Hello September!

Hello September! With a slight chill in the air and leaves on the ground, autumn is most definitely underway. And it's been a busy week for us here catching up after a wee summer break - from adjusting the product labelling for our linen and cotton tea towels, to packing sets of new coasters and placemats (above: new Yachts design). 

The placemats and coasters can be MIX & MATCH-ed too, for a quirky and varied dining set!

And in the workshop the boys have been busy crafting more bunny and duck bookends, including our NEW Jemima duck bookends - hand painted in Pink Ground by Farrow & Ball, such a pale & pretty pink!

The Sunday Post

It's all systems go in the studio at the moment in the build-up to the two Country Living Fairs we will be doing in November. We've been working on new linen coasters and placemats (above: spotty, below: puddings), as well as re-jigging tea and coffee cosies and a few other bits and bobs too. 

We always find in the preparation for fairs - whether retail or trade shows - that having our whole range laid out, is a great time to assess how everything works together, especially having introduced new items over the last few months. It almost feels like a spring clean, although I suppose it would be an 'autumn clean' in this case! It's great to look at our packaging, designs, the coherency of the new items with the older items, etc... 

...and all I can say now is that I cannot wait until the Country Living Christmas Fairs, to see everything displayed all together, like a little CMT pop-up shop. 5 days in London. 4 days in Harrogate. So very excited. xo

Home & Gift 2012

For the majority of last week we were exhibiting at the Home & Gift trade show in Harrogate. We headed north last Saturday to set up, and it doesn't matter how many trade fairs I do, being faced with the bare stand always seems a little daunting at first... but we got there!

We had a great few days, meeting new and potential stockists, as well as lovely fellow exhibitors and new friends. We even squeezed in a couple of trips to Betty's for some 'tea room blend' before the show opened in the mornings!

We are now home safe and sound and have been invoicing and sorting through post-fair admin...

...and celebrating my birthday! I was even treated to a surprise birthday chocolate cake on the last day of Home & Gift (clearly the girls I met already know me too well!), which was delicious... but back to work tomorrow, we have orders to get cracking on!

Country Living Spring Fair 2012

We are back from the Country Living Spring Fair, exhausted (hence why it has taken 3 days to get around to writing this post!) but very happy. I was so pleased with how the stand looked and felt very proud as I arrived each morning. It was like having my very own shop, albeit a mini one!

The reactions to my work from visitors to the fair was also wonderful, and I met so many lovely people over the five days, from people visiting the fair, to followers on twitter and lots of already familiar faces too.

After a fantastic 5 days we are now back on home turf, and although London was great, it is good to be home! We are now cracking on with trade orders and re-stocking for our next Spring fair... this Saturday! (31st March) 

We'll be scooting back to the big smoke for the Selvedge Spring Fair, a one day extravaganza, and we're very excited! http://www.selvedge.org/pages/fair.aspx

Linen Letters...

I am excited to announce the addition of my new and exciting 'letters' range of homewares. I have just finished adding these two lovely linen tea towels to my website. Available in two unique designs... 'home' comes in a lovely jolly red and 'tea' in deep brown stitching. Both are available on my website now, I hope you like them! x

The Sunday Post: Autumn Edition

Beauuuutiful autumn, and horse chestnuts in full bloom... rustic colours, and more importantly hoards of conkers ready for battle, I found my first one this week, super exciting! It's a wonderful sunny morning here, so I grabbed a moment for a few autumnal snaps. My first pictures capturing the essence of autumn and everything I love about it... chilly air, clear, and fresh!

This week I have been working on a few trade orders, and one in particular for a lovely florists in Hove called Florian. As well as a selection of other goodies, also winging their way to the ladies of Florian, are custom stitched beach huts and "hove actually" writing, on lots of linen tea towels and cotton shoppers :) pop into Florian to see their new custom goodies soon!

Christmas things are also arriving with other stockists around the UK as we speak... you can browse the full range in my web shop, and although it's early I must admit I've been eying up some stocking fillers and other gifts this week in preparation for Christmas! Hope you all have a great week... x

"The Sunday Post"

Another week down, and what a speedy one it was... it seems only moments ago that I was writing a little round-up of the previous week. Well, time does fly when you are enjoying yourself!
Yesterday I began working on the first of my custom Christmas orders, which I found so exciting!! And I am also making my way gradually through my list of Home & Gift orders. Things are going well, and it's so exciting to get this many new stockists in one fell swoop! This week goodies have been winging their way to Rooms with a View in Diss, Norfolk, and The Wendy House in Kirriemuir, Angus.

At the end of this week I popped over to Made in Stroud, to replenish their stock of tea towels, and also deliver some new tea cosies, and large linen tweed doorstops. These larger doorstops have proved a little expensive to post, but are perfect for a shop pretty local to me, such as Made in Stroud, so pop in if you are around the Gloucestershire neck of the woods! I am still selling my slightly smaller, (but comfortably big enough for the task) spotty doorstops on my website.

