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Christmas Lights Switch On

Saturday 21st November is the West Bridgford Christmas light switch on with special guests from Britain's Got Talent the wonderful 1940's inspired girl group "Irresistible" and Trent FMs very own Twiggy and Emma!

Situated on the croquet lawns will be the Craft stalls featuring lots of lovely and unusual gifts, why not bring your list and do all your Christmas shopping in one place! There will also the be the very popular farmers market with some mouth watering treats (mulled wine and mince pies are a must!)

Father Christmas is going to be there for the little ones to tell him how good they've been this year and there will be musical entertainment and choir singing on the Avenue from 2pm.

Last years atmosphere was magical, friendly and fun. Come and Join us Knot Just Jigs will be situated in the green tent decked in an obscene amount of tinsel and balloons! Hope to see you there!

Mums Just Love.....

Mumsjustlove find the best products, retailers and offers online for mums and their little ones. everything promoted on mumsjustlove is hand-picked by their editorial team, no listings are paid for which means they are really showcasing the best! their product directory features the best products from literally 100's of retailers and we are pleased to say KnotJustJigs is one of them! See the products that MJL have picked here .

Here is one of their favourites, and ours this impressive wooden castle comes complete with towers, ramparts, working drawbridge, murder hole, portcullis, ladders and 14 wooden characters!

Nativity Costume Online Shop opens 5th November!

While Shepherds Watched is pleased to announce that their 2009 Online Shop will open on Thursday November 5th 2009. 'While Shepherds Watched' sells Handmade Children’s Nativity Costumes, and was set up and is run by Mum of two,Lucy Jiwa.

Lucy, who started the business in 2006, says "I am so pleased to be able to offer tunics made from Fairtrade Organic Cotton for the first time this year. After working closely with Bishopston Trading I now have a 'limited edition' range of Fairtrade certified cotton tunics that are just perfect for Shepherds, Joseph, Mary, Inn Keepers - just about any traditional Nativity role! I team these with appropriate head dresses and head bands, and you have distinctive, unusual and beautiful costumes for your little star.

The quality of these skilfully made outfits is unrivalled, which means the costume will last and last."'While Shepherds Watched' has always aimed to be the best place to buy affordable, great looking, handmade Nativity Costumes. Let them take one of the worries of the festive season away, and leave you free to enjoy seeing your little star shine!

Postal Strikes

Knot Just Jigs would like to announce that its business as usual during the proposed postal strikes and trading will remain unaffected. We will be trading as usual during the postal strikes and would like to remind our customers of our very competitive special delivery option which has been reduced in order to provide our customers with the most efficient service, and all orders over £70.00 remain FREE of charge and willl be continue to be sent by courier.

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Looking back

Today being so chilly has made me think about our up and coming outdoor fairs. I have treated myself to a new pair of ski trousers as i have lost weight since last year and towards the end of the winter fair season they were falling down!lol

Below are some pictures taken at the Beautiful village of Hickling and every year in September they hold an annual scarecrow festival. Ove 70 scarecrows were displayed outside the houses and building of Hickling and a quiz is handed out to all visitors on arrival to guess the origin (this years theme) Can you believe the weather! it was absolutely glorious. Just look at the sun shining. My view was pretty good too, the local public house!

That weekend i met lots of lovely customers that weekend who have also returned via our website and visited us at West Bridgford Fair. That weekend the winning product had to be our blue wooden letters, so much so we ran out of certain letters!

As usual i was next to my lovely friend Christine who makes the most devine chocolate, she makes the most amazing "dunking lollies" which are made from solid chocolate and are a must after a hard day at a fair. Christines website is http://www.choklet.co.uk/ is well worth a look.

The Moorgreen Show

The Moorgreen Show for me brings back fond memories of my childhood when we all visited as a family, my dad used to breed caneries so the marquee with all the birds in was his favourite. I also have vivid memories of sitting on straw bales around the arena watching the dogs shows and the horses but today the shows have been brought bang upto date with lots of fresh attractions such as digger dancing and falconary shows. This year see's the show's 160th event, which when you think about it is quite some achievement given some of the tough times we have been through.
Knot Just Jigs will be there, this our 4th year of attending the show and has always been one of our favourites! Its now one of my very own family traditions. Joining us this year are a couple of my friends and fellow crafters Lyndsay from www.prettybeautiful.co.uk and Christine from www.choklet.co.uk both very talented ladies who sell some gorgeous products!
If you get the chance to come along please dont be shy, come on over and say hello.

Show dates & Times: August Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday - August 30th and 31st 2009.
Moorgreen Show opens to the public at 9.00am each day and entertainment ceases at approximately 5.00pm.


