Customer Service

Has anyone out there ordered something from Cath Kidston's sale and actually received it? I ordered an item on the 28th December. Having received nothing and no communication of any sort other than an acknowledgment of my order I phoned them to ask what the delay was. The lady in Customer Services told me she thought (!) they were expecting a delivery of this item at the end of the week! That's it! What terrible customer service from such a large and reputable company. If I didn't want the item so much I would have cancelled and asked for my money back. I had a similar experience with Laura Ashley - I was overcharged for something and after polite emails and letters which were ignored it finally cost me £9 in telphone calls before I managed to get my money back. Speaking to the Head of Customer Services I did suggest a voucher as a token of goodwill for all the angst it had caused me but nothing ever arrived! If we very much smaller traders treated our customers in this manner we would all be out of business. Rant over, I'll change the subject now, but let me know what you think.

Here are my latest 'Before and After' photos of a chair I have painted. It's not quite finished as I have to do the upholstery but it may be a while before I get round to doing this. I have seen a couple of lovely Kate Forman fabrics I think would look good on it and can't decide between the two. I bought the chair for £1.04 on ebay.

The seat and back were covered in a horrid green dralon. Now it looks like this...

Jane and I did an antiques fair on Sunday. These are some photos of our stall.

Sadly, at the end of the day it still looked more or less like this! There was very little buying going on. We covered the cost of our rent plus a tiny bit more but it wasn't worth all the effort really. I did hand out some flyers so hope some potential customers visit our website. I bought some nice braid and a lovely piece of kitchenalia so was pleased with them.

It's now 9 am, the sun is shining and I am still in my dressing gown so I must get dressed. I have just realised I have been reading blogs for the last one and a half hours!

Bags

I just thought I would quickly post a couple of pictures of some bags I have been making this week. When we were in France I bought a small amount of hemp material. Because it is so thick these bags stand up on their own too.

Jane and I are going to have a pitch at an antiques fair on Sunday. Not quite in the same league as Shepton but we'll give it a go. After our disappointing effort a year ago I said 'Never again' but I have been persuaded to try a different venue. It's amazing how time consuming it is putting price tickets on everything, so back to work!

Shepton Mallett Antiques Fair

My first meeting with a fellow blogger was at Shepton Mallet Antiques Fair on Friday. Sue has already mentioned this on her blog so I thought I had better post these photos that she refers to (I know it should be 'to which she refers' but this sounds so archaic now as I hear a past teacher telling me 'Never end a sentence with a preposition'!)

In this first photo Sue is trying to hide behind me and the second one includes Liz and Bronia who seem to make regular appearances in photos on people's blogs.

It was great to meet Sue, we bought a couple of things from her and hope to buy more when we visit her at Dairy House antiques. What was amazing was that as Jane went to ask where Sue's pitch was I said I would just look at this interesting stall only to find out it was actually hers that I had decided to look at out of all the ones there!

On Saturday I had a lovely surprise. I had won a giveaway on Kim's blog Ragged Roses and the postman delivered a big box full of goodies - Look at all this I received!

I was so touched by her generosity, such lovely things. Thankyou so much Kim.

I haven't been well this weekend. I started with an itchy rash on Friday evening which, by Saturday, had developed all over my body. Along with flu like symptoms of aching and a continuous headache all I've done the whole weekend is fall asleep on the sofa. By Sunday it was even worse and some of the rash had changed into bruise like rings which didn't disappear when pressed. You can imagine my worry so when I rang the doctor for advice they said to go along to the local hospital. Apparently it is an extreme allergic reaction or viral infection but I have now to try my third different anti-histamine and hope it goes away as quickly as it appeared.

Jane and I bought several things at Shepton to sell on our website . I did treat myself to two things, though. This is a 'Travelling Lady's Laundry Sachet'. I may use it on holiday (so much more upmarket than a plastic carrier for one's dirty smalls!!) or insert a cushion pad and display it in my bedroom.

No, I haven't decided to keep livestock! I just like things that are different and thought this animal drinking trough would look good in the garden as a planter or even adapted as a water feature.

Postal Delivery

I have had a lovely morning. The postman delivered two dvds that I ordered.

I'm looking forward to watching Goodbye Mr Chips. I saw it on tv years ago and Martin Clunes is absolutely superb in it. The BBC repeated How We Built Britain over Christmas. I had missed the series the first time around plus several of the repeats and, as I enjoyed what I did see so much, thought I would treat myself to the dvd.

I also received two books in the post and I wasn't expecting these at all. I subscribed to Easy Living magazine for a friend's birthday present recently and apparently these Tamasin Day-Lewis' cookery books were a free gift! Some of the recipes are delicious so once I have re-lost my weight I had lost before Christmas I shall be trying (and sharing) some of these with you.

I finished lining another basket this morning so shall be putting it on the website.

I love spending time in my 'den' sewing and listening to the radio. I have lots more things I want to make as I feel in a rather creative mood lately. Hopefully I'll have more to show you soon.

Books

Well, that's the first New Year's Resolution broken! 'Blog more' wasn't exactly top of my list but the first week of January has passed and not a single post from me! Let's hope I have more success with another resolution when I return to Slimming World tomorrow to shed the Christmas pounds.

A lot of you fellow vintage bloggers out there will probably have some of these books. I absolutely love the ones published by Ryland, Peters & Small and was snuggled under my new duvet this morning looking at them after everyone had gone to work.

One of the best books I have ever had and which I find invaluable when sourcing kitchenalia is Miller's Collecting Kitchenware which I think is now out of print as it was published in 1995.

This is a picture of Elizabeth David's kitchen from the book.

I have ordered another book on Kitchenalia and eagerly await its arrival.

Whilst on the subject of books do read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by the same author as 'The Kite Runner'. I thoroughly enjoyed both, couldn't put them down, and am looking forward to seeing the film of the latter later this week.


I found a packet of very out of date cranberries lurking at the back of my 'baking' cupboard at the weekend and since I hate throwing food away I threaded them onto some florist's wire and shaped them into a heart. I am rather pleased with the result!

As an afterthought.... please can someone tell me how to make my photos 'enlargeable' and why does the font change size on my posts? I would appreciate some advice. Thankyou.