Wiararapa Road Trip Pictures

 

Coulter and Coulter, well actually it was Coulter and Lancaster this time, has been out in the real world again on a road trip down to the beautiful Wiararapa.  My friend Keriann offered to help out with my market stall in exchange for a trip to all the op and junk shops on the way.  Peter was quite happy to be excused from coming with us and stayed at home to watch movies with our youngest.  Above is the view from the coffee kiosk in Waipukurau where we made our first stop.

 I rented the above pretty cottage for the night before the market.  Often when booking accommodation over the internet, it turns out to be not quite what you expected.  This time the house was more than I expected.  A very pretty little cottage, filled with beautiful furniture and set in a well manicured small garden. Inside the house was spotless.  So if you ever need a home from home in Grey Town, I can recommend Roses on West.

 The craft market was held in the Town Hall, Masterton.  My stall was on the stage, it couldn't have been a better spot, the lighting was fantastic.  All in all a great weekend, can't wait for the next trip.

Preparation for a Roadtrip

 This weekend I am heading down to Masterton to the New Rags Market.  In anticipation of selling lots of goodies I have been making lots and lots of tote bags for customers to take home their purchases in.  I try to make sure Coulter and Coulter customers, including online customers, get a free tote bag with every sale.

My friend Keriann from Little Vintage, is coming with me to help out on the stall.  Or in other words - a girls road trip to visit as many Op Shops as we can find. 

This weeks projects - Pillowcases

 This week I have been working on pillowcases, lots and lots of pillowcases.  Some with butterflies and others with roses.  I have also completed a custom order for a duvet cover to match a pair of pillowcases.  I think I need a bigger table for printing and sewing up duvet covers, I had to really focus trying to get it done on the kitchen table.

Meet Dot

 A few blog posts ago I gave you a little glimpse into the world of Coulter and Coulter and showed you the process we go through to print our fabrics.  I entirely forgot to mention the other part of our business. 

 All our lovely hand printed fabrics are transformed in to beautiful items using Dot my trusty sewing machine.  I would be lost with out her.  I do have a study to sew in, but seem to end up on the kitchen table most of the time.  The light is so much better in there, at least that's what I tell Peter.  The reality is that there is so much fabric and chaos surrounding me when I am sewing that I need a very large table to contain it all.

Can I ask a favour please

Coulter and Coulter's online presence for the last year has been via this Blog, with shops on Felt and Etsy.  But now we feel the time is right to have our own on line shop.  I would really appreciate it if you would drop by and take a look at our own website, for me.  I would love to here your feedback, what do you think?  Does it all look homely and cosy?  Is it easy to find what you are looking for?  Don't worry we won't be leaving our blog behind, we will still be posting here  at least once a week.  

Thank you.

Branching Out

Coulter and Coulter are branching out a little bit.  You can now buy some of our lovely stuff in Coco and Co, Heretaunga St, Hastings.  So if you are passing by pop in, they have lots and lots of other nice things just waiting for you to take them home.

My Grannie's Bone China Tea Service

This is my granny, my Mum's Mum.  I think this photograph was taken at Christmas 1989, a year before she died.  About this time she gave me her beautiful bone china tea set.  It is a wonderful art deco design and I love it.  The makers are a firm called J H Cope and Sons.  Usually it lives up on this dark shelf.

Previously I have not had any occasions to use Grannie's china, it just seemed too delicate.  There is no way I would let any of the boys in this house near it.  But now I have the perfect excuse to get it down and layout the dining table.   All to take pictures of the tablecloths and napkins I have been making recently.  Nothing sets off the pictures better.  I wonder what Granny would think of it all.  I am sure she would approve of the fact that her china is being used and photographs of it are being viewed all over the world.  She lived in an age before the internet.  Its amazing to think that within such a few years it has become such a large part of our everyday life.  She would have loved it all, especially Facebook, she would have had a field day.