A fab weekend

Well, we're onto the last push this week, it's more mad sewing for our Open Day this Saturday (all welcome if you're in the area). We had a fab time at The Green Gallery Fair this weekend, we were beside some lovely stalls in the conservatory, it always helps when you've got nice "neighbours" at these things.

I love the fact that quite a lot of bartering goes on between the stall holders, I did swaps with Emma of Pumpkin Sputnik who was next to me, she makes the most fabulous stationery, have a look at her site. We're hopefully going to work on a project together some time next year.......

We were also kept well fed and constantly tempted by The Cookroom, the most delicious range of cakes, all gluten and wheatfree. The Fair was their first weekend of trading so I really hope they do well in the future.

I also got to meet the lovely Jane Keith, the sister of my friend Sara Keith, both extremely talented textile artists. Jane was there with her fabulous range of hand printed and painted silk ties, I think we're planning on doing swaps too, she loves our dotty aprons and is getting one of our dotty door stops for her Christmas..........!

Right, must get on, loads to do this week, plus the house looks like a bomb has hit it, so a fair bit of tidying will be required before Saturday.........!

Bye for now,

L xx

P.S. the pictures are of Katies gorgeous felt jewellery, it flew off the stall this weekend. x

All work and no play.....

This week has been a bit mad, the fair on Monday and Tuesday went really well, which to be honest I was really quite surprised at. I had felt previously that it had been more of a "social" fair where people go to catch up rather than shop. But this year we did really well, hence the reason this has been a bit of a mad week, no stock left! So amid a mad flurry of sewing, we've also been trying to get the web site updated (always late doing that, one of these years I might actually get organised and be updated with xmas goodies by October, but to me that would just be boring, I much prefer to fly by the seat of my pants!). Plus, other than wanting to get the shop updated before December is upon us, we've also got a lovely little article in The Scottish Farmer about us this week, so by midnight last night my head was spinning slightly!

So, this afternoon I'm heading down the road to Buchlyvie to The Green Gallery for their annual Christmas Fair this weekend, one I always enjoy as there are always so many familiar faces, given that the area used to be home. It's my last fair for the season other than our open house next weekend, and boy am I looking forward to getting home on Sunday night, I'm pooped!

Off to get on with some last minute sewing, label printing and packing my bag, roll on Sunday night, a big hug from Gregg and a log fire to come home to!

Enjoy your weekend,

L xx

A few photos....

I'm absolutely pooped! Not long home from another fair, a big one in Perth that was on tonight and all day tomorrow - if you're in the area do pop along to say hello, there are some lovely stalls there........

The fairs are all going well, some better than others, but that always tends to be the case in this game, you can just never tell...... I should really be going to do some sewing now as we've sold out of a few products tonight, it's very heartening to see that it's the handmade goodies that are selling out, it makes all the hard work worthwhile!

Seeing as I've not shown you any photos of the studio build for a while I thought I'd post a few tonight, it's really coming on.......

The roof trusses inside, it's going to be open plan to make it feel nice and airy....

The sarking boards going on the roof......

At the end of this weekends work, roof water tight, the back wall clad and the side wall started.......

A rather blurry photo of Gregg on the roof playing with his favourite toy, the nailgun.......!

Right, I suppose I'd better go and get a bit of sewing done before I go to bed, it's going to be a long week I think!

Night, night,

L xx

A quick post.....

Morning all! Just a quick post to let you know our next fair is tonight and tomorrow at The Edinburgh Academy School. Tonight (7.30pm - 10pm) is a ticket event, £10, which includes champagne and capapes - very posh! Tomorrow is open to the public from 11am - 4pm. There will be approx. 50 stalls so it should be rather good. I'm really looking forward to it as I haven't been down to Edinburgh for ages, hopefully this afternoon Katie and I will manage to squeeze in a couple of art exhibitions, so I'll report back on Monday!

I also want to tell you all about the latest happenings here on the animal front, I've

been trying do a post on it for ages, but never quite get round to finishing it! We've had our first experience of eating our own poultry produce, but all I'll say for now was that it was very yummy! Don't worry we haven't eaten William the Cockerel.............

