High lights of 2011

There have been so many high lights of 2011 for Peggy's Collection

I was featured as a designer on affinity yarns and I also have patterns for sale on ravelry too. I attended a vintage fair where I was a retailer and you can read more about this in my previous blog entries. loved the whole atmosphere and met some amazing people.

I was very honoured to be asked to feature in the vintage life magazine where I designed some cute slippers and I have been asked back for the next issue out on the 5th January too.


I have also been featured on numerous blogs this year and I would like to thank you all for including Peggy's Collection onto your blogs it really means a lot.


Another big moment of 2011 was my first photo shoot and I would like to thank everyone involved. It was a great experience and I am looking forward to the next one. You can also read and see all the photographs from the shoot on my previous blog entry.

I have also opened an etsy shop for Peggy's Collection and I am also selling through asos marketplace too. You can also order garments from my website too.

I have also been working with a lot of charities this year which includes making knitted poppy brooches and selling the pattern for British forces network. Also I auctioned a scarf for Wallace and gromits childrens foundation. The local charity for movember also had one of my chunky scarves for their auction. I have also been taking part in zumba lessons with Mr Dod a local instructor who is fabulous. He was holding a zumba party for nelsons journey charity which I also donated a scarf for the raffle.

I was also ms October for world of wool calendar too which was lovely to be asked to do this the photographs look fabulous too.

Last but not least in December it was my first year anniversary of my #sbs win on twitter where I was retweeted by Theo Paphitis from dragons den. This has been such a boost for me business so a big massive thank you to Theo. Thank you to Aqua Designs for making my sbs badge for me

I am now working on my next collection spring/summer 2012 and planning my next photo shoot. Also another few events coming up that I want to tell you all about but not allowed to yet so will let you all know as soon as I can.

Happy new year to you all!

Twitter Charity Auction

SPECIAL CHARITY AUCTION ANNOUNCEMENT

To celebrate this weekends X-Factor final, @RAOKRichie (AKA, Former Project Director of The GIFT celebrity charity book), @wallace_gromit Children’s Foundation and of course, the wonderfully generous @peggycollection, are offering you a chance to purchase your own unique piece of celebrity style… and all for an incredible cause!

This coming weekend, between 6:30pm Saturday - 10pm Sunday, proprietor of Peggy’s Collection, and fashion wear designer to the stars, Diana Clarke, has offered up one of her elegant & hand made, UNISEX, pieces of knitwear, for an exciting TWITTER based charity auction!  All proceeds from the auction will be donated to “Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation” – a truly wonderful and innovative charity, set up by Nick Park to help transform the lives of poorly children nationwide. 

We have decided to span the auction across the entire “X-Factor weekend”, to enable everyone to have a chance at bidding on this fantastic item!  To be in, you simply bid  the HIGHEST price you wish to pay, to make sure you get it!  We will keep you updated as to the present HIGHEST BID, and you can re-bid as many times as you like until we close this at 10pm Sunday.  So make sure you follow us on twitter to keep up to date with the bids!

(If you have any auction questions, please contact @RAOKRichie, or @peggycollection on twitter)

‘We are very grateful to Diana for supporting Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation to help us transform the lives of sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK through the sales of her beautiful knitwear. Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation helps sick children and their families in local communities across the country to ensure they receive the best possible care and support’

Marie - www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org

So on the week the British winter really started to bite, is there a better way to keep toasty warm, and stylish, than this elegant and unique – and of course hand made, “Signature Edition, Coral, Chunky Knit Scarf”?  Never before made in this colour/design/edition combination!  It will also warm your heart knowing that by taking part, you are helping poorly children across the Country.

The winning bidder will receive their piece of celebrity style in a scented gift-box, also making it a perfect, and very special, Christmas gift… if you can bring yourself to part with it of course!

We will also provide the winning bidder with a big THANK YOU shout out – so you’ll hopefully make some new friends in the process J!

So we will see you on Saturday & Sunday, simply tweet @peggycollection your bids between 6:30pm Saturday and 10pm Sunday, and celebrate your x-factor final weekend in style!

HAPPY BIDDING!