Admission Prices:
Adults:
£9.00
Accompanied children (up to 16):
FREE
Unaccompanied children (up to 16):
£2.00
Senior Concessions:
£7.50
Parking:
FREE

The Moorgreen Country Show is a showcase of the area's rich rural heritage. Come and enjoy the Moorgreen experience, two days of entertainment and education packed in to a 40 acre showground.
The provisional programme includes:
Unaffiliated Show Jumping
The Drakes of Hazard Sheep Dog & Duck display
Hucknall Rolls-Royce Amateur Radio Club 'Special Event Station'
The Dancing Diggers
Birds of Prey
Mechanicals
The South Notts Hunt Parade
Wildlife Zoo
Racing Piglets
Equestrian excellence
Chinese Vegetable Carving
Cattle, Sheep and Goats
Glass Blowing craftsmen
Flower & Vegetable Show
CAMRA's 9th Nottinghamshire Real Ale Festival
Craft & Gift Marquee
and much much more............Come along, we hope to see you there !

Very Windy Weekend!

Last week was Knot Just Jigs very first visit to Long Eaton High Street and we are very glad to report we had a very sucessful 2 days, although the high winds did make me feel like Dorothy in the whirlwind scene of The Wizard of Oz at times !

The gorgeous little tote bags you can see on the left of the picture were very popular and their cuteness drew lots of people over to have a look. We did have our lovely Toy Soldier Bunting displayed around the gazebo for a while but the wind kept tangling it up so we had to take it down, such a pity really as it is absolutely lovely.

We have some lovely co-ordinating laundry bags that could also be used as a storage bag or p.e bag for school.

My Lovely friend's Lyndsay and her Mum Jane also had a stall but they were, quite wisely due to the wind in the large Marquee. Pretty Beatutiful sell some absolutely gorgeous things such as a fabulous selection of dried fruit wreaths, lavender hearts, candles in cups and much more....

This has to be one of my favourites

Riverside Festival

The Nottingham Riverside Festival at Victoria Embankment on the beautiful banks of the River Trent is a massive FREE event held on Friday 31 July - Sunday 2 August 2009, as one of Nottinghams biggest annual events complete with a spectacular firework display its definately worth a trip!

The Riverside Festival runs from:
Friday 31 July, 6.30pm to 10.30pm
Saturday 1 August, 12noon to 11.30pm
Sunday 2 August, 12noon to 6.30pm

The Riverside Festival is a unique Festival covering a distance of one mile along the banks of the River Trent, at Victoria Embankment, adjacent to the historical Trent Bridge. Come and experience Nottingham's Riverside Festival that offers lots of entertainment and activities for festival-goers to enjoy, with a colourful and vibrant programme of live music, performance, arts and fairground attractions, street fair and huge Craft Marquee offering something for everyone.

Knot Just Jigs Traditional Toys and Rag Dolls Stall can be found in the craft marquee, come and take a look and see what special festival offers we have to offer!

Plain Cotton Bags?

I love seeing what people have done with our unprinted cotton bags so i was really happy to receive an email with pictures from a lovely lady Gina who bought them for her group to decorate. The bags were designed by members of the Fat Quarters Patchwork & Quilting Group that meet in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. They took a break from making quilts, wall hangings, patchwork bags, etc., to decorate cotton bags mostly with stamping - but one member has sewn 2 patchwork 'log cabin' squares on hers. I love the groups name i am reliably informed that fat quarters is the way patchworkers buy their fabric - a metre cut into 4 squares makes 4 quarter metres.

These eco friendly cotton bags are really great value for money as well as being reusable and enviromently friendly, the perfect viable alternative to the plastic bag. They can also be used for promotions, as a craft activity or for your child to decorate and give as presents. Knot Just Jigs also sell fabric wax crayons at a very affordable £1.49 for a pack of 8 different colours!

Royal Purchaser and Some New Products!

Even though The Rutland Show was very very wet a great day was still had by all. I would have been very rich woman if i had a stall selling wellies, umbrella and raincoats.

Knot Just Jigs had a special "Royal" purchaser that day, we won't reveal which Royal but will say he bought a Jacobs Ladder for his Grandson, an excellent choice in my opinion.

The Jacobs Ladder has mesmorised childrens and adults alike for a long time and is one of the most ancient and famous of folk toys. Legend has it that one was found in King Tut's tomb, which means these fascinating toys were played with in Egypt long before 1352 B.C., when the young king died (he was about 18 years old). How amazing that this humble folk toy would have been included among Tutankhamen's most significant effects, along with brilliant jewellary, amulets, masks of pure gold, statues, furniture, and even a full-sized chariot.