More next week, off to pack the car, it's a very frosty morning!

L xx

Friday Fair

As usual, I forgot to take my camera last night to take a picture after the set up, but never mind, better late than ever eh!

As you can see, that's not me standing behind the stall, it's Katie, my great friend, who I'm doing all the fairs with this Christmas. Katie makes the most beautiful felt jewellery, and lots of other gorgeous little bits and bobs and trades under the wonderful name of "Vintage Squirrel"! We had a great time today, met lots of lovely people and lots of friends came along too, so a successful day was had by all.

So it's stocking up time next week as the next fair is a week on Saturday, no rest for the wicked as they say! It's also an exciting week here, but more on that at the end of the week.

Have a good weekend, hopefully the weather will be good so more progress can be made with the studio, cladding on the walls this weekend!

L x

Progress

Just a quick update with the progress of the studio, it's coming on, as you can see......

We have decided that we're probably not going to get it completed for a Christmas opening, which is a shame, but we'd rather not rush it just for the sake of being open for a couple of weeks, plus the weather is bound to turn sooner or later...............!

So, I've started making plans for the grand opening next year, probably even more exciting than a Christmas opening actually, but more about that in the new year.

Julia, you mentioned in your comment about having a wood burning stove in the studio, well funnily enough that's exactly what I was thinking!! It's all dependent upon space as it is a bit of a luxury and there are certain things that I must fit into the studio, but hopefully we'll be able to squeeze one in somewhere. It would just be rude not to have a stove for Chrissie to lie in front of now wouldn't it!!

Tonight is a tagging and organising of stock evening, the first Christmas fair is this Friday at Letham Grange Hotel, from 10am - 4pm, so if you're in the area do pop in and say hello. I've been sewing like a mad woman for the last few weeks now, so hopefully I'll have enough stock made. We set up tomorrow evening so I'll take some photos and try and remember to post them!

Anyway, better get on, loads to do tonight. I promise I'll come and visit you all very soon.

L x

P.S. Blogger was playing up so I've only just managed to load up the photos after umpteen attempts last night - it seems to be behaving a little bit better this morning! x

Birthday wishes

It's the first of October already and Autumn is really with us now. We've had a few nippy frosts but amazingly the garden is still in flower. I'm loving the changing colours that are slowly starting to emerge, showing signs of the garden going into hibernation until next year.

Today was a special day for a couple of reasons. It's my little brothers birthday today, although he's no longer little! Twenty years old today and a good 6ft 4", he more than towers over me!

It's also the 4th Birthday of Primrose Hill Interiors. I can still remember my business adviser telling me to pick a date and work towards it - so I did. I'd spent the whole summer working on the first collection and getting all the "business stuff" done. By that Christmas we were supplying our first outlet, The Fotheringham Gallery, and I was selling work. At last I'd made it, I was my own boss!

So it's quite fitting that now, four years on, we are in the midst of creating a studio for me to work in. I will at last have "somewhere to go to work"!!! It's all too easy to get distracted while working from the spare room, washing to hang out, a bit of tidying to do, you know how it is, and I do struggle at times! I'm soooo looking forward to packing up my little lunch basket and tootling across the drive to my little studio, where I can be creative all day and turn a blind eye to the chaos that resides in the cottage!



A little corner of the studio will also allow me to "play" shopkeeper!, this is the bit I'm most looking forward to....... Being able to go back to the roots of my degree and really get creative, oooh I'm so excited, can you tell?

So, in between sewing, I've been holding bits of wood for Gregg, and at the end of day three we now have the floor joists down and the back wall frame built, not bad huh? ( the photo shows the end of day two).


I'll keep you posted on the progress!

L x

Loving this life

It's Friday, yet another week has flown in, and it's truely feeling like Autumn now.

I wasn't really prepared for the heart warming feeling you get when harvesting from the garden, it really is quite magical. We had our first carrots tonight, along with some peas (we've had a bumper crop of them this year) and some broccoli. It always amazes me how the simplest things in life can make you so happy.

