Those of you who know me, will already know that I’m not a fan of the cold hard faceless sell but am a huge fan of the personal touch! And that’s partly why The Supermums Craft Fair works so well because when you buy something from a stall, you’re not buying from a large corporation, you’re buying from a small business who cares! Behind every stall is a person and I have always encouraged them to come out and say hello in their descriptions and now we are taking it that one step further this feature so you can get to know them even better!
Each week a stall holder from the super duper website will be chosen to become…yes you guessed it… Stall Holder Of The Week! This award is given to someone who has been seen out and about networking their stall and generally being an absolute star! And this week the award goes to…. drum roll please…
The very lovely Kerri from Orchard Stitches! Congratulations on being the second stall holder of the week Kerri! Let’s start off with the most important thing shall we… Let’s talk about you! Thank you so much its an absolute honour to have been chosen & am chuffed to continue the tradition of Kerries winning this accolade! I have lived in the fantastic city of Bristol for over 10 years now with my incredibly supportive husband Andy and gorgeous yet cheeky 3 year old daughter Sophie. Most of my spare time I can be found sewing (even on a night off from Orchard Stitches I find it hard to put down the needle and thread) but when given the chance the three of us love to goes for long walks and we are really enjoying the autumnal colours at this time of year.
So tell us Kerri, have you always been a crafter or were you a late bloomer? I have always been into crafts since a young age – sewing has always been my passion. In my teenage years I concentrated a lot on cross stitch which I don’t get to do much of these days. I have dabbled with other crafts but came back to sewing in a big way after my daughter was born. As a stay at home mum, which I love being, I also needed something that was just for me. So I felt it was a great opportunity to reignite my love of sewing and haven’t looked back since!
“Orchard Stitches”- it’s a lovely name, what made you pick it? Ha its a bit silly really but me and my husband found out a few years ago that you can technically say you have an orchard if you have more than 5 fruit trees in your garden. Now we don’t have a big garden but we have got a plum, apricot, 2 pear and 3 apple trees so it made us giggle to think we were grand enough to own an orchard! When thinking of business names in the Spring of 2012 I wanted to have something personal but also sounded homely. The fruit trees were in full blossom at the time which was very inspiring so it seem appropriate to go with “Orchard Stitches”!!
Ooh your own orchard, how exciting! Shame you live so far away or I would be popping in to stock up on fruit 
So, next question…. If you were stuck on that proverbial desert island, what 2 crafting tools would you miraculously manage to get on the island… Oh thats tricky, would a needle and thread count as two separate tools? No scrap that I would take my die cutting machine so I can cut out the shape of a boat & my sewing machine to stitch some sails. Both are quite heavy equipment so I may not survive if I were to have abandoned a sinking ship in the first place!!
Crafting your own rescue boat, very clever, lets hope if I end up on the island you are on there with me Soooooo, we see lots of beautiful felt in your work which prompts the question…how did your love of felt come about? Oooh thats so difficult to answer as I have sewn with felt ever since I can remember, the first thing I made was a mushroom shaped needlecase when I was seven!! I love felt because its easy to work with and very versatile. I must admit I also love the soft feel of wool mix felt and the amazing range of colours available nowadays.
What is the one bit of advice you wish someone had told you before you started your own business? Mmm thats a tough one. Don’t be afraid to give it a go – my husband was the one who convinced me to turn the hobby I loved into a business and said I had nothing to lose & I wish I had gone into business sooner as this is the best job ever!! I’ve learnt that its important to get yourself known by networking as its the best way to sell and make new crafty friends who are there to support you & help with any advice you may need.
I totally agree with you there, I’ve made some fabulous friends from networking! So tell us, do you have any tips for successfully managing your home and working life or are you like me and make it up as you go along? I must admit it is a struggle to balance running your own business & spending quality time with your family. But that is one of the reasons that I wanted to make a go of Orchard Stitches as it gives me the flexibility to be there for my daughter. I have found recently writing a To do list every evening for the following day helps keep me focused (though I do get distracted by the loveliness of Pinterest sometimes!!)
Ah Pinterest, I get lost in there for hours at a time! Moving onto the burning question and its one that every stall holder of the week must be asked… chocolate or wine… I know for most people this would be a difficult question to answer but as I don’t really drink much and have a very sweet tooth chocolate wins hands down. The burning question in our house is whether chocolate should be warm or kept in the fridge!
Ha! Not such a burning question then and on the plus side it means I get more wine So, if you could only pick one stall to be your favourite on the website, which one would it be and why… I must confess that I am bit of a fabric addict & I discovered a stall this week (via the Supermums Chatty Room) - Miss Tilly’s Fabric Emporium. She sells the most beautiful fabrics & has some fab Christmas fabric listed on her stall at the mo.
I am loving your choice on that one, I quite like to visit her stall and drool over the fabric (good job its virtual or it could become very messy!) Back to the questions, and its the last one but one I can’t wait to hear the answer to…where do you see Orchard Stitches in 5 years time….. Well currently the goal is that I can grow the business even more next year as I will be able to dedicate more time to sewing when my daughter starts school in September. At the moment we are redecorating the spare room to become my own craft room but where its the busy Christmas sales period its been put on hold & I think you might find the answer in 5 years time will still be we’re redecorating!!!
As I’m sure you will agree, Kerri was a fabulous choice for the stall holder of the week award, a very talented and lovely lady (and having her own orchard was a bit of an unexpected bonus!) But there are so many other stalls who have been stars over the last week and they deserve a special mention too. Sadly I can’t pick all of them so each week I will pick just 4 and this week, in no particular order, special mentions are going out to….
If you would like to meet some more stall holders then why not join the new group Supermums Chatty Room on Facebook! Its a place for all stall holders to show off their stalls and get to know each other but everyone is welcome to come along. After all, what could be better than chatting and shopping with friends! And please do come back next week to see who has been chosen as the next… Stall Holder Of The Week…. xxx