We are very pleased to announce two new products this week, the first one being this fantastic new rag doll, one especially designed for the boys after the great success of our beautiful girl rag dolls.

My son had the first road test of these new rag dolls and he absolutely loved them! he wouldn't put "Jack" down so he now has an early Birthday present.

This is one for all football lovers! Traditionally skipping may have been a girlie thing, but boys are discovering the fun of skipping too! We have risen to the challenge of providing fun designs for boys as well as girls. Have a look at our fabulous range of wooden, handpainted skipping ropes

Magical Photo Portrait by Enhance-Me

WOW is all i can say! This image was created from just an ordinary photograph by the very talented Victoria Dixon of Enhance-Me.

I have admired Victoria's work for a while and thought with Fathers day coming up (June 21st) what a lovely idea for a unique bespoke Fathers day gift for my husband. The process couldn't have been easier and i was amazed at how quick and easy it all was. All i had to do was email Victoria a couple of images of my son and select what theme we liked and Victoria came up with this wonderful fantasy image. My son was equally impressed although a little confused and said "is that me! when did i ride on a dinosaur?" he loves the photograph so much he wants it enlarged for his bedroom.

Enhance-Me do a fantastic range of themes for both girls and boys and also have some wonderful family themes.

COMPETITION TIME
Win a Magical Photo portrait PRINTED in POSTER dimensions!
All you have to do tell me how many different themes there are currently in the Holiday Gallery for Father’s Day?
Closing date is 5th of June 2009

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Rain,rain and more rain

Forgot to add and wind too! That what this weekends weather has been like at our West Bridgeford arts and craft fair. I do hope the long month weather forcasts are wrong as julys rainfall is well above average ! oh goodness thats all we need.


Knot Just Jigs aquired a new gazebo this week that got its first outing on friday, i was very chuffed to be able carry this one across the lawns and erect it all on my own! the wind was quite bad but we both survived the ordeal (i am so glad i made full use of the the tent pegs and had put in the spares) the rain didn't seem to bother it either, it had a couple of little drips but thats fine as on the whole it ticks all the boxes.

This week see's our Arts and Craft event at the lovely location of "The Square" in Beeston town centre, a thriving and busy town centre, surrounded by interesting areas of open space and countryside, there is definately something for everyone there.


We will be regulars of this location during 2009, if your in the area remember to come and say Hello!
22nd - 23rd May
24th - 25th July
25th - 26th September and a special Christmas event on
12th - 13th - 14th November

Bumps, Babies and Beyond Event, The Verdict!

This was my stall at the Bumps, Babies and Beyond event (excuse the wobbly banner i forgot to take my drawing pins to hold it in place!)

It was a really enjoyable event with lots of lovely stalls, whilst the footfall could have been higher i dont think it was at all bad for its first event and hopefully once established it will become a great event to both trade and visitors.

The best seller of the day had to be the wooden plaques and letters, lots of mums-to-be were purchasing them for their impending arrivals! i just hope the sonographer is right with the sex of the baby.

Bumps Babies and Beyond!

This Saturday, the 9th May 2009 see's the first event of its kind in Ashby. Its very aptly called Bumps Babies and Beyond, Baby and Toddler Fair. Its to be held at Hood Park Leisure Centre in Ashby de la Zouch, from 10-3pm. If your pregnant or have little ones or just wanting to buy something gorgeous and unique then this is the event to visit! it will be full of beautiful clothes, gifts and all the necessarys for "Bumps Babies and Beyond!"

Knot Just Jigs will be there so be sure to come and say hello, it would be lovely to see you. Making a debut at the show will be our gorgeous dinosaur push a longs

This Weekends Events, Stanford Steam Rally.

Really looking forward to this weekend, its the first of many craft events lined up and the weather forecast looks hopeful! If your in the area why not pop along to The Steam and Transport Show to be held at Stanford Hall, Ashby Road, Loughborough, LE12 5QR on Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday Monday from 10.30am till 5pm. There will be lots happening, Steam Engines, Fair Organs, Vintage Vehicles, Commercial Vehicles, Coaches,Tractors, Cars, Motor cycles, Miniature Steam Engines, Colliery Bands, Stone Crushing, Falconry Display, Dako Flying and Angels BURNERWORLD presents: Raleigh Burner Bash ’09.

There will be an a full arena of events, Old Park Farm Dog Display, Stalls, Crafts, DisplayS and Bygones Old Tyme Fun Fair. Entry £ 6.00 OAPS £ 5.00 Children £ 1.00. Free Parking