I'm loving going for peaceful evening walks, enjoying the last of the sun low in the sky.

Lighting the fires, the smell of the wood.

It's our wedding anniversary this weekend, 7 years, where has that time gone? We're both happy and settled and enjoying the peace.

Have a good weekend.

L x

A gardening day

Inspired was how I felt yesterday, truly inspired. I came home and made a list of seeds and plants to buy for next year. Where did this inspiration come from I here you ask? Well, earlier this year I joined a gardening group and yesterday was a day out nosying at other folks gardens, bliss!

We visited two gardens, both close to home, so coffee and cake was provided here at Mill of Fyall in between visits. The fact that it was a gorgeous day helped too mind.

The first garden was large and terraced, the views across the valley were quite amazing. The borders were filled with stunning roses, an abundance of clematis, aswell as many other beauties. Every time you turned there was a different scent lingering in the air.

The second garden took my breath away, the owner, a garden designer, has a little piece of paradise on her door step, I could have stayed in that garden forever. Quite formal, but flowing effortlessly, your eye was constantly pulled on to the next episode of the story and your nose was tickled with the scents of sweet peas, lilies and more delectable roses.

So, a rather large list was made last night, Sarah Raven here I come!

L x

P.S. If you fancy a cosy country break, the second garden that we visited has holiday lets, have little peak here.

Busy bee

It's been a busy old week this week, trying to wade through a HUGE order for a shop in Portree - I'll be glad when it's finished!

A little sandy beach on Eriskay looking over to S. Uist.

The gang at the hostel.

The hostel at Howmore.

Here's some more photos from the Uists, we camped for three nights at the hostel at Howmore. A great little place with a lovely atmosphere, we met up with some super people there, with whom we shared evenings of flying the kite on the beach, fishing and playing scrabble - great fun. The days were spent looking for otters (which we saw), listening to Corncrakes and dotting around the islands looking at various artists work during the arts festival, just my cup of tea!

A gorgeous little croft house.

Wild orchids.

Otter watching.

Unfortunately it's gotten to that time of year again when the "C" word (Christmas!) is being banded around the house like it's just around the corner, not something that I particlurly enjoy, seeing as the sun is shining and it is actually quite warm outside! Hey ho, the joys of being wrapped up in the world of retail...............(ha ha!)

Enjoy your weekend.

L x

P.S. Thank you to the lovely ladies Marie and Tracy for the awards, will post about them next week.

Harris & Lewis

As promised more photos of the holiday. We started our little island hopscotch by sailing over to Harris, one of the most spectacular places on earth. As we drove to the south of the island to spend our first night in the sweetest little B&B ever, all we could do was soak up the amazing scenery of one golden beach after the other.

An evening stroll along Scarista beach

Sorrel Cottage B&B, Leverburgh, a stunningly simple, home from home place to rest your head, made even more special by the lovely warm welcome from it's owner Paula.

Flying the kite on Luskentyre beach, Harris.

Luskentyre is also home to Luskentyre Harris Tweed Company, we had a great chat with Donald, who showed us his workroom, the weaving loom and how it worked. He designed and produced the Harris tweed that was used for the limited edition Nike trainer back in 2004. On looking out of his shop window I asked him where he got his inspiration from, but kind of knew I was looking at it, the aquas of the sea, the golden sands, the pale blue skye and the amazing colours of the machair.

The view from our first nights campsite, at Cliff on the West coast of Lewis. This patch of harebells just gently bobbed in the sea breeze.

Our second nights campsite on the beach at Garenin, the blackhouse village, a conservation village of traditional blackhouses, some of which have been turned into a hostal. There is also a wonderful museum set up as to how the house would have been originally, (another) Donald weaves all day demonstrating to visitors in the weaving shed, and then through in the kitchen there are demostrations of spinning, making oatcakes and the day we were there how to make butter. Theres also a superb little tearoom selling good coffee and great homebaking!

