I Faked It

Have you missed me? I've been working like a madwoman this last week trying to meet deadlines before Christmas.

As you may know, we will be exhibiting at the Life Instyle Sydney trade show in February and I am seriously stressed. I am still waiting for new linen fabrics to arrive from Europe (they had to be woven and preshrunk for us) and I am frantically trying to get new fabric screens ready before all of my suppliers shut down for 2-3 weeks.

First deadline - Monday morning: my images were due for the Life Instyle catalogue that includes all of the exhibitors' details. The montage of images above is pretty much what the Thea & Sami page will look like. It was a last minute decision last week to reintroduce our "Iron Flowers" design (thanks Leisa) and to print it onto the Duckegg Blue linen since I didn't have anything else ready.


I quickly printed up one panel. I can print just one large screen myself, if need be, by screen-printing sideways at the end of the table. This is the only way that one person can reach across the entire width of fabric unless you have this system.

I then pinned the panel around the cushion insert as shown above (no time for sewing). That was the first time I faked it.

The new blue rose design you see above has not even been exposed onto a screen yet. It was a last minute decision on Monday morning to include it for the catalogue.

The design was printed on paper and taped it over the lampshade. That was the second time I faked it. Desperate measures from a desperate woman but I really wanted to have 3 new designs for the catalogue and by the time we exhibit - they will be real! Fake it til you make it....

Design No. 3 is the lovely Doily Clock from Red Revival. I am happy to announce that Emma and I will be collaborating with some of our designs and will be exhibiting together at Life Instyle. We will be at booth No. 78 so please visit us if you are attending.

Reminder - today is the last day to enter my blog giveaway and Missy Mao Mao's giveaway here. Good luck!

Life Instyle

You may remember that I visited the Life Instyle trade show recently in Sydney and was impressed by the high standard of exhibitors. Since that visit, I had decided that Thea & Sami would need to participate in the next show to attract more wholesale accounts and to grow.

I had long been procrastinating over submitting an application as I was always waiting for the website to be "perfect" or worried that I wouldn't meet the selection committee's criteria but when a friend tipped me off last week (thanks Alyssa) that stand offers were being finalised, I knew that I had to act fast or miss out on yet another opportunity.

On Monday morning, I submitted my application and I am proud to announce that Thea & Sami now has a confirmed stand for the Melbourne Show in August. Yay! I am so happy about this. The moral of the story is that if you hesitate, you may just miss the boat.

For those who have been wondering about Voyt's progress (the patient and husband), it turns out that his leg has a staph infection but he is on an antibiotic drip and the painkillers are keeping him sedated and well-behaved so he is slowly recovering. He was certainly well enough to be giving me legal instructions from his hospital bed yesterday. So, we aren't moving house until next week but it's probably all for the best.

Thank you all for your well wishes.

Image is courtesy of Life Instyle.