Two C Words

They would be chocolate…

and Christmas (sorry I KNOW it’s still October!)

You know I make chocolates and sell them online as well as sew don’t you? Well I’ve opened the trufflepiglet Christmas order book this week because last year was horrendous and whilst I got everything done for the orders I had, the Christmas gift baskets and the fair I did in December, it was a nightmare. The chocolates needed to go out as late as possible for freshness and I didn’t want to make too much of certain flavours as they would just end up in the bin, but the orders kept coming in (a great problem to have don’t get me wrong!) but I was down to the last collection and packaging up stuff in my lunch break at work just to get it all done. And this year I have wedding favours to be collected on Christmas Eve too to top it off.

So this year I am limiting my orders to 50 (of any size) for Christmas delivery on a first come first served basis. If you want trufflepiglet chocolates for Christmas, please don’t leave it late. And don’t forget to put in the order comments that it is for Christmas or you will end up getting them a lot earlier than planned!

Within the next fortnight the Amaretto and Christmas pudding chocolates and a bigger box will be out too!

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Help me out and win your own pet quilt

I have absolutely no idea if this will work or how much people will get behind me, but I’m asking you to help me out, and I’ll give you something in return 🙂

I confess, I have a weighty credit card bill that is on my shoulders every month and has been for years. Even though it’s on 0% interest right now, the minimum payment is still around £200 ($315) a month. I want rid of it. SO what have I decided to do?

Well I’m asking you to help me. For every £1 you donate to the cause on THIS SITE (and this site only!) you will get an entry into my raffle draw for your own custom, turned edge applique, lap size pet quilt wallhanging of your dog, cat, goldfish, snake, whatever! I will draw the winner when target is reached, so it’s in your best interests to spread the word 😉

For donations of £5 or more (and £5 is the minimum annoyingly, I was hoping it would be £1!), not only do you get 5 entries but I give you this quilt pattern which comes with a table runner variation included…

And for donations of £10 or more you get ten draw entries, the Wallander quilt pattern AND a box of 6 trufflepiglet chocolates (UK only)… assuming you reply to my email with your postal address of course (make sure you check your spam folder just in case).

If you’re not in the UK and you want the chocolates, the donation amount is £15 because of the extortionate postage costs- sorry about that.

So yes, I would be enormously grateful if you donated, or even just shared the link to my GoFundMe page with your friends or Twitter followers. I’ve even made a button you may use wherever if you really want to get behind me.

Please link the button to this link: http://www.gofundme.com/creditquilt

And I will be posting little target posts every now and again to remind you 😀

Thanks everyone!

WIP City

I have all sorts of WIPs on the go at the minute but it’s great because I’m enjoying it! I have a couple of resin things, some polymer clay work for the first time in almost 10 years (above), I have a dress I’m adding a panel to, another dress I’m supposed to have started by now sewing from scratch and of course the patchwork quilt.

I don’t want to bore you with another photo of a block every day for the next week, so I’ve decided to update my progress over on Crafteroo, so if you want to keep an eye on the quilt as it grows (quickly!) then please check in HERE 🙂

Here’s day 3 – Rocky Road – anyway. Day 4 is nearly finished but I will be putting on Crafteroo (and Flickr) only.

I’m also writing an article for Speciality Food and I’m just over 700 words in, so just over halfway to 1200 words. The aim is to finish it complete with quotes from other companies and images by Monday. Here’s a pic of me styling some chocs for that taken yesterday- I think I probably should have washed my hair first, but hey ho…

trufflepiglet is now open!

Trufflepiglet is now ready to take orders! Boxed chocoaltes and other goods will come later and gradually within the next two weeks as I am waiting for photographs and packaghing, but loose chocolates can now be ordered! I have a discount code for you until the end of March that allows you 15% off all orders of £5 and above: BLOGFAN

www.trufflepiglet.com

My first proper order :)

The website is coming along now for trufflepiglet and it will be launched on 28th Feb- now less than 3 weeks! I only hope my boxes come soon otherwise I will be selling loose only for the time being.

I was asked by @bootiesbydannie on Twitter to make some chocs for her friend yesterday. We settled on coffee cups and they were set on their way this morning! I packaged them as best I could with my limited resources, I really hope the postie doesn’t shake the box.

More chocs

I’ve made some more chocolates today- sorry this is seemingly turning into a food blog!

Non-alcoholic Cherry Brandy Swirls, blimming sugar diamonds have clouded up though, maybe from being in the fridge briefly?

Jelly cakes- these are my new favourites! Milk chocolate cups with white chocolate tops and strawberry jelly inside!

And some more Turkish Delight, this time covered in white chocolate!

 

Shop restock and Chocs Away!

Sorry I have been away so long. This time of year I get very busy, and as a result a lot of my shop has been marked made to order. However I have this morning restocked the site (and also Etsy and Folksy where applicable) and I now have the following available for immediate delivery (there are other immediate delivery items on the site, so feel free to have a click through!): 

 

 

In other news, I am going on my food safety course on Tuesday, taking me a step closer to opening my chocolate business! The web designer thinks we will be live by 15th January, but I reckon it will be the end of Jan by the time I have had my kitchen assessment, etc. Here’s what I was up to last night…

(Bailey truffle centres- my own recipe 😉 )

(Oozy praline centres)

(Dark chocolate truffle centres- everyone’s favourites!)

SoapyChica review, part 1 of 3

My soaps from http://soapychica.etsy.com came through yesterday and I was so excited I decided to indulge in a bath this evening to try them out. They came in a vibrant fabric gift bag that I will definitely be recycling, and I even got 2 substantial bars as freebies! So tonight I will review the Madagascan Vanilla truffle soaps, followed by the honey and the tropical fruit bars when I next decide to pamper myself!

I was expecting them to be white, like the vanilla truffles you can buy from Thorntons, but they are more of a chocolately colour, with yummy cocoa powder sprinkled on the top.  These wold make lovely gift soaps, or great for travelling, as I found one soap was enough for two normal baths, or one long indulgent bath! I got 12 in the bag, so they should last a long time, great value for money.

The fragrance was delicate, yet mouthwatering, so not too overpowering. After a couple of seconds they worked their way into a creamy lather.  The scent really complemented my apple shampoo too.  Afterwards, the smell stayed on my skin, something that doesn’t seem to happen with a lot of bar soaps, which kept me smelling fresh!

I really hope that she can make liquid soaps or even shower gel at some point, as I tend to shower a lot more than bathe and would love to use this lovely scent every day, rather than just as a treat!