Frome Artisan Market

It was a fab day at Frome Artisan Market, full of wonderful colour and lots of people dressed up for the occasion. I only had 5 minutes to pop up the hill while a friend watched my stall.

While sorting these pictures I realised I know the lady who was on the mirror stall, we had met a couple of weeks ago in my Gillingham shop, there was no time for me to stop and natter to anyone and it was quite packed by the time I got to the top.
This was my stall out on the entrance to the hill, which was great as I hadn't thought the plan through for being further up the hill on a slope, the two boxes I used to put all my bits on infront of the table have wheels great for getting to my pitch, not so great on a slope lol ;)
There was lots going on with Bands and punch and Judy happening on Cheap Street for a family day.
Tony and Arthur came over at 12, brought me lunch and went off to watch what was going on.


Arthur had great fun dancing to the steel band and really enjoyed Punch and Judy and the Puppet dancing.

















This group decided to perform right infront of my stall

not sure what it was about, they had cucumbers instead of battons and ballons instead of bells..
and really terrible outfits,


Not a good look!! I took quite a few photo's as they were performing this one in particular I regret taking do look away if your squeamish . Very bad look.
They were called the Saturday Afternoon Theatre group in case you'd like to book them ha ha ha! :)

phew we made it!

A little glimpse into the new Tamsyn G shop. Which at the start I was slightly worried we would get finished in time. Before it got to the state below I had to empty it out of all the prints and paintings that we stored in there when we moved house, these are now hidden in what will be my workroom in the house.. so another job for later. There will be a sign above the shop and the circles either side of the sign..will be painted to look like buttons :)
I had been planning and measuring for the past 4 weeks, and was amazed to find I was nearly right about where things wopuld go, luckily I have Tony . If I had got my measurements slightly out he would magically make the cupboards fit.

The cupboards above needed a fair bit of tweeking, like little wedges cut out and the bottom bit cut off as well as the middle shelf being cut in half, but made to look like its always been like that, so much so that when my friends came in they said 'wow Tamsyn your measurements were right those cupboards fit perfectly' which made me cry with laughter!
The above little corner makes me smile everytime I see it, I had been saving these little cupboards and printers tray for the new shop but had not really worked out how they would look, me and Kate said where they should go as Tony magically fixed them in place.
Perfect for all the vintage Haberdashery :)
The view out with the perfectly fitting shelves completely stacked up! That was the other strange thing, it looks like I have lots of new yummy stock but is virtually the same as before.
I love the layout of the shop, this is the backroom with all the yarns and making bits.
The jewellery cabinets did fit perfectly into there little space by the slope leading to the backroom.

We opened on Thursday and I am sure it will be a welcome addition to Wincanton, people will slowly find us..next week will be full of promotion and getting leaflets printed to spread the word.
We managed (just) to go for a picnic at Bullbarrow Hill which we can see from our house, it was very funny trying to work out the hills in the distance and look back towards Wincanton. I just sat still for half an hour resting my tired legs, but the guys had a great runaround.
and climbed a tree! including Tony. I tried not to tell them to be careful!

I hope you've all had a fab week, I hope to catch up with everyone's blog over the next few weeks and will have more time to do mine to. x

Shop refit

On Sunday and Monday (actually i started Saturday night!) we had a huge shop reshuffle, we moved all the yarn from the back room above into the front of the shop, I had made a plan the saturday before and even measured it up to make sure my plan would work.  It was much easier for Tony to just come in and do the moving the furniture bit and go back out again. The first job was moving everything out of the corner below to make room for the wool shelves, quite a bit of shuffling went on! and the house filled with yarn when we moved the shelves in place.
It had to be ready for Tuesday Morning so we had to work quite fast...while packing the house inbetween.
I think the shop looks great now and it has really given it a revamp, there is still a bit of a way to go unpacking my bits into the back room which will be my office and workspace (the buttons have there very own display cabinet and shelves) actually I'd forgotton how much we actually moved...all of my stash and the shelving, I will put a photo of the finished room on my blog next week.
I really l;ike where the jewellery cabinets are it all seemed to go to plan!

