Taking a moment to catch my breath this morning, after a few fun packed days.
It was a very early start on both Saturday and Sunday and I arrived at the NEC well before opening time. This meant I arrived with a bunch of people whose demeanour was very different from the usual excited, gossipy crowd of visitors. At 8am, the walk from the car park was a heads down trudge as you can see.
An early start does make it possible to get a sneak preview, to chat and to see what’s what. That was particularly good this year because visitor numbers were up and there were crowds throughout the day.
Since I’ve revealed one purchase on my photo a day blog already, I’ll share one bag of treasure here: a few metres of Kaffe Fassett’s gorgeous fabric which may find itself in a quilt sometime soon. I snapped it up from Doughty’s whose patience was severely tested because it’s so hard to choose! Having found their online site, I might have to return!
There were other, minor purchases which will be revealed in due course.
It was cruel that those two tiring days were either side of the time change and we were cheated of an hour’s sleep but the good company and the fun of working together in a lively atmosphere meant that the days passed quickly.
Yesterday was another busy day filled with fun and friends. I’d offered to give my dear friend Fanny a hand with a sheet of beadwork instructions and so yesterday morning we juggled to create a few clear diagrams showing how to do flat peyote stitch. Of course, there’s lots to catch up on at the same time; news of our boys and plans for the next week or two whilst sharing a few ideas and inspiration. Fanny’s teaching her class at the Gloucester Arts and Crafts Summer School and at a charity beadwork event at Amberley next month and of course, the beading in the picture above is hers not mine!
After a quick bite to eat, I headed off to Cirencester, where I had arranged to meet CountryMummy who had generously offered a one to one crochet tutorial. Friends who know me already will know that I have a continuing love-hate relationship with crochet in spite of attending classes and quite a few remedial sessions! Maggie has taught me how to hold the hook correctly and ironed out my bad habits, so that I do at least look as though I know what I’m doing! Nita encouraged me further and guided me through the early stages of the filet crochet scarf we all made at the Dodger Summer School last year. But I was a performing monkey and though I could copy what I was shown, I still can’t follow a pattern properly and find myself making it up as I go along. Most infuriating, I could not crochet a granny square, making such a mess of the step up at the end/beginning of the round that I gave up.
With a great deal of patience, Janice was able to identify the exact point which leads to my problems and in no time at all, it was cracked. I still need to work on my tight tension, though – my three rounds of crochet were only slightly bigger than Janice’s two – and all of my teachers would agree that so many of my crochet “issues” stem from tension trouble!
So, today, I’m going to loosen up and try again. Watch this space for progress.
