disappointment in showland

The results are in..... we didn't win a sodding thing, not even a measly 'highly commended'.

Heehee. It's rather amusing and will be even more so when we go to the Show next week and get to see the winning entries. If the sponges are the standard of last years then I will feel robbed! I can guess there was a major issue with my sponges, they are about double the depth of the usual entries (although I have just seen this and apparently the entries were poor this year), I can't help it, it's just how my sponges roll. In something like the Show it is all about the specifications and as we had sold out of the CWA Classics cookbook we could check the preserves specs. Being me I tend to use shredded coconut not desiccated, my sponges are too high, blood oranges instead of valencia (bet they thought the dark pulp in my chunky was burnt not realising it was the blood orange bits) and my 70% couverture chocolate was probably a bit to bitter for their tastes. I'm a wanker. If someone has won a prize for a ginger fluff using cocoa I will not be answerable for my actions!

It's been a bit of a busy week- studio, digital printing, skirt making, unpacking boxes, picking up labels, exhibition openings- and I'm looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow! A day to not actually have to be anywhere, anytime, anyhow. I might even bake a sponge cake... hmmm maybe not.... a rest day hopefully with a bit of cleaning tacked on as next week is going to be a busy one. I want to do some bread and cheese reading or rather some reading about bread and cheese.
The ric rac skirts are done and going into the shop today but the Stellas still need their hems sewn up. We've also got a shipment of the cutest tea pots and cups in, they are very retro 70s. The teapots have their own tea leaf cage so no worrying about strainers and the cups are stackable. I'll photograph them and get them up on FB later today. I was trying to hold off putting them out until the Stellas were finished as they go perfectly with the cups on the skirt fabric.

What else? We've had a couple of shipments of Welsh blankets in this week so there will be new colours coming soon and there are new vintage florals arriving in the near future so even more cushions there too. We've printed the 'tapestry' panels ready to make a bigger style cushion  (so there will be 2 sizes) and they are in the pipeline and we will soon be lost under a cushion avalanche. I have a lot of work ahead of me and the first batch of Xmas decorations is about to arrive I hear and we don't have new shelves to put it all on!
Time for a shuffle.

I better get a move on as I noticed Jethro has left piles of fluff through the shop that need to be vacuumed up, there are boxes to pack away and skirts to label. I'm a little disappointed we won't have a Royal Show certificate to go on the wall but really I am more than happy to know my friends got a good week of baked goods and preserves out of it! I know how good my sponge and I may even share the recipe with you one day!