Bunting is a style icon!

Has anyone else seen this in the Guardian yesterday?
The latest style advice is that bunting is the new cupcakes!

Who knew I would be surfing the wave of a new trend... there is no wonder there has been a flurry of sales :-)

alice says hello!

Thought I should really make note of this as yesterday was another first for says alice - a stall at an event.

I have been selling online and through shops for a while, but this is the first time I have put together a table of wares for en event. It took a bit of a flurry of activity to have both stock and samples of things to sell and order, but it was also really good to get a bit organised and crack on with lots of jobs that have been part done for a while.

I'm really pleased with the way it went. There were some sales, some orders and a lot of chatting with the folk running other stalls. Over 2000 people attended the event on the day and all of them had to come into the marquee at some point to shelter from downpours, so it was a fun and productive day!

It was almost like being back in an old job where I used to go to exhibitions on behalf of the college I worked for, recruiting students. I found myself putting together the 'events kit' of everything I might possibly need, from paperclips to blutac and pegs. And then there was the last minute panic about paper bags - what if someone wanted a bag to take things away in...??!

I must say thanks to the Pre-school Learning Alliance for inviting me along and to Donna from ecosnackwrap on the stand nextdoor for making me welcome!

Pretty as a picture

This is a bit delayed really, as I seem to have been making nothing but these for days and am surrounded by frames full of applique!

But this is the first and so the one that is responsible for the start of the avalanche. It was a wedding gift for a couple whose initials are V and A, so the design was an obvious choice. But still a bit of a challenge with all those twists and turns in the ampersand.

It came together far quicker than I thought it would and, after a bit of a play with designs I now have a growing repertoire of flowers, butterflies, fish, boats and even dinosaurs. If I can draw it, I can applique it with my own shabby chic style!

It's also a fantastic use of the offcuts box, where I keep little bits of leftover fabric that is too good to throw away, but too small to use for bunting or bags. Everyone is a winner!

I have seen other crafty bloggers take part in 'bits box' swaps and now I understand why!