Moving on!

 With packing going on at HH HQ and workshops at both the Needham Market Internet Cafe and at home it's definitely a very busy time for me! Last Container Candle workshop is on Thursday 28th November 6-9 pm £35 and as it's coming up to THAT TIME OF YEAR we also make some Festive Firelighters which make amazingly impressive gifts! Scented with aromatics such as bergamot, cinammon and rosemary, wrapped in some hessian with a pretty ribbon and maybe a decorated gift tag...

 ...tada! A reindeer adorned gift tag!

 Ahem! We also make a fair bit of mess...

 Another great gift is handmade soap, using the cold process method. Make beautiful soaps such as our new recipe which has a high olive oil content and green clay and is particularly good for gardeners. Much more delicate but just as lovely is the calendula and chamomile - we make four soaps and after setting divide them up and they must then be left for a period of curing which takes approximately four weeks. Last soap day for this year is Saturday 30th November1.30-5 £50 limited spaces so don't leave it too late!

 Dried marigolds from the allotment (above) and industrial sized containers of essential oil (below) we use both in the gorgeous soaps!

 Another 'last chance to make' before Christmas and the big move is the Vintage style frame bag - I did one of these with a brilliant group of ladies last week and have just realised that I didn't get a photo of Claire's bag! It was amazing with lace just about everywhere! You'll just have to make do with the other four below...

 ...and apart from having to go back to HH HQ for an iron the Internet Cafe was the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon! Last bagmaking workshop is Saturday 14th December 1.30-5 £40!

We seem to be getting a lot of dull days lately after a glorious summer so I wasn't unhappy to spend another brilliant day with Christina making hearts and decorating them with her quirky and unique ideas...

 I LOVE the bunny on this one!

 And this is Lynne's finished Christmas Garland!

 She brought it in to HH HQ to show it off, I LOVE it!

 Gorgeous robin...

 I'm packing and unpacking all at the same time! These parcel tags are ready and waiting to go on all those handmade gifts and the rather wonderful wool felt arrived yesterday to join my favourite felt bundles...

...and more amazing ribbons!

 Eeeek! The two on the right are soooo pretty, easily my favourites! Check out the scissor and button ribbon though, how lovely?!

 And pompomtastic! Red bobble trim in two sizes...

 ...and the delicate black and gold print ribbon, bees?

So I hope you have enjoyed the photos of the recent additions to HH HQ and maybe I have tempted you to come and have a great time at a workshop one day...

Nic x

News, moves and an exciting New Year!

 If you look closely you can just make out Helen painting her famous ceramic tiles through the window of her pottery where she and her partner Paddy create some amazing work - I have been friends with them since moving to Suffolk in 1985. 

Their Old Piggery Pottery is at Alder Carr Farm in Creeting St Mary and as I like to keep things as local as possible before I had the allotment I used to pick fruit there for my jams!

When I opened HH HQ in Station Yard I had to have Old Piggery Pottery mugs as there is nothing quite like a hand-thrown, handpainted mug for your cuppa and with their wide bases they appeal to a practical Virgo like myself...observant visitors to HH HQ will notice however that the designs are a little different and that is because they have flowers in HH colours, red and blue in place of the usual green leaves - Helen designed them especially for me and I love them!

 I'm extremely fond of the farm and indeed used to make curtains and cushions in the same building that now houses the pottery! I even picked fruit for money there but clearly was not as good at it as I had been as a child growing up in Tiptree, Essex as I'm pretty sure Nick sacked me...luckily that was a very long time ago!

 We included this photograph of the pumpkin harvest in a blogpost back in 2010 and it remains one of my favourites to this day - Jacui and I had called in to the farm to grab something lovely to have for lunch whilst doing the final edits to A Green Guide to Country Crafts and couldn't believe how beautiful the squashes looked in the autumn sunshine!

I was reminded of the picture the other day when I spotted this years harvest so thought I would dig it out and post it again, hope you like it!

Anyway...I thought it was time to share some exciting news with everyone at last!

The old mill building in the photo below is soon to become HH HQ, isn't it pretty?! I'm so excited to be making the move to Alder Carr Farm, and hope that all my customers who have managed to find me in Station Yard will enjoy coming to visit me there!

The mill is currently home to The Suffolk Garden Mill but at Christmas Andrea and Andy are closing the physical shop and only selling their gorgeous gardening gifts and plants online.

 

I have been extremely happy at Station Yard but it IS the coldest place on earth and so Christmas Eve is the last day the old shop will be open and when it re-opens in the New Year it's surroundings will look a little different!

A few other exciting changes will be taking place and I'll reveal them as they happen, the first of which is that instead of only being open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings I will be open Tuesday through to Sunday!

Thank you to everyone who has ever followed my funny little hand-drawn map to find me down the alley, right at the bins and behind the kebab shop, I hope you'll like HH HQ #2 as much as the original!

I've already started packing...

Nic x