Strawberry Annies

As regular followers of my blog will know I have been going through a period of transition, changing my product range and rebranding.

I had been using the name Dotsy Daisy for this but have had a last minute change for reasons too dull to go into.

After much nagging of everyone to come up with alternative names I have now moved forward with the name 'Strawberry Annies'

So please, please check out my new blog www.strawberryannies.blogspot.com which will now replace this blog. Link at sidebar on this page.

Kerry x

Pillowcase Dress & Frou Frou Flipflops

At last some photos,not great as I left it too late in the day but better late than ever.

I am really excited about getting started on some new stock...the kids go back to school tommorow and I am just about up to date on my arts work stuff, so this week I will make a belated start on getting my stock ready for the festivals.

Trying to source more flip flops as thats my big new thing this year.

Home At Last

I haven't updated for awhile but I have been busy!!!

Today is a happy day as my mum has finally been allowed home from hospital. She suffered a severe stroke back in January and has been in hospital ever since. This came as a major shock as although there were some warnings last year to see your mum who is not very old, be struck down so severely is horrible. She is regaining strength and is learning to walk again so the future looks good. I am close to my mum and missed her desperately when she was ill but feels like I'm getting my mum back.

I had a tutu workshop and another fairy wing workshop last week plus a fairy dress up party and its half term. Despite this I have managed to get in my workroom (I wish I could call it my studio but I think that would be slightly overegging what is essentially a study!!) I have been making frou frou flipflops and improving on the pillowcase dressses. Will update with photos later today.

Well today I have another busy day with two different workshops planned at Whoosh in Chelmsford. I have a bugs and butterflies in the morning which should be hectic but fun as I'm taking my two youngest with me as well. Then after dashing across town to drop them at the childminders i will be back at Whoosh for a crazy creatures workshop. I have bought some fab and funky fabric for the kids to work with so looking forward to that.

The Whoosh workshops are totally free and are aimed at disadvantaged/vulnerable children. There is more coming up that are booking now so if your interested please contact either me or Whoosh direct at www.whooshcentre.com.

Work Room Finished

At last I am in my new work room and it is all painted, clean and clutter free! How long for is another matter, to tell the truth I had to retidy it so I could take the pictures. I was making frou frou flip flops yesterday and had the floor covered in ribbon.

Just to give you an idea of what my old study looked like....

New Craft Space - A Work In Progress

Well I have been longing for some extra work space for a LONG time but it just wasn't happening. Anyway after some careful negotitaion with my daughter she has agreed to move her bedroom downstairs into what was once our dining room but we then changed it into a family room. No one used the room much as its cold!!! but she is also desperate for more space and said she didn't mind the cold (oh well summer is on the way)

After she had removed all her junk from the walls it was covered in blue tack marks and holes, so I have polyfilled and painted the walls. I was meant to go to Ikea to get a new storage unit today but as I was rushing out the house to take my youngest to collect her new glasses from the hospital I discovered my husband had gone to work with my car keys in his pocket!!! So no ikea trip and a very slow journey with my little one on her bike.

Can't wait to get in my new room and actually getting some work done.

New Summer Dresses

I have been busy in my study, sewing away. I started with the yellow ice creaam sundae dress for my daughter. This then led to think of making some very simple cotton dresses to sell for the summer. Let me know what you think.

Kerry x

Rainbow Tutu

Well yesterday I felt inspired to make something. At last I had a day with no arts officer bits to do, so off I went to the local sewing shop. I purchased a children's dress pattern which the lady assured me was simple. My daughter choose some gorgeous fabric and excitedly I got started.....then had to stop:( My sewing is fairly basic and self taught so although I can sew a little bit I can't follow a pattern. I cut out the basic bits and then couldn't make head nor tail of it. very disappointing but I am off to visit to my mum in hospital this evening so I will be taking it along to see if she can explain it to me. I miss my mum being at the end of the phone very much, I depend on her so much normally for chats/advice etc.

In the end I had to go back to what I know best and I made a rainbow tutu instead. I had planned to build up my stocks of this type of tutu to sell at this years festivals. They were popular at the christmas events I attended but the problem with them is storing and transporting them as they don't lend themselves to being packed small. My mission is one tutu a day (or the equivilant per week) Its never going to happen as I have already wasted this morning messing about.

Anyway let me know what you think.

Kerry x