A New Design

When I sketch a new design I generally sketch a front view, back view, side view etc… basically I sketch the bag from all angles. I then add measurements and notes about special details that I want.

The sketch goes to the factory by email with further instructions including what type of leather to use, what colour, the kind of zips and lining I want and the stitch size and colour.

Generally it takes about 2 to 3 weeks to get my sample finished and sent to me to approve or modify. It’s very exciting to receive a sample parcel and see how accurately my ideas were interpreted (normally perfectly).

So, watch this space. New designs will be arriving soon

It’s not all Desert

After spending the Friday morning travelling down the flat desert coast route from Fujairah to Muscat and a lovely weekend in the city, we decided to head back to Dubai via the mountainous route.

About 2 hours drive west from Muscat brings you to the beginning of one of the mountainous regions of Oman. Of course there is a tarmac main(ish) road across but that is much further north than we wanted to go and also, possibly quite a boring drive, so we headed off on a track that promised to take us to somewhere 40km away. It must traverse the mountains, we thought!

A Helping Hand

A few kilometres into our track and steadily going up-hill, we were overtaken by a speeding local. Good news because at least we know now we’re on a real ‘road’ (the Garmin GPS thought we were totally off road). We followed him but at a much slower speed for half an hour or so.

As we approached the summit of one part of the tour we noticed Speedy Omani had stopped at the side of the road. As you do, in these situations, we stopped to enquire if he needed a hand with anything. He certainly did. With one of his tyres totally slashed and no spanner to loosen the spare or to take the slashed wheel off, he was stuck.

We stopped to lend him our wheel nut spanner and to help.

More re-inforcements arrived so we bid our farewell and left the locals to sort it out.

Amazing Scenery

Further on, we took a break to take in the breathtaking views and were promtly overtaken again by a convoy of six 4×4′s, clearly all on an off road rally together. The sand that blew up as they passed totally wiped out the view so I’m not sure what the tourists in those vehicles could see of the scenery!

A little later we took a wrong turn and caught up with the tourists who were having lunch by this very deep and narrow canyon.

In this close up (of the photo above) you can see people sitting on rocks having lunch. Hopefully that will give you an idea of the sheer size of the canyon.

After checking with the 4×4 drivers we re-traced our steps and took the missed turning, the turning we were warned not to take unless you have a 4×4 with low ratio gears. The track climbed up to 700m then down into a green valley. Up again to 1000m and down to another oasis in the mountains. It went on like this for about 20km. Finally we reached the summit at 2000m.

The drive was amazing, even if I was gripping onto my seat most of the time. The road was long and winding (you can see it in the valley below) but finally we reached tarmac and then it was all downhill to the highway and off to the border and to Dubai.

That was my amazing weekend! I’d love to hear about yours

First stop Fujairah

It’s a long drive to Muscat from Dubai (5 or 6 hours) so we decided to start off on Thursday night with a short 1.5 hour drive over the desert and hills to Fujairah, another of the United Arab Emirates. Fujairah has the second largest mosque in the UAE. A very impressive looking structure.

On Friday morning we headed down the coast towards Muscat and arrived just in time for a late lunch at our hotel overlooking the Indian ocean. The drive was easy but not particularly scenic. Unfortunately the road runs a couple of kilometres in from the sea, so there are no lovely costal views en route.

Hello Muscat

Muscat is the capital of Oman and it’s a big contrast to Dubai. Dubai is all bling and high-rise skyscrapers and Muscat is low rise, white washed and much older looking. In the Muttrah Souk area we thought it had a look of old Spain about it.

Here I am with my current travelling bag of choice, the mini shoulder bag in soft grey sheep nappa leather. It’s one of my smallest bag designs but there’s room for all the essentials. I use this size of bag quite often when travelling.

Souk Shopping

The old Souk in Muttrah is down by the harbour and it’s a maze of little passageways, some covered and some outside but all crammed with tiny shops selling everything from fabric and textiles (my favourite) to herbs & spices and frankincense.

It’s very different from the modern built souks in Dubai and Sharjah and it all seems much less touristy. A very nice shopping experience, especially once you get away from the main passageways and head off down one of the many narrow lanes.