I am hoping that the house move will go as smoothly, I have loaded the van with the first lot of boxes and Tony's new chair especially for relaxing with a cup of tea.

ooooooooo moving tommorow whoo hoo, I may not be able to walk much after the move my legs are aching already!

Travelling Anonymous Market Bison Farm.

On Saturday I took my little shop to the Bison Farm at West Knoyle in Wiltshire. I aimed to get there early so I could drive in and drop off my bits instead of walking it all in, got there just in time..5 minutes after Kate and I unloaded our cars everyone else arrived.  That gave me an extra half hour to set up, I was not so stressed this time and everything seemed to fall into place. Putting the wool in the boxes worked really well.


Kate has been collecting lovely vintage bits and upcycling them as well as mixing with more modern fabrics and selling gorgeous bits of china, love the coffee and tea flowery pots.
The Lavender Russian dolls make a great use of the fabric I have in my shop, I imagined doing something like that when I originally saw the fabric so its really nice to see them made up, backed with vintage fabrics. I have asked kate if I can have some for my shop so hoping she hasn't sold out ;)
There was a great feel to the market, the sun was shining and everyones stalls looked fab! The bus above was a cafe inside and sold delicious coffee.
Dee has just started a cake business and sells to offices in and around Gillingham and Shaftesbury, her cakes are yummy :)
A que formed immediately hee hee :)... who let the goats out!
I loved Rose Hatchers felt, she has not been felting that long but has done some amazing work. I can see her work selling well in Galleries. I have got some of her cards in my shop which look fab and I really like to stock local artists work especially when people are just starting out.
and I really really want this coat!!! but would have to win the lottery or maybe sell one of my original paintings. Will have to have a go at wet felting it looks great fun.
some more lovely stalls :)

There was lots of fab food too, the most delicious salads and Olives.
and of course the bison..who luckily didn't get out..you would have seen me abandoning my stall if they did!
It was a great day in the sun, and Arthur went off with his best friend Ted to a little theme park..so I had a lovely break, could have done with lots more customers though!! think people went off to the beach instead :)

Tony went off to The Goodwood Revival and texted me what a fab time he was having and how it was vintage heaven..mmm he originally told me it was  a car thing!  I will be booking my tickets for next year i think!

Lots Going On

I have not blogged for a couple of weeks, I seem to spend lots of time on twitter as it is more instant and you can also chat to other crafters while you work :)

I was embellishing these little hats last week. After teaching lots of teenagers how to do blanket stitch over the summer holidays while making mobile phone socks, I realised I could do it myself, I had not been able to do it neatly before, its still not perfect but I am pleased with the results.  I have used found bits of fabric and embroidery to add onto the hats a great way of recycling little bits of fabric.  I have cheated and not knitted the hats first, the credit for those goes to Bridgette my knitting angel :) using the Adriafil Mirage yarn. I have just realised i have not put those on my website..lots of updating to do next week :)

On Saturday I ran a Needlefelting workshop, always great fun. I cover the table with all the lovely Merino wools, a mixture of the embellishing yarns I have in the shop as well as beads, buttons and findings so everyone can take home finished items.

This is what every body made Tina aka Mollimoo has blogged about the workshop :)

One of the ladies went home wearing her cupcake and leek brooches she made during the class and was also armed with enough knowledge to go and teach needlefelting at a craft workshop in the school where she works.

I am getting ready to have a stand with The Travelling Anonymous Market at the Bison Centre East knoyle On Saturday.

Arthur helped me to paint these lovely old potato trugs, he loves doing little jobs like this,

and cocentrates very hard :)
I chose some colours I thought looked a little bit vintage and would look great sanded down to give an aged feel.
Then I realised that I had been influenced by the colours in the car museum..inspiration can come from anywhere, it is funny that I took the picture above while we were at the car museum, it obviously was ingrained in my brain. As I took the picture below I had a feeling I had seen it before and had to search back through my photos for the one above ;)
They have come out quite well considering they were covered in mud and looking very shabby.
Now I can put my yarns in them and they will stack on top of each other (easier to use sack trucks to get to pitch) and then go straight on the shelves saving me some setting up time.
George said they look like 'farmers market' but with yarn instead of veg, well that about sums it up I think?