The Dorchester Festival is based in and around Dorchester Abbey in south Oxfordshire, with all kinds of entertaining activities ranging from puppet shows and ghost hunts to Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and murder mystery trails!

And, of course, all of this is in support of the fabulous historic building and local charity Seesaw.

The Dorchester Festival lasts 10 days, with the festivities culminating in a two day fair at Dorchester Abbey – which means you can meet us and many other exhibitors between 11am and 5pm on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th May. It will make a great day out for all the family – so why not come along?

You can read more about the Dorchester Festival Fair, and some of the different companies showing off their beautiful goods, on the fair’s website.

If you do come to the fair this weekend, please don’t be shy – say ‘Hi’ and tell us that you read the blog. We don’t bite, we promise!

A short tubby Frenchman is coming London. But not any old short tubby Frenchman. No, for the man who it seems is planning descend on our capital city is no less than Pierre Hermé, the man Vogue calls “The Picasso of Pastry”.

Pierre Hermé is a phenomenon in France, where he is undoubtedly the country’s most famous gastronomic celebrity. And it looks like Great Britain may be the next country he hopes to conquer – having already opened four boutiques in Paris, and eight in Tokyo.

That’s good news for macaroon lovers. By the way, Pierre’s newest flavour is pamplemousse and wasabi – can you imagine?

According to the Times, 47-year-old Hermé said at a book signing by the Champs Elysee that “[he] would love to open a shop in London..” and that he was “looking for the right place.”

Personally, I don’t think I can wait – which is why I might just be ordering some delicacies from his Paris store’s online shop Yes, they’ll deliver to the UK!

It’s all stations go at Fabiola & Sing Sing today, as we prepare ourselves for a day at the fair, to support a local Oxford church.

Holy Trinity Church is a picturesque church in Headington Quarry, Oxford famous for being the place of worship for celebrated author CS Lewis who attended the church, and first preached there on 29th March 1942 on the subject “Religion and pleasure”.

Lewis and his brother, who was known as Warnie, always sat in the same pew in the church, beside the pillar to St George. In 1991, a stained glass window – known as the Narnia window in honour of CS Lewis’s incredibly popular books – was installed beside the pew.

The window depicts Aslan the Lion as the sun, with the word Narnia in the rays of light coming from his mane, while on the right hand side you’ll find a flying horse, the castle Cair Paravel, and a talking tree.

I’m not sure if they have any talking trees in the graveyard, but if you hunt around you may very well stumble across the gravestone of CS Lewis himself.

It’s always good to support your local community, and we’re delighted to be attending Holy Trinity Church’s Spring Fair today. If you drop by, please say hello and take a look at our selection of gorgeous gifts and objects of desire – it could be your last chance to buy that special something before Mother’s Day tomorrow!

The fair is being held at The Coach House, Quarry Road, Headington, Oxford, between 1pm-5pm today.

We’ve certainly seen the Keep Calm and Carry On phenomenon in action at Fabiola & Sing Sing, with lots of interest in our Keep Calm and Carry On tea towels, Keep Calm and Carry On mugs and even our Keep Calm and Carry On Shopping shopper bags by Catherine Colebrook.

You really know when something is taking off, of course, when people begin to spoof it – creating their own posters and variations on the Keep Calm and Carry On motto.

As you can see above, we’ve even seen the police make a humourous spin on the design in a newspaper advert.

So, what’s the appeal of the Keep Calm and Carry On message? Well, for a rather cynical view we need to turn to Dr Lesley Prince, a lecturer in social psychology at Birmingham University:

“It is a quiet, calm, authoritative, no-bullshit voice of reason. It’s not about British stiff upper lip, really. The point is that people have been sold a lie since the 1970s. They were promised the earth and now they’re worried about everything – their jobs, their homes, their bank, their money, their pension. This is saying, look, somebody out there knows what’s going on, and it’ll be all right”

Whether you share Dr Prince’s cynical point of view or not, you can join in the fun with the Keep Calm and Carry On goodies in the Fabiola & Sing Sing online store – don’t forget we’re offering 20% off in our Mother’s Day sale!

In Britain it’s always the fourth Sunday in Lent (which will make it Sunday March 22nd this year). In the USA it will be the second Sunday in May (which will be May 10th in 2009).

Well, it seems even the professionals can get confused. For instance, this morning I stumbled across the website of iflorist.co.uk:

They sound pretty confident don’t they? But err guys.. March 20th isn’t a Sunday – it’s a Friday!

Seems to me like someone hasn’t been properly updating their website – they changed the year, but not the date! Or could this be an attempt by the florist to encourage earlier flower-buying to boost the economy and wake the world up from the credit crunch?

No wonder people find the date of Mother’s Day hard to work out. And don’t even get me started on when they’re celebrating Mother’s Day in Argentina, Norway and Greece..