Night Lights

Back to the hotel in the evening to cool off (the temperature went down to around 31C at night after being up at 39C in the day) and enjoy the fabulous views over Muscat and the Indian Ocean.

This is somewhere I definitely want to go back to now that I’ve seen just a little bit of it

One Size Fits

This phone case was originally designed to fit the iPhone 3 and 4 but it also fits the traditional Blackberry and many other ‘qwerty’ keyboard phones as well as the iPod Touch etc.

Other Uses

I use one of these cases for my iPod Touch and another for my second phone which is a Nokia E71 (like a Blackberry) and I have a further case for carrying jewellery when I’m travelling. Each one is a different colour, so it’s easy to find the one you need.  It’s also just a very useful case for holiday money or a second currency that you may keep at home until you need it again.

How to Enter

All you have to do is to leave a comment at the bottom of this post or on Facebook and tell me why you’d like to win one of these leather zip up purses/phone covers and what you’ll be using it for. Oh, and don’t forget to tell me which colour you’d like if you win one!

The winners will be announced here and on Facebook and via Twitter on Monday 15th April.  Everyone who enters will automatically get a 25% off voucher after the closing date, so you can get one at a special price if you’re not a lucky winner this time.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about it too.

Good Luck.

The Islamic Souk

The Blue Souk is known locally as the Islamic Souk and on the ground floor it’s full of shops selling Islamic clothing for both men & women as well as lots of bling jewellery shops. I love the blue tiled decorations on the outside of the building.

Insistent Assistants

We went upstairs to the 1st, slightly shabbier, floor. This is where you’ll find 100′s of textile and carpet shops, the choice is amazing. The only trouble is that once you enter a shop, the owner is keen not to let you leave empty handed and its very difficult to browse unattended. All the shop assistants are insistent on helping you buy something, whatever it is you want. The only trouble is, that you might not know what you want until you see it!

Luckily we did see it. In the 2nd shop, we found a fabulous silk embroidered kilim, 2 metres by 3 and the perfect size for the middle of the bare tiled floor in our sitting room.

This Iranian carpet has a look that is very different from all the other carpets we’ve bought on our travels (mainly in Turkey). I’ve taken a close up picture of just a section of it. These symbols all have a meaning, so I’m off now to go and do some research into this design.

Feel free to let me know if you recognise any of these symbols and know their meaning.

One of the narrower alleys in the Souk

A recent trip to the Souk Madinat in Jumeriah, Dubai, had me looking up at the ceilings rather than the goods on offer in the many shops and stalls.

High Rise, Low Rise

When you think of Dubai you will probably be thinking it’s high-rise and beaches. To most people it’s a ‘hot all year round’ tourist destination or simply a stop-off to somewhere else but if you stay a while, there are fabulous low rise buildings to check out too.

One of my current favourites is the Souk Madinat. It’s a recent build but has been designed to look like a traditional old Arabian souk (a market place). There are covered walkways both narrow and wide, outdoor piazzas and waterfront cafes and restaurants.

A Traditional Look

I love all the wood used inside the building with the traditional looking carving. The lighting looks like fabulous old lanterns and even the floor is made up of many different paving stones and marble to make it look like it’s been built up over years.

From the outside you can see all the different levels of the building. The taller towers are designed to look like the old fashioned ventilation shafts that many buildings had before the arrival of ceiling fans and air conditioning.

Possibly a much nicer (if a little touristy) shopping destination than one of the huge modern malls. What do you think?

For me, it’s definitely the best place to shop if you’re looking for a nice meal afterwards outside on the waterfront.

More new Friends

As I mentioned before, my new friend John Ayling had invited myself and Robert to the Lord’s Taveners gala dinner on the Friday night but since Robert would be travelling on business that day, I promised to go along on my own. I thought a couple of my handbags might go down well in the raffle so I said I would donate 2 prizes and on Friday night I duly turned up at the very posh Fairmont hotel on the Palm, Dubai. Luckily, I checked with Chris Tarrant’s partner, Jane about the dress code beforehand, so I didn’t go underdressed! The dinner was fabulous and very well organised at this beautiful new hotel. All my fellow diners were great and I made lots of new friends that night, especially John’s wife Lyn, who took me under her wing for the next few days!

