. She's now about ten inches shorter!
Night all.

Hello Again

It's been a wee while since I sat down and wrote something on this blog.
I think  a lot of bloggers take a break during the summer, usually because they are off on holiday, but we are in the throes of our silly season now, and time is a joke.
What have I been doing lately?
Well, a massive clearout for one. Three van loads of "stuff" have been taken to the recycling centre and charity shop and the house seems so much lighter and airier. So is my head, but then that's probably because my brain went in the van too.
Old suitcases, mattresses, videos, computer from a different age, broken furniture, old clothes... you know the kind of thing. Upstairs is now tidy, fresh and clean. Love it.
This is all because daughter is coming home for a few days soon and she is quite badly allergic to dust, as well as cats and pollen.

This is our business van loaded for a craft fair but I borrowed the photo to show just how much stuff can be accommodated in it. And it was three loads this size we got rid of.
Now I've just got to remove the dust of months from the downstairs and we're all ready.
Actually that pic of the van was pinched from last year's blog about the West End Craft Fair.

I can't believe that it's nearly upon us once more. By that I mean the Craft and Design Fair which is held in Edinburgh during the Festival and which is open seven days a week for three weeks.

This was our stand last year just as we were about to start setting it up.

It doesn't look much at this stage - just a shabby little wooden chalet. But after a few hours of hard labour it turns into this.

Then Bob climbs into the cockpit and away we go for three weeks. What I mean is he makes the round trip to Edinburgh each day, rain or shine, and spends the day sitting behind the stand and selling (hopefully). While I am at home making stock for the next day. Team work, and after ten years at least of this routine, we've got it all sussed out.

Yes but I'm not only making stock for the next day, I'm making up orders for our trade customers and keeping our own shop open. Not to mention the website and mail orders.

And Bob isn't just sitting behind the stand either, oh no, he takes piles of cards with him to paint and finish off.

So it's all go.

Despite the panic we're intending taking a couple of days off when Laura is here and having a bit of a life. I hope the weather is decent and we can get away into the hills or coast or somewhere. I think Laura would appreciate that as she misses the scottish hills in Hertfordshire.

Oh and the website....

Mmmm, it's taking longer than I would have liked but already there is a whole host of new designs added. And I've been moving things around a bit to make navigating simpler. Well it will be simpler when it's finished and much needed, as there are now more than three hundred products listed with almost as many again still to be added!

I've had some lovely comments and feedback from some of our regular customers, and they seem to think it's working well. I've added a Craft Market area to the site, where there will be a selection of products not made by ourselves, but chosen to have on display in our own shop.

At the moment we've got -

Fairtrade embroidered bags from India.

Fish Strings from India as well.

And patchwork cushion covers from much closer to home, to mention just a few.

Never a dull moment then.

We were sitting watching a film tonight at 10pm, just winding down for the day, when an email pinged in with a large shop order. 10'clock on a Sunday night!!

Anyway, that's for tomorrow - after we've been to the cinema to see "Inception"! Got to get the priorities right, after all!

Once this crazy month or two is past, we'll have time for our own holiday, and it's going to be a biggie this year, for a certain person's big birthday. That's something to look forward to while burning the midnight oil.