Tuesday saw me visiting Abingdon Leisure Centre which i haven’t done in over 18 months! I saw many faces I haven’t seen in a while and people will start to see me regularly there again! I have a good following of customers in Abingdon, lots of them from the leisure centre. There was a lot of interest in my pictures that I’ve been making. I sold a few cardigans and a few sarongs and belts. As I was packing up and leaving it started raining slightly but that was ok as it was the end of the day, rather than the beginning of the day, when I’m more likely to get frizzy hair from the rain! The pictures here are my display at the centre.
Today I was displaying SagoJago stock at the Witney Health and Healing fair, in Witney’s Langdale hall. It wasn’t terribly busy but it wasn’t quiet either. There was definitely a pick up of people between 2-4pm, perhaps the tennis had finished by then! I also managed to use a second table as the stall next to me didn’t turn up so I was able to have their table and put some jewellery out. I managed to send out lots of fliers for my open day which is July 13th and also generate interest in the bra recycling that I’m doing, to raise funds for ABC, Against Breast Cancer. I met some lovely people today and had an interesting Colour Mirror therapy from a lovely lady called Helen Matkin. This was a treatment where you choose several bottles of liquid, coloured ones and they all represent something emotional or physical and then she works on your chakras to release energies and heal. It was a lovely experience as the colours I had chosen represented the psychic powers within and releasing them, and also the aspect of not being heard, and communicating things better. These are all aspects of my life at the moment and really hit home. I felt a lovely warm feeling in my back and a deep breathing and releasing of breath that felt like letting go of things. There was so much positive energy in the room it was wonderful. My products went down well and were a lovely addition for people, to the treatments that were going on. I also got booked to attend a ladies pamper evening in Clanfield on the 26th July which is great! Lots of interest in my handcrafted wraps I make, and especially the wiggly scarves I’ve been making, I was knitting one whilst i was there. I always take something to do at an event, I never know how busy it’s going to be and doing something always starts a conversation! 
Today was Eynsham Carnival and what a wonderful day for it! Glorious sunshine, a little breeze, although in the marquee it was just boiling. Luckily I was up the open end of the tent so it was cooler, and am very glad I wasn’t down the end where the smelly cheese and chocolate was!
The day started quite quietly and then as the afternoon went on it got steadily busier and busier. I think, in general, at these fairs people like to have a look round first and then look again to see what there is. This is always a wise choice and sometimes stalls can sell similar products. I sold several cardigans, a few of my handcrafted wraps, which is always an honour, and a few belts and silver necklaces. One lovely lady bought a wonderwrap, and she looked amazing in it, despite being in a wheelchair! I was so chuffed for her as the magenta colour looked amazing on her and she understood how it worked, which can’t always be said of some able bodied people! Her husband was wonderful too and agreed to help her with it. A few children bought rings too which always helps with the sales, they all love pretty things!
Saw lots of lovely friends that I haven’t seen in ages, a wonder I even got unpacked int the first place!
Tomorrow is the Health Fair at Langdale hall, I hope it’s as good as Eynsham. Despite it being wimbledon I think people will still come out, they want to shop, and not just for garden plants!
Today is Eynsham Carnival, an annual carnival like many around the country in the summer months. This particular one is the first Saturday in July. Our whole family look forward to this event as my father lives next to the field where it all takes place and each year we have a party during the day and into the evening. This is the last year we will have our get together as Dad is moving! This brings to an end a 25 year tradition of our get togethers! We will surely find something to replace it next year, we’ll still attend the carnival, it will just be as visitors rather than residents almost!
7 or 8 years ago my good friend, Gavin, reminded me that when I was 16 I had attended the fair with a stall selling my jewellery that I used to make, it was not long after we moved into the house. He asked when I was going to have another stall? My children we young at this time and it got me thinking that I could be doing something like this again for myself whilst my children were young, and I wanted to be at home with them. I started making cards and attended the fair the next year with childrens gifts as well, and SagoJago, my jewellery and accessory business was born, although it was mainly cards at that point. Now I’ve developed the business into jewellery, clothing, scarves, belts and of course my cards still. I’m now attending for my 6th year since I started SagoJago and I thoroughly enjoy it every year, and have a good few customers that come and see me each year. It’s as much a tradition for them as it is me. So, what will today bring? Lovely weather is already part of this great carnival day, lots of lovely people and friends saying hello will be another great part. Finally I hope there will lots of sales, for everyone concerned! I have much to thank Gavin for!
