Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair wrap up

From Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st of June, the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair was on at Glebe Island. This was my sixth year exhibiting! When you’ve been doing it that long, there are lots of faces you recognise and get to catch up with again, year after year. It makes it feel like you’re catching up with old friends, even though for most of these people I don’t even know their names. But we share a love of embroidery, and that’s what counts on these occasions!

Here’s a little view of what the stand looked like this year. For those who are viewing this as an email, you can see the video at: http://youtu.be/qHZBAI0kWuY

My stand was a little different this year. I took away the shelving unit that the books sat on, and replaced them with narrow shelves attached to the wall. This gave a little more room in the stand, and when you have a stand as small as mine, space is at a premium!

I also had a TV showing embroidery demonstrations for the first time. It was a real drawcard for many people, and meant that “video me” could demonstrate how to do some embroidery stitches even while “real life me” was helping customers. It was also bright and colourful, so was very eye-catching.

Because I’m on the stand by myself for the whole show, I don’t generally get around to see the rest of the show until Sunday afternoon when my family comes in to help me pack up at the end. The Reader and The Gymnast enjoy having a little bit of spending money and choosing some things to purchase. My husband can man the stand for a bit while I have a look around.

Of great note this year was the Embroiderers Guild NSW stand. They had a large display of embroidered circles donated by members of the guild and stitched specially for the display. It looked fantastic and was a real showcase of members’ stitching and the wide range of embroidery techniques that are enjoyed by the guild. They also had some of the guild’s collection on display, which was lovely to see.

A skirt embroidered by Heather Joynes in the 1970s (I think that’s the right period.)

From the guild collection.

“Stitched Circles” installation. Embroidery by members of Embroiderers Guild NSW

“Stitched Circles” installation. Embroidery by members of Embroiderers Guild NSW

Great display of embroidered clothing from Cavalcade of Fashion.

The show went really well for me, with lots of customers and wonderful conversations. One lady had recently been to Mountmellick in Ireland and came to specifically let me know that the ladies at the museum there were extremely complimentary about my book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature. They even have a photo of the cover in the brochure about the museum! Others told me about the embroidery of their culture. Some had questions to ask about what they’re working on, and many people were interested in seeing a demo of the knotted stitch used in Sardinian Knotted Embroidery.

The Beginners Hardanger Patterns were extremely popular – it seems that many would like to learn how to do Hardanger, and have just been waiting for a way to learn! And of course my new pendant kits were very popular as well. People enjoyed seeing the projects for my next book “Early-Style Hardanger”, and I heard quite a number of people refer to the apron on the dressmaker’s dummy – “I did a big tablecloth of Hardanger when I was at school.”

At the end of the first day of the show, after raining for most of the day, we were treated to the most amazing double rainbow stretching across the Sydney city skyline. The ferry ride back to Darling Harbour was lovely anyway, but made all the more special with such a gorgeous sight!

Packing up on the last day always takes far less time than setting up, and we were out of there in a little over an hour. I always look at my booth without its walls covered in my stuff and realise how tiny it is. Somehow it doesn’t seem so tiny when I’m all set up and living in it!

Thanks to all who came and visited me, bought things, asked questions, told me about your embroidering, and generally made it an enjoyable experience. A special mention goes to friends and past students who were kind enough to offer me a “comfort stop” or a cup of coffee. Your thoughtfulness was lovely.

I’ve booked for next year’s show, and have asked for the same stand position yet again. So next year you’ll find me in exactly the same place to make it easier for you. I’ll yet more goodies to entice you and help you to learn new and exciting styles of embroidery!