Craft fair in Driffield

After a very late night finishing stitching and labelling things, I made it to the craft fair on Sunday just before the rain came down, and I got the stall set up minutes before blast off.

This photo is very poor and fuzzy, but for me it is a record of the event.

Despite the foul weather this was my best craft show yet in terms of sales. It's odd but I sold more of what I didn't expect to sell and less of my usual best sellers, but guess it's just the way it goes sometimes.

It was also nice to see a few friends call by the stall and buy a few bits n pieces so thank you to all who said hello.

Unusual gifts

Have had a friend visiting this area from Devon over the past few days which has been fun but hectic in amongst my craft fair goings on.

She brought me some lovely pressies consisting of this homemade vodka which smells lovely, I haven't sampled yet. And also these flowers, they are actually edible and I believe chocolate. They really look too nice to dissect at the moment!

Craft fair items - 2

Time is rapidly running out and as I'm out tomorrow it leaves just one full day to get everything finished and labelled up.

Just done these flower brooches but have all the pins to attach. Also made the fingerless gloves from a recycled felted jumper.

Brooches for Driffield craft fair

Things are quite frantic on the making front with only 4 days left before Sundays craft fair. I've lots of things half started, like purses cut out but need stitching, brooches done but buttons and pins to add, most things still to label and price up, lavender bags to be stuffed last minute to have the fragrance as fresh as possible.

Of course with 'real' work and college project (which is a bit of a tall order to get a mural done for 7th Dec but that's another story) I'm definitely burning the midnight oil this week!

I know all my crafts won't get done, I wanted to do festive solstice wreaths but I can't see there being time so I guess I'll have to concentrate on what I can achieve.

Anyway here are a few new brooches, felt apples and textile art miniatures with beading.

Visited Beverley school craft fair

On Sunday I made a flying visit to the festive craft fair at Beverley school. I was quite keen to see how people had set out their stalls and also to get an idea of what type of things were selling. All good research for my stall next weekend.

I bought a few bits n pieces as you can see here. There were quite a few knitting stalls and these cute little christmas tree decorations were only 80p each, infact everything on the knitted stalls were really reasonably priced.

The small doll brooch and little bag were on a stall with lovely things from Nepal.

Harrogate, Knitting & Stitching Show

Yesterday was the show in Harrogate which I went to with a friend and we had a fab time. The conclusion was there was far too much to see and do in a day. We didn't even get chance for a look or a go on any of the workshops.

There were so many wonderful wools, fabrics, beads etc. to see that you ended up overwhelmed with choice and I was fairly restrained with my purchases. We did gather plenty of leaflets and info for researching and ordering stuff online.

One thing we were impressed with was a lady with enormous knitting needles like broom handles and instead of using wool she knitted with strips of wool blanket which made a very thick material and great for rugs.

The picture with the faces you see here is by an artist called Kerry Mosley, they were very delicate fine thread and bead pictures.

Also shown here some lovely little notebooks and a photo of the bits n bobs I bought.

My head is absolutely buzzing with ideas but there's so much work, college stuff and craft work on the go at the moment it will be a while before I can put some new ideas into action.

Knitting & Stitching Show

Tomorrow is the Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate. I'm really looking forward to it, I've been lucky enough to get a lift. Had I not been so lucky I would've gone with the college group but I'm not good with bus travel so it's a relief not doing that.

I'm sure my wallet will be groaning at all the wonderful stuff I'm bound to see. I've also been told it is very tiring and gets hot so I'm trying to get as organised as I can for surviving the day!

Felt donuts

I found a blog not so long ago with someone seemingly making nothing but felt donuts and they looked so real and yummy and fab. I haven't been able to find it since and really wanted to have a go myself.

Anyway I have found another blog and the person has kindly put a free download for their felt donut pattern. Here is the link to the blog and these are my first 2 donuts.

www.skiptomylou.org

Knitted sheep

Isn't this little sheep adorable. I bought him at the East Riding Artists Christmas auction on Sunday night. He was made by Cluny Chapman and is made from wool from her own sheep which she spins and knits up into lovely things.

At the ERA festive social they ask for hand made donations to auction on the night to raise a few quid for the kitty. I took some brooches, a cupcake pincushion, some hand made paper & cards, it went really well. I had hoped to win the bidding on a bag of fudge Selina made but I was outbid. Penny took some of her new pots filled with beautiful holly but they were auctioned off as one lot instead of individually so I had to pass on that. We had a lovely evening even though it didn't particularly feel Christmassy being only middle of November.

Just made - Fresh batch of Cupcake Pincushions!

I think I've made enough cupcake pincushions for the Christmas craft fair now, given that I didn't sell any at the last craft fair.

This time I've gone for an assortment of sizes which will correspond with assorted prices, maybe that might attract more interest.

I've sold a few to friends which have gone down quite well. I have also been searching the charity shops for cake stands to display them on and luckily I found a couple this week.

Textile course - homework 4

These are my latest textile samples.

Bottom 2 pictures are samples of using pleats and rusched roundels. Top picture is woven fabric strips on rug canvas.

Wet Weekend in the Lakes

Escaped for a long weekend in the Lakes. The weather was particularly wet until going home on Sunday so I didn't get many pictures.

Stayed near Carlisle, I wasn't very familiar with Carlisle & Penrith so had a look round as I had done some research on the internet pre-trip and found a few fabric and craft shops to visit.

Got these lovely pieces of fabric and the ball of wool is Herdwick wool, Herdwicks are my favourite breed of sheep. The wool is coarse so I think it will be more suitable for small knitted brooches.

It was lovely to find traditional looking shops and I spotted this grocers in Penrith and the Victorian coffee shop in Carlisle.

Also did some shopping in Keswick which is one of my favourite places and picked up a supply of mint cake and brandy butter for christmas.

Ice Cream pin cushions

Haven't had much time this week for craft things for the Xmas fair. The college work is taking up alot of spare time producing textile samples and a new project is in the offing with end of December as the deadline.

Still, I have just finished these little pin cushions in the form of ice-creams. The cones are recycled felted jumpers, with a few beads as hundreds & thousands.

Pumpkin

My friends had carved a marvellous pumpkin when I visited yesterday, take a look at this. They also had an enormous bowl of lollies for the trick or treaters.