Had a morning at Freeland nursing home, playing a few hymns and then some incidental music to pass the time for them. Hoping to make it a regular thing for them. Had an hours break then played in Hacketts restaurant from 1.45-3.30ish. I usually play mainly classical music as that’s what I’m familiar with but I’m branching out and playing a bit of jazz, Gershwin, that sort of thing, and then some singing of popular songs as well; Adele, Randy Crawford, Eva Cassidy, mainly ballads, and I did get a few little applauses. I don’t play to get applauses but it is so welcome when they do happen. My mum happens to be visiting from Wales for a few weeks and happened to text me to say what time was I playing on Wednesday, which is my usual slot, but there is a band playing at Hacketts tomorrow so she decided to come down today, and I managed to play some of her favourites, which reduced her to tears, as I knew it would.
How is it that music can reduce us to tears so easily? It can send shivers down our spines, give us goosebumps, make us scared, happy and sad. It can remind us of our first love, (Stevie Wonder has a lot to answer for!) of break ups, getting back together, of friends, times when we worked somewhere, it can take us to distant places, way back when times and can take us right back to that moment that we were in, the first time we heard the song. Memories are born in music, and hearing the songs just prolongs those wonderful memories. Music should be part of everyone’s lives, whether they play, listen, sing, dance to or make music, it should be used as a therapy, as a form of relaxtion and as a way of giving pleasure to other people. I know music is all of those things to me; therapy, relaxation and a pure pleasure to share with people.
Went to watch the Race for Life today and watch some friends run to make money for their chosen charity. So many people coming together, nearly 6000 plus all the supporters too, was an amazing site. A sea of pink, with spatterings of other colours thrown in, plus the odd sparkly wig, tutu, leg warmers, deelie boppers, fancy dress (not so many), painted faces and general effort to make the running, jogging and walking just that little bit more interesting. Near the finish line we positioned ourselves to cheer on the throngs of runners coming through to the end, some exhausted, some sprinting to the finish, some limping along, despite the pain. It never ceases to amaze me the level of endurance the human body can go through when enough determination is there, to succeed, no matter what. Well done to all those that took part. You just may find me there next year!
Off to watch the race for life today in Oxford, never ceases to amaze me how people have the energy at this time in the day to run, exercise etc. I struggled to do a 20 lap swim at 6.30 last night! The efforts that people go to to raise money for charity is amazing as well. For the most part people raise money to give something back to the teams of people who care for their loved ones who are suffering, a way of saying thank you for all their efforts.
So, todays sale was slow and very, very windy! It’s such a shame when it’s like that because it doesn’t make it fun for the stall holders. We land up hanging onto our gazebos and stock, although i’ve given up on gazebos for exactly this reason, and even though I have public liability the stress of it is not worth it anymore! So, I brave the weather, put up my tables, and hope for the best. The best would be the wind behaving itself, the sun coming out and customers buying all our lovely goods. The worst is the weather not behaving, the sun not coming out and customers not buying anything, and that’s really what today was like. 3 things sold and that was it. All of us were in the same boat I think. Luckily the sale wasn’t too long, and the organiser wants to hold a SagoJago party so that’s a result, and i gave out lots of business cards to ladies that would be interested in holding a party too, so as always I look to the future, and forget todays happenings, or non-happenings!
The sale I’m doing at the Nuffield hospital on Monday should be better, a captive audience who know my stock well, and I donate 10% of my sales to the NOC appeal. I then have Eynsham Carnival next Saturday and a Health fair on the Sunday too, so lots of work to look forward to!
Have been busy making textile pictures over the last few days. My mother gave me some bamboo dishcloths that she discovered the more you used them the more cobweb looking they became and she thought I might be able to use them in my artwork somehow. So I’ve been experimenting. Not using ones she’s used but taking them in their raw state, washing them, stretching them in different directions to create a cobweb effect scarf. I decided to use merino wools on the fabric to make a felted scarf, but the finished effect was so thin that I was worried it wouldn’t hold up as a scarf. As ever with my textile work I’m usually recycling products to make new things so that’s exactly what I did with the scarves I made. I turned them into pictures instead, and cut the scarf into pieces and framed them, to create these unusual textured pictures. Let me know what you think and if you’d like to purchase one for a present!
Had an amazing evening at Steventon ladies pamper evening tonight! Sold lots of jersey cardigans to 3 ladies, 2 of whom also bought the lovely Wonderwraps as well. Saw some lovely stall holders, selling gorgeous things! Ria, with her lovely lingerie, Christine with her lovely jewellery. The ladies nights are a great way to do lots of shopping all under one roof, especially on the run up to Xmas, which I know it isn’t yet, but people are already starting to think about that! One lady also bought one of my handcrafted wraps which is a great honour, knowing that someone wants to buy something I have made too!