PS. Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a unique and beautiful gift for your mother this Mother’s Day that we are having a 20% off sale in the Fabiola & Sing Sing online store until March 22nd. Which is a Sunday. :-)

Whether it’s a beautiful cushion or throw, exotic tableware and napkins, or artistic aprons and tea towels that you are after – we probably have the perfect Mothering Sunday gift for you to give your mum!

And what’s more, we’re offering you a 20% discount off our normal prices until Mother’s Day! And don’t forget, that if you spend more than £50, post and packing is completely free!

Happy shopping!

I own aprons, I sell aprons and now equipped with my new sewing machine, I am going to make aprons!

This is inspired by a blog I have recently discovered (actually my lovely husband found this for me, as he knows I’m just a little bit obsessed…) Tie One On is a blog dedicated to aprons, in particular hand-crafted ones with a retro feel.

Every month or so on Tie One On, there is an apron theme, where you make an apron yourself and then post the results.

So I am going to attempt this month’s apron, which is to make an apron without spending any money. You can make your apron from fabric that you have stashed away or old clothes or anything!

I have picked up some amazing cloth and ribbon on my travels, so I guess I will use some of that. There are some fantastic photos showing some really creative interpretations on a theme.

This ’summer gingham’ photo is just so cute! I love her ‘accessory’!

If you feel inspired, I encourage you to have a go at making this month’s apron. I will post up any photos you send me, and if you send your photos to Tie One On, she will show the world your creations, as well!

Happy sewing!

Which is pretty important if you want to get a good present for your mother, and to tell her you love her. After all, she’s the one who picked you up when you grazed your knee, gave you a cuddle when you had nightmares, and made you fishfinger sandwiches whenever you were ill.

Life is complicated by the fact that the date for celebrating Mums is not just different every year, but held on different dates around the globe.

So.. take Norway and Greece, for instance. They’ve already had their Mother’s Day this year. Sorry Greek mums and Norwegian mothers – that’s it. Nothing else to look forward to now until February 2010.

And you can stop holding your breath if you’re an Argentinian mum. You won’t be having your special day celebrated until the third Sunday of October.

But looking at the stats of most of the visitors to Fabiola & Sing Sing’s blog it looks like most of you are based in the United Kingdom and USA.

Us Brits celebrate Mother’s Day (or as it’s known in old Blighty, Mothering Sunday) on the fourth Sunday in Lent. If you have a book of logarithms to hand then you’ll be able to work out that that means that this year, Mother’s Day will be on March 22 2009. Which means you have a month to find the perfect Mother’s Day gift.

And if you’re American, you’ll be giving thanks for years of Mom’s home-baked apple pie on the second Sunday of May – May 10 2009.

Phew. This is all very confusing. Couldn’t someone in a position of authority like Barack Obama, Bill Gates or Bono get this sorted out and standardised?

And no one is perfect, right? And all these perfect blogs are BORING, right? So here I am, my job being to ‘make your life beautiful’ but like all normal people, sometimes I just don’t feel like that!

I try not to take it out on others… Except for Steve at the Volvo dealership who I made apologise to me because he was rude. Yes, well he was. Anyway, my friends are now making fun of me and going around chirping ‘Steve who???!!!’, which is what I demanded of poor Steve’s workmate, when I asked him ‘what is that rude man’s name?’ The man said ‘Steve.’ I said “Steve WHO?’

Soooo, how to make me smile a bit today… Hmmm. How about this book I found.

It’s called How to Sue Everyone, Ready-To-Use Legal Letters to Terrorize Friends and Family. It made me smile, well only a little bit because I am working on being crumply, you see.

This book is full of ready-to-complete faux legal forms that you can ’serve’ to anybody who dares to annoy you.

Your kids come home after curfew? Serve them with an official notice putting them up for adoption. Boyfriend has b.o.? Make him fill out a Personal Hygiene Pledge Card, if that doesn’t work it may be time for a Notice of Dismissal. No food on the table? Absence of Food Report. Gedditt?

Well it made me laugh in that I-feel-evil-today-kinda-way.

Oh! What’s happening to me! A little creepy-crawley smile has appeared across my face.

But no, it’s true. You really can get yourself some free diamonds in time for Valentine’s Day – perfect if you need a romantic present that’s going to make a big impact on a low budget, or just want to treat yourself!

How is it possible to get diamonds for free in time for Valentine’s Day? Well, first of all you need to get yourself to Cleveland, Ohio.

You see, a Cleveland-based jewellery store has hidden ten pieces of diamond jewellery around the city (including a diamond heart necklace, a diamond circle pendant, and a silver bracelet with a diamond clasp).

So far, diamonds have been left at a Starbucks, a Cleveland Heights school and at a Barnes and Noble bookstore.

It’s a publicity stunt of course, but if it spreads a little fun in the days running-up to Valentine’s Day, who’s to criticise it? I think it sounds like enormous fun, but then I’ve always loved a good treasure hunt.

So how about it British jewellery stores? Why don’t you do something similar and give us something fun to do now the snow is melting away?