Donald weaving Harris Tweed.

Butter making with a roaring fire in the background.

Looking down through the black village.

Callanish Standing stones.

Feeding the pigs at the Callanish Visitor Centre - really nice little place that do a great bowl of soup, coffee and cake!

Uig Sands, a gorgeous big stretch of sands of Lewis.

Surfers at Dalmore beach, this was probably my favourite beach, a little cove of golden sands, aqua sea and great waves - ooh how I wish I'd had a surf board! It was so hot I ended up sunbathing for the afternoon, stripped down to my bra and my jeans rolled up as there was hardly anyone else there!

We spent our last night on Harris camping at Scarista beach, shown in the first photo. We sat down on the sands with a bottle of wine and watched the sun set (more photos but taken in a different format, will show them later!). It was such a beautiful night, not a single soul on the huge stretch of beach, then, all of a sudden what pops up in front of us but two dolphins! They gave us the pleasure of watching them play for a good five minutes, you can't pay for scenery like that. It just rounded off our first few days perfectly, we were off to The Uists the next day, once we'd seen a bit of the east coast of Harris. I have to admit I was looking forward to a soft bed and a good shower, our second night of B&B....

More to follow on the Uists next week, see you all soon.

L x

Back to work!

Back to work today after two glorious weeks of holiday. To say that we were both a tad stressed before we left would be a bit of an understatement, so our holiday in the Outer Hebrides was just what we were needing. We were lucky enough to get great weather the nights we were camping and met up with some really super folk.

The wildlife is quite amazing over there, and the beaches are just mind blowing, but more on that tomorrow.

As usual the work load has pilled up after two weeks away so we're going to be busy bees over the next few months. We've come home completely inspired by all of the artists living and working over on the islands so it's full steam ahead with building the studio and shop, I've put a deadline of the end of September on it................hmmm, we shall see, watch this space!

Will catch up with you all soon, in the meantime I'll just have to tease you with a couple of photos!

L x

Time to rest

We are away for a much needed break, off up north to the Outer Hebrides.

Any orders will be dealt with on my return to "the office" on 6th August, at last I'm having a proper holiday away from the business!

See you all soon, fingers crossed the sun is shining!

L x

Friday already and family fun

Can't quite believe that it's Friday already, where has the week gone? Maybe it's the fact that we've actually had a proper, summery week of weather up here, washing blowing on the line every day. You know what it's like when you've had visitors, the washing machine is on for about a week after they've left and you always find the odd sock that doesn't belong to you.

Linda, Ian, Hayley, Jordan and Joshie (aunt, uncle and cousins) arrived on Saturday afternoon, thankfully bringing some decent weather with them. We left the boys to put up the marquee and us girls headed off to the berry fields to pick strawberries and raspberries for Sundays pudding. Then we had a mass cookathon on Saturday night, marinading a couple of joints of meet from here, making the chocolate slab cake that was in last months Country Living mag (it's delicious by the way!) and generally catching up.

It was going to be a simple affair, lots of good home cooked food, straw bales to sit on, tables borrowed from the local village hall and foxgloves in jugs on the tables.

Sunday arrived with lots of sun and all of the visitors, nobody got lost on their way here and we all had a marvellous day. There were 30 of us in total and two babies, enough food to feed an army and much fun was had. A very competitive game of football was played, a dead frog was placed in a Prada shoe and another dam was built in the burn.

It made me realise how important family is to me, how important my family is to me and Gregg. We've been together ten years this week, he is as much a part of my family as I am, he's been welcomed with open arms and accepted as part of my life, the way it should be with your extended family. That means a hell of a lot to me right now.

Our home comes into itself when it's full of life, kids running around, laughter filling the air, just general happiness buzzing about the place. It was a very special day, my mum and her five brothers and sisters all together, my grandparents watching most of their grandchildren running around with each other and two great grandchildren bouncing about on folks knees. Bliss.


After the last of the visitors left late on Monday morning the house seemed very quiet, I hate it when it's like that. Never mind, we'll just have to do it again next year.