the last days of summer

From wading in thick grass full of clovers, to beautiful clear blue skies, the weather this last week has been pretty much perfect. For the majority of it we've been inside sewing lots of things for trade orders, but it's been lovely to sew in bare feet and to have the studio doors and windows wide open.

We've been making bunnies, egg cosies and notebooks to head up to Yorkshire, as well as framed pictures, cards and (more) egg cosies to be delivered to one of our local stockists this week. Whilst we're out and about delivering goodies this week - fingers crossed it won't be raining - we'll be dreaming of the perfect blue skies and hoping they will return again soon. x

A trip down to sunny Devon...

I spent the last week in South Devon with my family, our annual pilgrimage, and every year see the trip as a wonderful time to take photos of the beautiful scenery, the sea, quirky boats and lobster pots, as well as a chance to get the watercolours out, and I spent a lovely few hours drawing boats, painting their sails and doing smaller, quicker sketches of boats and yachts using pen. 

It made a lovely change to use pencils, paint and paper, as I spend the majority of my time 'drawing' with my sewing machine, so it was great to be creative using a completely different medium to my usual fabric and thread.

Our holiday breakfast's were made complete with one of our coffee cosies, and we spent time wandering around the pretty coastal towns, walking around the beautiful Devon coastline, and stopping for well-deserved coffee and cake, or treating ourselves to delicious cream teas!

Adventures in Wales

This weekend I spent a glorious couple of days by the sea. We stayed in Mumbles, where I had visited as a child and where my auntie and her family grew up. We visited beaches (above is Rhossili Bay - a beauty!), got our toes sandy, paddled in the sea... 

...ate delicious food...

...and found wonderful cafes. The cafe pictured below is Ty Junction - the food was great, the decor quirky and rustic, and they even had lovely things to buy too, a must-visit if you are heading to Mumbles (Ty Junction: 2 Woodville Road, Mumbles, Swansea).

On one of the rainy mornings we popped into the Oyster Gallery - one of our stockists! We found them at the top of Newton Road (the main street in Mumbles), met the lovely staff and took a couple of snaps of our products in the shop. The Oyster Gallery is a beautiful shop, bigger than I had expected and a treasure-trove of seaside delights! (Oyster Gallery: 70-72 Newton Road, Mumbles, Swansea). xo

Three Choirs Vineyard

To make the most of our last day of sunshine yesterday we ventured to the Three Choirs Vineyard in Newent to sample some wine, sit in the sun and learn about their wine and sparkling wine-making processes.

It was fantastic, I've never been wine tasting before and the experience was just splendid... 

We had a detailed tour around the winery, as well as a glimpse into their micro-brewery 'Whittingtons', also squeezed into their not-very-huge winery building. It was all very impressive. If you aren't too far from Newent I would highly recommend a trip, and the wines were delicious too... always a bonus!

Midsummer Sale!

It's Midsummer Sale time here at CMT HQ, and we have added some one-off (or last remaining) items to our SALE page. Our spotty bunting (above) - available in either spotty teal, charcoal or blue is now only £14, and our last 2 sets of croissant napkins (below) are also £14!

We've been Jubilee and Union Jack crazy for a while now, but we've decided to add our Union Jack tea cosies to the SALE too... 

WAS £38, NOW £25!

 Our white cotton beach hut aprons are also, yep you guessed it, £14 

(bit of a price theme going on here!)

And last but by no means least... we have a couple of navy daisy tea cosies left in stock, now only £18 (£20 off!) So pop on over to our SALE page and have a browse, now is the time to stock up on birthday presents, or even to get in early for Christmas (sorry, Christmas is on the brain!)

The Seaside!

This weekend I squeezed in a '24 hour holiday' as I liked to think of it! When I was little I went on a family holiday to Mumbles, so as one of my best friends has recently moved to Swansea, I decided it was time to return to the Welsh coast for a wee break!

To be honest I didn't recognise much of Mumbles, but upon some other friend's recommendations we made sure we had a Joe's ice cream and a delicious lunch on the seafront. (Joe's was delicious by the way!) and we also visited the house where my auntie grew up, which was lovely to see and take snaps of to show her.

All too soon it was time to come home, but I'm now feeling fresh and rejuvenated from the sea air and sunshine and am ready for the week ahead!

Poppies

Whilst driving back from the post office this week two factors finally came together... the field full of poppies that I have driven past on numerous occasions in the last few weeks, and having my camera in my bag! So I pulled over and started snapping. The field was full of hundreds of poppies and lots of meadow flowers intermingled with them, the sight was spectacular.

It's Competition Time!

Although the weather of late hasn't exactly been super-summery, I'm convinced that summer is indeed on the way! So to celebrate the impending sunny season I'm doing a little giveaway...

WIN this linen 'beach huts' tea cosy

All you have to do is follow my blog, leave a little comment below and 'like' my page on facebook (www.facebook.com/charlottemaceytextiles) - easy peasy!

So use the link above to help you on your way and I will be announcing the winner on Friday (the 3rd)... Good Luck!

Blossom

The Spring flowers may be fading but to remind us that a new season is on it's way are the blossoms, and they sure are pretty... this is just a few of the photos I took of our apple trees, looks like there will be a good crop this year... if the wasps don't get to them first! x

La Bella Italia

I'm back from a few days in the north of Italia, and boy was it beautiful! I toured round the Emilia-Romagna region, as well as venturing to Venice and Lake Garda (Sirmione). I've never set foot in Italy before, let alone perfected any Italian... but with friends in tow, it was a wonderful, relaxing, and hot trip. Here are a few photos, I took around 400, so this is literally a 'snapshot' of my lil holiday...

From top to bottom: Venice, bicycles in Ferrara, old men congregating with their bikes outside Ferrara cathedral, gondolier in Venice, St. Mark's Square, Italian gelato, Venice, Lake Garda.

"The Monday Post"

Good morning! My weekly catch-up has resorted to a 'Monday Post' again... how do these weekends get away from me!? This week I have been hard at work on my Christmas range, to be launched at the Home & Gift trade fair in Harrogate in a mere couple of weeks. Not long now! So the studio has been a hive of festive activity, with fabrics, samples, and sketches all over the shop. I also went on a bit of a photography spree on Saturday, capturing some of the wonderful Summer flowers and plants, thought I would share a couple with you, I hope you like them! And now back to the Christmas-making frenzy... it feels a little strange trying to feel festive when it is so lovely and blue-skied out! Happy July everyone :) I shall leave you with this link to my web shop... catch up with my latest press/news, or have a browse through my current range! x

"The Monday Post"

What a lovely weekend... myself and team Macey have now made it back from London, much less laden down than the journey over on Friday evening, and definitely a lot more exhausted! Early on Saturday morning we headed off to our intended destinations for our frenzy of Summer Fair activity. I set up my stand at St. Augustine's church hall next door to the Selvedge shop on Archway Road, whilst at Chelsea Town Hall my second stand was being set up by my magnificent assistants ready for the We Make Summer Fair. At 11am people flocked into both fairs, and the day went swimmingly. I have to say I have never seen so many florals, dresses, patterns, and cupcakes, in one day! We met so many lovely people, both fair-goers and stall holders, and had a fantastic day in London.