I LOVE MARKETS

So many good things to look forward to this coming weekend. Here in the UK we get an extra day's holiday to celebrate May Day and now that the warm weather and sunshine have put in an appearance here's hoping we'll get good weather too.

On Sunday 5th May we will be at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. There will be live music, artisan food and a huge variety of stalls selling handmade and one-off pieces. Visit the I Love Markets website to find out all the details, it's sure to be a great day so do come along and say hello!

PULSE

With 2013 being our year to 'think big and say yes' we decided to sign ourselves up to showcase our collection in the Launchpad area of Pulse. The trade show runs from 12th-14th April at Earl's Court, London and if any of our readers are exhibiting or just visiting stop by stand LP64a and say hi!

There's just 20 days to go until the show opens and all that's left on our 'to do' list is our press packs. Once again Clementine & Bloom are feeling calm and organised! 

GOOD NEWS - GOOD HOMES

We're really pleased to announce our appearance on the news page of May's edition of Good Homes magazine. As regular readers of this magazine and general appreciators of all interior loveliness we are really chuffed.

This edition is full of gorgeous colour beginning with the hot orange and pink front cover so our turquoise, burnt orange and violet Archive tea towels are in good company here!

NOTES FROM THE NORTH

This week Clementine & Bloom headed north to the British Craft Trade Fair to showcase our lovely Entomology collection to lots of different buyers and press. Feeling like seasoned pro's (even though it's only our 2nd trade show) we arrived, set up and unpacked like true professionals leaving us a few hours spare to explore the town of Harrogate.

It was a gloriously sunny day (definitely the start of spring!) and we walked with our noses pointed to the sky looking at all the wonderful old buildings - we could definitely see ourselves living here.

Day dreaming over and it was time to get back to the real reason we were in Yorkshire, to work.

We decided on a new display for BCTF and we hope you all agree that it was very successful. We had so much positive feedback about it at the show with everyone agreeing that it was an excellent idea to create a room environment to showcase the collection. Of course we had to restrain ourselves from upholstering the sofa in one of our own vibrant prints as even we can appreciate that everything looks good displayed against a neutral background. Would be good though... 

Our lovely neighbouring stands, Death by Tea and Zalisander, made the days fly by. 

Best of all we made sure we had some time for a little mother and daughter rest and relaxation. After three days on our feet there was no better treat than indulging in Harrogate's Turkish Baths. A steam room followed by three increasingly hotter saunas and then finally a dip in the ice cold plunge pool, we couldn't recommend it enough. And perhaps the best bit is that it's so richly decorated in the most wonderful Victorian tiles in vivid hues of mustard and turquoise. Gosh we love colour!

A QUICK UPDATE

It may seem that all has been quiet over here on the blog but if any of you have visited our website recently you will have noticed there's been a bit of maintenance going on. We are in the process of altering the site, sharpening it up a little and making it a bit more user friendly. This is no mean feat. One of us in particular is walking around a touch cross-eyed right now and I will admit to the occasional expletive being muttered now and then!

The end is now in sight though so we can get back to the more enjoyable aspects of the business such as our imminent visit to the BCTF show in Harrogate on 7th April. Our stock is packed and ready and the stand display is organised. We've booked ourselves into a lovely hotel and plan to include some rest and relaxation into our time away (a bit of sight seeing and pampering spa treatments) so photos to follow next week.

In the meantime we thought we'd share with you some pictures of our fabric being put to a new use. At the moment we have no plans to sell our fabric by the metre but family members get special privileges so here are the Beetle Stripe and Dancing Beetle cottons made into roman window blinds. Now we know we designed them so we are naturally biased but even we were blown away by how effective the prints were used in this way. We love nothing more than adding colour and pattern to a room, so much so that it makes us want to redecorate just so that we can have vibrant blinds in our home!