Fundraising

As this was a charity event, after the dinner came an auction with ‘wow’ things to bid for if you have the money, like a holiday in Felix Francis’ Carribean holiday home and another holiday at Mike Gatting’s private villa in Barbados!  Emirates were sponsoring the whole event and other amazing trips included business class flights with Emirates to Cape Town and a stay at a famous winery nearby. Since I wasn’t bidding on anything, I totted up the takings and I think the whole evening must have raised over £25000. Not bad for a couple of hours of fundraising.

Anyone for Cricket?

The Lord’s Taveners charity is all about raising funds to give kids who might not otherwise get it, ‘A Sporting Chance’ so of course sport ranks highly on the list of weekend events. A golf tournament and 2 cricket matches were planned. The Lord’s Taveners cricket team consisted of 11 professional cricketers versus the Emirates team of keen amateurs, more commonly seen working at the airport as baggage handlers, airline crew and check in clerks. Not very surprisingly the Lord’s Taveners team won both matches but a great day out was had by all.

The winning team with silver Dhow trophy

Moving somewhere new?

So that was my amazing first weekend back in Dubai. A chance meeting on a plane leads to a fabulous party and lots of new friends. It reminded me that the most important thing to remember when moving to a new town is to just say yes to every invitation that comes your way. A while back I wrote about how to make friends in faraway places after I had moved out to Doha in Qatar. If you find yourself in a new place you just have to ‘go for it’ and get yourself out and about and meeting lots of people.

If you’ve ever had a similar experience I’d love to hear about it.

First of all I need to introduce the other half and sometimes travelling companion, Robert, otherwise this story won’t make sense.

Making New Friends

When I received an email, 4 days before travelling, asking if I’d like to upgrade to business class for £320, I decided to consider it. Not for long…. I paid.

So, instead of a drop off at the airport and a long wait in the public areas of Heathrow terminal 3, I checked in my (huge, business class) amount of luggage (mostly Harris Tweed and handbags but that’s another story!) and made my way to the business class lounge.

Being so engrossed in finishing off work and having a quick breakfast with a glass of Champagne (well, why not!), I didn’t notice any of my fellow passengers in the lounge.  So how surprising it was to see that several famous cricketers and TV presenter and radio show host, Chris Tarrant and also, Felix Francis (writer and son of Dick) were on the same flight!

The Emirates A380 (that’s the double decker plane, if you don’t know it) has a whole upstairs deck dedicated to First and Business class and at the back of the business section, there is a lounge/bar area where you can mingle with other passengers and stretch your legs.

Being the sociable types, me & Robert popped into the ‘lounge’ for an hour or 3 and this is where I met a lovely man called John Ayling, as well as Felix, Chris and his partner Jane. John said they were all on a Lord’s Taveners trip to Dubai to play cricket against the Emirates team and to generally raise money for the very worthwhile projects that the organisation support.

An Invitation not to be Passed Over

So, there we are…plugged into our seats (turbulance) and John starts promoting the fact that he still has tickets to sell for the gala dinner on Friday. I think FAB (a party) but Robert thinks oh no, I’m going away on biz. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I go and party and Robert goes to work in Iraq.

More to come………..

So that’s where I’m going to leave it for today, otherwise this post will become a book and you will get bored.

Tune in for the next installment soon

Thanks for reading.

Emirates A380 photo, courtesy of Wikimedia

We don’t like waste

The cutters at my factory are very good and the cut-offs or ‘waste leather’ is put aside in colours and kept for later use. The only problem is what to use these strange shaped smallish leather pieces for? So, when I visit the factory, I am often asked to design a product that needs only small pieces of leather.

This is my latest design – what do you think?

A Mini Bag

The mini handbag keyring purse is a keyring but it looks like a handbag. The popper on the flap opens up to reveal a tiny coin purse – ideal for keeping just one coin for your supermarket trolley or a few coins for emergencies.

With 9 colours to choose from, there’s enough choice to have one for every key! I have one for my car keys with a supermarket coin in it and another for my office keys…..haven’t decided what to keep in the ‘handbag’ on this one yet!

It was very exciting to be so near to the catwalk for the whole show – our stand was right by the side, so we had a great view of all the shows.

This week we’re at ‘Pure Womenswear’, another trade show. We’re at London Olympia again -my favourite exhibition space!