Richie, Diana, and Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation

3000 followers on twitter

Since my last blog I have had such a good response to my new photographs on my website and the chunky knit scarf seems to be a big hit with everyone this year.  I have also been included on a couple of fabulous blogs @chicfantastique http://chicfantastique.wordpress.com/   and @Him_Me_Three http://himmethree.blogspot.com/ a big thank you to you both I really appreciate you asking me to be featured.

More exciting things are to come but I cannot mention them yet but as soon as I am allowed I will be telling you all


As a massive thank you to all my followers on twitter for helping me reach over 3000 followers I have done a giveaway for one lucky random tweeter.  That person is ....... drum roll


@christinaAdd

you get to pick a chunky knit scarf worth £45 in a colour of your choice, well done!!

Autumn/Winter Collection 2011 photo shoot

One cold chilly day in November, the 5th to be exact was my first ever photo shoot at a Georgian Hunting Lodge.  Photographer was booked, models booked, make up artist booked, jewels and designs at the ready!

My photographer is called dctaylor photography, Photographer is David Taylor and his website can be found  here    I first started talking to David on twitter and he is also local so we met up and had a chat about a possible photo shoot.  From that moment on the planning started and I am so pleased I commissioned him for these photographs as they are just what I wanted for my designs.  I am going to be working with David alot on various projects over the next few months which is very exciting for me.  Please have a look at his website his photographs are truly stunning.

My models were my niece Heidi Jackson, Lydia Bareham and Eric Lam.  They all did a great job and made my designs really come to life.

The make up artist Clare Alexandra was brilliant and did such a fabulous job on all of the models.  I asked for 1950s glamour for Lydia and fresh and young for Heidi and Eric and that is exactly what I got.  I hope to work with Clare again in the future on the next photo shoot.  Here is her website

We all had a great day and Eric even played us some music on the piano, he said he could play a little but believe me he was fabulous.  We were very lucky that the weather held out just long enough for us to get some great shots.

The gorgeous jewels were loaned by JBD London and here is the website they were gorgeous and really made the designs stand out.

Here are some behind the scene shots including some of the professional ones courtesy of dctaylor photography Photographer David Taylor

The jewels all laid out ready for the photo shoot 

Lydia getting her make up done 

dctaylor photography, photographer David Taylor taking fabulous shots of Lydia in the gardens

Heidi and Eric keeping warm in my designs 

Now the professional photographs! 

All of these items will be available on my website this week please feel free to send me an enquiry if you wish to order before.  You can also view these and more photographs on dctaylor photography website

© Peggy’s Collection 2011 all content and photographs

Vintage Life Magazine Feature

I have always enjoyed reading the Vintage Life Magazine and I am a member on their forum  vintage network too.  Much to my delight I was approached by them and asked to write a knitting article which included a knitting pattern for a pair of slippers.  I enjoyed this immensely and I quickly went out and bought the magazine last thursday 27th October which is now available in Sainsburys as well as W H Smith stores.  It was lovely to see my name in print and featured in a magazine I have enjoyed for such a long time.  There are always lots of gorgeous features and pictures in the magazine including the wonderful Betty Bee who always has lovely features in the magazine.  She also has a great blog which I am sure everyone would love reading it is one of my favourite blogs Betty Bee 

I would love to know if anyone has had a go at making the slippers in my feature in the magazine if so please email me and I will feature them on my blog.

I also had some lovely tweets from lots of people congratulating me on being featured two of them here are from Theo Paphitis from Dragons Den and the very lovely Brix Smith-Start who has worked with Gok Wan on Gok's Fashion Fix and owns the fabulous Start London Boutique

I am now getting ready for my photo shoot this weekend and looking forward to working with some lovely people.  My next blog will show you the behind scenes photographs of the photo shoot, which I hope you all find interesting.

Poppy Brooch - British Forces Network

I have had the honour of working and helping the British Forces Network.  I have designed a poppy brooch made from chunky yarn and this is now available to buy through my website Peggys Collection Each poppy will be handmade and completely unique and slightly different every time.  All proceeds will go to the British Forces Network.  I will also be releasing the knitting pattern shortly for the poppy so you could even make your own poppy too and show your support that way.

You can find out more about the British Forces Network by clicking on this link http://www.britishforcesnetwork.co.uk/

Peggy's Collection The Poem

I have met many wonderful people on twitter but one lady is May Thomson @survivorsburg  She is a very talented lady and you can find here website  here  She has wrote many inspirational poems and she was very kind and wrote one for myself.  I would like to say a very big thank you to May for the poem.

