Fayre Play

Well at last I have done the Christmas Fayres!  I had exceedingly low expectations so was not too worried when only a dribble of people meandered through the doors.  Of course it would have been fam dabby dozy if 34 customers had charged in and bought all my goodies, and I'd had orders for 98 more products, but if I thought that was going to happen, then I'm off away in the land of the fairies, as I'm sure any who have had stalls at gift fayres will agree.

If you remember, back in September I signed up to the fayres as a sort of kick up the bum, not to put too fine a point on it, so that I had a deadline to work towards for the birth of OriginalStitch.  And it worked - look - see all those products there, all with their nice OriginalStitch logos on and personally signed tags from the stitchers who stitched 'em...well that's my stock.  And aren't we proud!
 

I did sell some products to some lovely people at the fayres, and was able to come home with some too - which is just as jolly well, or what, precisely will I sell on this 'ere noo-fangled website I'm a-building, eh?  Not that I'm building it of course, ooh no.  A very clever person is, who understands the Dark Art of going a-Googlin' and web spiderbots and codes and tags and optimisation and you know, stuff.  Webby internetty things.  And he is hard at work as we speak, getting the website ready to test.  It will be fully transactional so that you can come and spend literally ALL your money there soon.  Won't that be lovely for you?!

We are starting with the Kid's Collection which consists of the products you see here - the Dolly Sling, modelled here by Hetty, who examines with great disdain a well-past-it cabbage from the vegetable patch; the Pencil Roll, the Double Pen Wallet, down there in red and yellow - these are just the best thing - they're like a felt-tip pen packet, but with a handle, and with pockets and a flap on BOTH sides for all your pens.  What with those and the Mini and Kids' Backpacks that's a surefire half hour of peace in a cafe.  And since we're on the subject of cafes (what a coincidence that is), you can also see the Cafe Sets lined up on the least gloomy spot in my house, a windowledge.  We landed on this idea when for the fourteen thousandth time I could not find my oven-gloves, and located them eventually in the Daughters' play cooker, in the aftermath of their playing at cafes.  I believe I ordered spaghetti bolognese, but was given broccoli, peas, a sausage, topped with an iced ring doughnut.  I didn't complain to the waitress, because she was a bit fierce, having already told me to keep my 'darlins' quiet.  'Darlins' is Hetty's word for, I think, daughters, which were on this occasion two ill-dressed, apparently noisy dollies.
The Cafe Sets are ridiculously sweet - a little Apron, an Oven-Mitt, and a Menu, Cafe Pad and OriginalStitch pencil for them to take your order.  And yes, we are looking into adding a Chef-Hat for that one....

I love all the products to varying degrees of obsession, and feel a little unhappy when each gets sold.  When I make statements like that, The Husb rolls his eyes heavenward and wonders what the hell he is pumping his hard-earned cash into - a woman who doesn't seem to want to sell her products....hm....maybe not the best business model ever invented. Like the other day when I said to him "Why don't I just price them really high so no-one buys them and then I can keep them?"
Eyes closed. Long-suffering frown.

Anyway, never mind that; in January we begin in earnest on the Homewares Collections, which if it is possible are even more exciting than the Kid's Collection - there will be Kitchen and Laundry, Home Comforts, Office and WorkSpace, and later in the year the Style collection which is where the famous OriginalStitch Bags will be unveiled....

Are you excited?  Me too - I have no idea what the OriginalStitch bag will be like, but how amazing is it that it's already famous?  I'm sure I'll want one...!
Are you feeling bamboozled by my attempts at subliminal marketing?  Me too.   I need a cup of tea to realign my head.

If only the famous yet-to-be-launched OriginalStitch tea-cosy, as seen in a feature on Top Craft Trends in 2010 in the latest Issue of Crafts Beautiful Magazine, were readily available....

See, I told you we were famous.