Snapdragon's garden

The fog has lifted

Tomorrow I head off down to London where I have a stand at the Trade Show Top Drawer in Earls Court.  This is my opportunity to display what we do to thousands of potential buyers - gift shop and gallery owners, department store buyers, museum and heritage purchasing departments.

For the past few months I have been mithering on, boring friends and family about my worries over where wholesale fits into the whole business.

I kept working on the trade show stand but, if I am honest, my soul wasn't really in it.

Last year we didn't really chase wholesale orders.  The price of our wool, velvet, linen and lavender all went up again and again as world commodity prices soared; we made decisions to change our packaging to biodegradable corn starch instead of the cheaper cellophane and to get our badge and mirror components made in Europe rather than China.

Each of these meant just an extra few pence on an item, but one after the other they mounted up and eroded our profit margin.  Over the year we had to withdraw several ranges from our wholesale catalogue as we were actually making a loss on them. Then in the summer we had a clutch of our stockists go under, some leaving unpaid bills which had to be written off.  Cash flow in retail shops seemed to get tighter and tighter and I got fed up with Valerie spending hours chasing up overdue invoices.  I considered giving up wholesale completely and concentrating on the buoyant and blossoming retail side of the business.

But then I thought of the joy that I have in developing ranges for some of our stockists - the blackbird cushions for Edwards and Todd, the intricate rigging of our Cutty Sark range, the cosy chintzy things I make for Dove Cottage.

So the new samples mounted up on the table and this morning, as it looked like this outside, the fog in my head lifted and I suddenly saw exactly how the stand will look.

Which is just as well with 24 hours to go before the only Trade show we do. 

For at Snapdragon we excel at bespoke and short runs of individual things - we have built up a way of working that allows us to customise, tweak and innovate at very little extra cost.  In a world where everyone google searches before they buy this is a distinct advantage. And that is what I hope to convey on my stand.

So if you happen to be visiting Top Drawer do come and see me on stand R60.

A bit of natural medicine

As part of an auti immune condition that I have my hands often go completely white and numb.  This year it has been gradually getting worse and over the past few months I have had 6-8 hours a day when I can't feel any of my fingers (not ideal when you sew for a living!).

On Sunday I was weeding in the polytunnel and ended up with stung hands from all the tiny nettles in the salad beds.

stung hands but no numbness . . .

And my hands weren't numb on Monday or Tuesday either.

I woke up with numb fingers this morning which had spread to the rest of my hands by 9.30 - so I went in search of some nettles (not hard to find in our garden) and deliberately stung one of my hands.  Within quarter of an hour that hand was back to normal and within half an hour both were working fine.

Obviously I will have to keep experimenting - it may be co-incidence - but I thought that I would put it out there as so many people get the same thing and nettle stings are much, much better than numb hands. . .

Country Homes and Interiors

I am delighted that our home is featured in the magazine Country Homes and Interiors and very chuffed that all the photos capture what we have been trying to create - turning our house from a typical rural 1980s bungalow (all tiny rooms, low ceilings and aluminium windows) into something more airy and light filed.

Thank you very much to Vivienne Ayres and Polly Eltes who made it all very easy.

Here are the photos

walking dogs by Loch Lomond

The front of the house (we added a porch) and the hall with the Mary Chapin Carpenter quote which I hope that my daughters will live by

2 views of the kitchen - floor and worktop from Hargreaves Reclamation in Airth http://www.hargreavesreclaimedflooring.co.uk/

Our "big space" with the wonderful wood burning stove that was made for us by Steve Dowling - http://www.stevedowling.co.uk/dowlingstoves/index.html - I love his stoves so much that we have 3 of them.

The dining bit in the "big space" - we bought the drawers from the antique centre in Doune where they had been unsold for over 2 years - obviously fate . . .

The sunroom sofa with a granny blanket that was indeed crocheted by my Gran!

Ourbedroom (look at that beautifully ironed duvet cover) bathroom and my dressing table

The view from the garden over towards hills.

I love that they used one of the Sanderson linen magnets that are on our fridge to hold up that bit about what is "On our doorstep".

It felt a bit exposed welcoming people "into" our home but everyone has been very kind.  We were 6 years living in a much smaller space,  a space that I made worse by over stuffing it with furniture that I kept buying when I saw it - 6 years planning for when we would be able to afford to change the house into somewhere we love living.