Peggy’s Collection

 

 

Do you like good quality knitwear?

Some good information I would like to share,

Peggy's collection is real fine,

Vintage inspired is her line,

Hats, scarf’s, wraps, even dresses,

She knits all these while dealing with life’s stresses,

A talented knitter that’s for sure,

All delivered to your door,

So if you like vintage inspired design,

That hugs a body real fine,

Go to Peggy’s collections,

Take a look at all her creations,

Housewife, business lady, knitter and mother,

3 kiddies she has 1 girl and 2 boys,

Forever picking up their toys,

A skilful lady indeed,

Just email her for what you need,

From babies, ladies to gents wear,

All her prices are fair,

We met each other on twitter,

Lovely designs you can’t get better.

 

May Thomson

2011

Winners of the Wool Week Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who entered the Wool Week Giveaway!  Your comments are lovely and I really enjoyed reading them all.

I have decided to change the rules slightly as there were so many lovely reasons to why you love wool or a woolen item I have decided to send each of you a lavender scented hanging heart.

Please could you all send me your postal addresses to peggyscollection@hotmail.co.uk or dm me on twitter as @peggycollection

So congratulations to

David Taylor, Liz, Betty Bee, Adaliza, Missielizzie, GreenbyNature and Neil

Wool Week Giveaway

This week is Wool Week. This was pioneered by the Prince of Wales to reignite peoples love with wool and to make awareness of fashion and textiles rather than 'throw away items' It also affects all types of items that contain wool including home furnishings and carpets. The scheme aims to help sheep farmers by boosting the price of wool worldwide. Lots of people and companies have been supporting wool week, including John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Vogue and Vanity Fair to name just a few.

So to celebrate Wool Week I am doing a giveaway on this blog for one of 5 lavender scented hearts. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me why you love wool or woolen items? I will pick tthe winners next wednesday 14th September 2011 using a random number checker. Please be aware you will only win one of the hearts even if you enter more than once.

I look forward to seeing all your comments and if you dont win you can also order them from my website here peggys collection

1940s Village At War Event

This bank holiday weekend I was invited to attend the 1940s Village At War event at Gressenhall Rural Life Museum in Norfolk as a retailer.  I had a fabulous time and met so many lovely people who really inspired me even more and made me realise how much I really do love everything vintage.

It really was a chance to experience what life was like on the home front.  We had Prime Minister Winston Churchill make an appearance to make his historical speech, it was quite moving the way the whole of the place went very quiet to listen to this speech each time he made it.

We had fabulous music from the group  Timescape who provided us with 1940s live music throughout both of the days we were there. They made the whole atmosphere seem more nostalgic and really like that era.

Here is a picture of my stall which did very well and I had lots of interest and chatted to lots of people who some of them I even inspired to start knitting again which is so lovely.  I also met the very lovely Retro Chick who looked fabulous check out her blogs on the link and here at vintage norwich

The children that attended had sweet rations and we had to make sure we visited the ice cream parlour because ice cream was soon to be banned.  We mingled with civilians, members of the Women's Land Army, the Home Guard and troops.  There were a number of vintage wartime vehicles and a red cross display where you could speak to nurse Gwyn about her work in the wartime.  On the farm there was farming techniques by the Women's Land Army with ration cooking in the farmhouse kitchen.



Other stalls in the marqee ranged from people selling antique original items from that era











There was a fabulous 1940s room set up as wartime living as courtesy of the Vintage TV and Wireless Co.

There was a fantastic display of millinery run by Martin Faulkner Painting The Clouds With Sunshine the craftmanship that went into these hats were truely amazing.

Dad's Army Museum Museum stall was there too and even had characters dressed up too.  Here is a picture of them with some of the Women's Land Army members.

On the Monday we even experienced a fly past by the Hurricane, Lancaster and Spitfire flying over the site to commemorate the bravery of those young servicement who fought in the Battle of Britain some 70 years ago.





At the end of the days we had a great time all joining in with the memorable song 'we'll meet again' and all joining hands which was a lovely way to bring everyone together and quite a moving moment. 

I will finish off with a fabulous video of some 1940s dancing that really got us all in the mood for the village at war era.