I've had a couple of busy, fun-packed days and need to catch up a bit today.
Yesterday, I was at the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC, helping out on the Denman College stand. Saw lots of friends (Hi Sue, Mary, Sarah, Nicholle, Pat) and met a couple of new ones - always pleased to meet online friends and Sue and Yvonne were as delightful "in the flesh" as their blogs would suggest.
Is the best bit of going to these shows about catching up with what's new and seeing what everybody's up to? Maybe the best bit is the shopping? Or perhaps, best of all, it's bringing it home and spilling the contents all over the table and sharing it all with friends?
Well, it looks like this year, everyone will get a black, white and pink card. The gift voucher from Craftwork Cards seemed to go a long way and it was good fun spending it!
I hadn't been at the show five minutes before finding Web of Wool and discovering they had Brittany sock needles, so was pleased to give them a try and quite agree, they are great (but maybe Addi turbos are slicker!)
*by the way, the Brittany site is worth a visit for the picture alone!
My WI colleagues asked if I'd upload my iPod sock "pattern" to the website, as a new craft project but as the samples so far have been black, we needed a brighter sample to show up the detail when it's photographed. Another trip to Web of Wool for some Regia sockyarn and the Brittany needles were put to instant use as I knitted the day away. The delightful Web of Wool people even Kitchener-stitched the end up for me too, since I didn't have a darning needle with me! Sample and pattern will be uploaded here shortly.
Good friend and expert knitter Sue Sanderson was on the "knit and relax" stand and showed me a terrific new sock book she'd just got from Amazon. I agreed it was a goodie, so when I spotted it on one of the stands later in the day, of course, I had to bring it home.
Other goodies from the day included some fun stamps, found in the Hobbycraft hall. One has phrases like "brilliant idea" and "this is a test" on it, the other "inspected by:" and "APPROVED".
Came across a tutorial online to make a button bracelet recently, so these bags of colour themed buttons from the Button Company were too good to pass up, and there is always a bead kit which I can't resist at The Bead Merchant.
I was tempted by the flower rope, but "Advanced Herringbone" ? Can't even do basic herringbone yet, and though I am known for diving in at the deep end, on this occasion I restrained myself.
Finally, those of you who know me well will know why I get hold of these bits and pieces for cardmaking. A few more samples to make for the new season, I think.
A good day. Lots of chatter, laughter and a really friendly atmosphere as always. I noticed that the Hobbycraft hall remains stuck in a glut of cardmaking, but in particular this year, I found the same things on almost every stand. Keen pricing seemed to be key and several stallholders did the "hard sell" in a way I've never noticed before. Clearly it's dog eat dog out there in the rubber stamping-cardmaking arena and I'm pleased that in the Sewing for Pleasure hall things were a little more dignified!
Memorable stands: Jane Callender's Indigo shibori, a french whitework stand, "Il etait un fois" and Linda Rudkin's natural dyeing were amongst those which stood out for me.
Came home, did a quick wash and brush up, changed into something more comfortable and went to a WI skittles evening in Avening with Mark and Edward.
I slept very well last night!!