I shall be away from tomorrow (Monday) evening, til Friday... so will catch up with you upon my return. I'm taking a little trip to Italia to visit my friend who moved there last year. And will then be back to the work with renewed vigour! I feel a little break/R&R is in order, and I hope you all have a fantastic week, x

"The Sunday Post"

Dear all, I hope you have enjoyed a good week :)
After the stresses and strains (and excitement of course!) of Harrogate I finally feel like I am rested and back to normal (well, slightly!), I'm shocked at how much a trade fair takes it out of you! I have spent the week making goodies and packing up orders. Fortunately knowing how much I have yet to do hasn't phased me and I'm gradually making my way through masses of individually handmade tea towels, aprons, and cosies :) I'm so excited to have 7 new stockists, details of which will be up on my website as soon as the orders start going out...

This week I have also been working on several custom items for weddings. I have posted pictures onto my facebook fan page, so if you'd like to take a look please have a peek here.
Wine glasses seem to be the design of the week here, and I will be adding my new wine glasses aprons, in natural and white, to my website soon!
I'm now setting to work on some more cupcake and wine glass stitching, I hope you are having a lovely weekend, and Happy 1st August! Charlotte x

"The Sunday Post"

This week has seen a multitude of birthday celebrations, football, and paella! The latter two went hand-in-hand as we watched the first England game last night. An unlikely combination, however extremely delicious.
Birthday celebrations aside, this week has seen lots of preparation getting underway for the two fairs team Macey and I will be doing on Saturday 26th June in London. Excitement is building for the first ever Selvedge Summer Fair, and the We Make Summer Fair at the beautiful Chelsea Town Hall. So wherever you find yourself in London on this day, there will be a lovely handmade fair waiting for you! I hope to see a few of you there, as both venues look to be fantastic, and there will be lots of amazing stall holders, and wonderful things to buy! In the meantime, have a great week, for now I must get back to my tea towels... x

new tea towels . . .

Just in time for their unveiling at The Bath Coffee Festival this weekend, I have added two new tea towels to my current range, pop over to my website shop to see what you think of my blue stripe lighthouse tea towel - the second pretty colourway of my red stripe lighthouse linen tea towel, this one uses cute blue stripe cotton. And the second new item fresh out of the studio, tea towel 'lait'. A natural cotton tea towel inspired by my time in la belle France; the design depicts a selection of traditional French milk bottles, and incorporates a little bit of French writing too!

"The Sunday Post" - Stroud International Textile Festival '10

Yesterday I visited the opening of Stroud International Textile Festival 2010. My goodies are for sale in the Made In Stroud shop in Stroud town centre, and were arranged wonderfully by the lovely Clare. So I took a few snaps of my Charlotte Macey Textiles wares in the shop. If you are in the area do pop in, there is lovely work to see and buy, and an excellent exhibition of textile work in the Subscription Rooms, across the road from Made In Stroud. I hope you are all having a good Bank Holiday weekend, and are not too soggy from all this lovely Bank Holiday rain ;)

"The Sunday Post" - Country Living Edition!

Good morning folks!
After a good lie-in this morning I awoke fresh and full of renewed vigour, after my trip to the Country Living Spring Fair yesterday. My legs are aching from the 8 hours of walking and making our way through the swarms of shoppers, but I loved taking in the Eastery feel of all the stands, and above is a prime example, by Laura Long - a lovely but simple and effective looking stand, and of course Laura's work is gorgeous too.
This week I'm working on two new designs, one cosy and a fresh new tea towel, keep your eyes peeled. Yes the tea towel was meant to have come into fruition by now, but orders took over! Lots of Sunday sewing ahead of me today :) I hope you are having a fantastic weekend, x

hot cross buns...

This week I have a currently unsatisfied craving for hot cross buns, however being wheat intolerant I have not had much luck on my search. Fortunately my Twitter pals have been most helpful, and pointed me in a few good directions (thank you!)
Here is a little info quoted from the Times Online, about the history of hot cross buns...

"Hot cross buns are small festive breads eaten on Good Friday in Britain; a few bakers still use old-fashioned production methods."

I am working on several orders this week, including one for a lovely shop in Guernsey called Evie & Me, who are needing a replenishment of tea towels! Whilst also doing bits and pieces for Stroud International Textile Festival. It's all go here in the studio, and I'm looking forward to my weekend expeditions coming up... the Country Living Spring Fair this weekend, and my mini trip to Cornwall for Easter, x

"The Sunday Post"

Pheeeew - made it to the end of the week and to a glorious Sunday... I am surrounded by mountains of tea towels, and there has been much ironing, washing, and sewing of tea towels this week. I'm busy preparing stock for the Stroud International Textile Festival 1st - 23rd May, where I will have work for sale at the two main festival exhibition venues and the Made in Stroud shop in Stroud town centre!
And have finally got around to re-doing my tea towel display; being rolled and tied with a simple piece of string means the tea towel can easily be unrolled to view the whole design, and involving far fewer ironed creases, excellent news.
Keep your eyes peeled this week as I have new designs coming to my shop! But for now my lips are sealed :) have a great week everyone!

"The Sunday Post"

Happy Mothers Day everyone! After a mass baking sesh yesterday (some good results, some not so good!) the big day is here, and I've just got time to write a quick post before the festivities commence! The pic above is of one of my two new tea towels... the first one is my 'wine glasses' cotton tea towel, available now on my website and in my Folksy shop, check it out along with my new linen tea towel... 'ten green bottles' (see below). I hope you like them, and if you have any feedback I'd love to hear from you! Have a wonderful Mothers Day, I'm off to make some delicious lunch-type-treats! x