2012 - a year of new discoveries

Happy New Year to you all. We hope you have enjoyed some good holiday time with friends, family and places you love. We had a busy December, which involved a trip to New York for Carla and a relocation from Sussex to Somerset for Bekka. Whilst London will remain a creative hub for Sisters Guild, the practical operation of the business will now be happening in the lovely little town of Frome. We shall be introducing a new 'sister' to you next month who will be learning the ropes and getting to know you all. AND March will bring a new baby for Bekka. So, 2012 looks set to be a year of new discoveries for the sisters and family.

It is with much excitement that we give you a glimpse of the pattern, colour and detail of collections that are coming to the Sisters Guild Boutique in 2012. It is such a pleasure to look at these images, especially in the grey of January. For SS12 ilovegorgeous is full of delicious colour and playful design, whilst Maileg brings us a new collection to oooh and ahhhh over, En Gry & Sif has some Easter delights and Rice DK has extra zing for your home....with many more collections to be revealed in the coming months!

In the meantime, there's the Winter Sale to shop with up to 60% off. Pop along to the sale here

The blog will continue to bring more ideas and inspiration from all quarters. If you would like to do a guest blog or send in any ideas we would really welcome them....as you ARE all part of Sisters Guild too!
Discover the Monday Makeries here

Here's to 2012 and a year full of love, laughter, wonder and new horizons.

Carla & Bekka
xx

Have a wonderful festive holiday!

We have had a marvellous year and we are very thankful for all the enthusiasm you have shown for the Sisters Guild Boutique & Blog.  The New Year will bring many more exciting and inspiring collections.  We look forward to discovering and sharing so much together in 2012.

Meanwhile, we shall be enjoying some time off for celebration, chatter, play, rest, relaxation & family time (not forgetting some yummy food and quality BBC Drama)

We hope you all enjoy the same with an extra sprinkle of magic!

With warm smiles

Carla & Bekka
xx

If you do feel the urge to shop the Winter Sale  - with some relaxed browsing time it's always a pleasure isn't it! - you can still place orders & they will be dispatched after 9 Jan 2012

First reads of the New Year

As a Christmas gift I was completely chuffed to receive a book of poetry from my husband.  Poetry isn't everyones cup of tea, but I can get utterly lost in it.  I have always read it aloud to my son as the rhythm can be quite soothing, but now he's 3 he says 'that's boring mummy'!

My husband chose Carol Ann Duffy New Selected Poems for me as he remembered the poem I asked to be read at our wedding was River (from the Love Poems collection Rapture).  What was also so lovely and made me feel that my family do actually know me well, was that Sis chose the same book as a Christmas gift for me too. Was really touched.  One for my bedside and one for the 'slowly peruse shelf' at Granny's house.

The dust jacket has a lovely design by the Printmaker Angie Lewin:

The other book that was a pleasure to give to my niece Sophia was The Red Shoes by Sun Young Yoo / Gloria Fowler from Ammo Books, an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the sentiment of  the story is very inspiring:

...this contemporary version of The Red Shoes, offers a positive message to young girls that is much more in tune with our time. This adaptation focuses on the transcendent love between a mother and daughter, and the key notion that perseverance, ingenuity and hard work can allow one to overcome some of the greatest obstacles in life in order to pursue one’s artistic and creative dreams.

Many more stories and poems to lose myself in and many more books out there to discover. I'll let you know what we find over the year ahead.

Now, the only thing missing is a window seat - one of those snug little window seats with cushions to sit with a book and a cup of tea...and a cat maybe!

Can anyone lend me one? 

Dancing into the New Year

I was fully expecting New Years Eve to be a quiet affair as we weren't off to any parties this year.  Instead, our Moroccan feast with BBC's Jools Hogmanay turned into Champagne and dancing in the street.  We found a Chinese lantern left over from our wedding 3 years ago, so we were all starry eyed as we lit it and watch it float into the night sky.

So, the New Year started with spontaneity and made me realise that the best things are those that aren't planned -  the surprises, the feelings that creep up on you, the bursts of song and dance.  It still won't stop me from trying to plan everything in detail, but I shall try and learn to embrace the mystery that lies ahead.

On New Years Day we open a new book, it's pages are blank, ready to be filled with words and pictures.

Young Woman Writing a Letter (detail), from a poster for Encre Marquet by Eugene Grasset, 1892.
Image courtesy of Library of Congress

A new pen, a new piece of paper, fresh and neat like the brand new exercise book at the start of the school year, or a crisp new diary to fill with dates, people, plans, scribbles and expectations.

Pages are filled with lists of things to do, things for work, home, family and wellbeing. Creative lists and practical lists.  Tying up loose ends lists and 'must do' lists.  Lists that, if truth be told, will be ticked, forgotten and re-written in turn on many a piece of paper throughout the whole year.

But it's the act of list writing, the getting the house in order, the serene brow, the renewed sense of optimism as the NewYear begins that is most significant. It's a nice feeling.

So...the sisters have lists at hand.  The Sisters Guild shelves are dusted and clear, ready to house some more beautiful things. Some things we already know are a must, some things we have visions of but are yet to track down, some things we hope will find us. 

Let 2011 be a year of wonder and discovery.

Home for Christmas

Christmas to me means family, the gathering of the clan. AND time off work.

It’s a well needed holiday period with time for adults to recharge and refuel the mind and soul with books, games, chatter, lounging, plenty of home-cooked food and not forgetting some quality BBC Drama and a box of chocolates of course. It's also time for the kids to feel free.

Christmas Eve (eating the cake and carrot intended for Father Christmas and Rudolph)

The memories of this Christmas that will stay with me are the sisters and cousins being together. That’s where the magic lies.  History repeats itself with the cousins' song and dance perfomances, the Christmas Eve late night excitement (both grown-ups and kids), and listening out for Father Chrsitmas on the roof (S: "I can hear him, I can"). 

Of course Christmas Day morning was all about the presents, discovering stockings and that Father Christmas really had been. The believing is just so wonderful to behold.  Gabriel was wowed by every single thing he pulled from his stocking, even the tangerine. Favourite pressies included a Woolly Mammoth and some Knights to play in his wooden castle that had been made by Daddy for his birthday which is on the 23rd  December- how tricky and lovely at the same time is that!

Our Mama’s current house is not actually the home of our childhood but it has the same atmosphere and is full of a collection of objects that hold such visual memories - simple things like the mirror, the print, the teapot, the bread knife. Part of the joy of returning home for Christmas is the comfort of the familiar.

A trip home is not complete without a jaunt to Bradford-on-Avon, the prettiest little town near Bath.

Barton Farm, Bradford-on-Avon

I found it amusing to be in a place like Barton Farm, now as a sensible grown-up and mother when it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was hanging out there doing teenager things!

Next trip back home I intend to be even more grown up and have a child-free weekend escape and try out the Thermae Bath Spa as part of my New Year plan.

For now I feel rejuvenated enough from the slow and simple days spent en familia.

Ready to embrace the New Year.

Bekka