Knitting and Stitching Show - Harrogate 2012

No photos of the show itself, sorry.  I had my camera, but there were so many 'no photography' signs in various booths that I didn't like to take an overall shot in case someone feared I was up to no good and I got into hot water!!  However, there's nothing stopping me taking a picture of the things I bought there, so here they are:

I spent the most money at the Colourcraft stand.  They're a company located near to me, here in Sheffield and they make all manner of paints, dyes, glues and craft things.  I'm very keen to visit their factory shop as soon as I can work out how to get there on public transport!  They were very good too in that, when I asked how to use the silk paint gutta to best effect as I'd had some trouble with my silver and clear before, the chap, Mike, promptly gave me replacements for them and asked for more feedback when I'd done a small sample with them!  I was so impressed with their attitude!  I bought the starter set of 8 metallic paints, 2 more silk paints in green and white (to add to my collection of primaries and black), and those two sprays you can see in the top left hand corner of the photo.  These are amazing!  They contain very fine glitter pigment and, once well shaken, you can spray it on either fabric or paper backgrounds and it gives a wonderful sparkly effect.  On the recommendation of Mandy, the demonstrator, I got the bronze and blue shades as good generic warm and cool tones.  I'm really looking forward to putting all those goodies to use!

Along the bottom you can see the results of my visit to the West End Embroidery stand.  I also got some cream seed beads (which will star in tomorrow's WIPW posting), but I couldn't resist the temptation to do a little stash building and get these 4 packs of petite seed beads in berry colours.  Of course, the shade range is considerably more limited, but these are good basic shades (I already have black) and the green one with red centres is unique to the petite range, it seems!  The Weeks Dye Works skein was something I felt had real anniversary card or gift potential for Sir - colours not too different from those he chose for his hard drive cover.

Finally, on the right hand side you can see 3 rolls of metallic fabric I got from the Bits and Pieces stall, who, sadly, don't appear to have a website.  This isn't your ordinary sheer fabric, but quite a bit more sturdy, although I've forgotten what it's called!  It's part of the goldworker's portfolio anyway, and if anyone can remind me of the name, I'd be grateful.  I saw it and thought stumpwork flower piece.  I also got the small bag of bright check #1 from them as I'd never seen it before.  I hope to put that in the flower centre.  I bought some ordinary sheers from The Golden Hinde too, but they're folded away in my fabric drawer and are too springy to keep on taking out etc!!

I got a lot of inspiration from Josephine Storey's display and some good tips from both her and her daughter.  They don't have a website, but you can see her kits on sale here at Wye Needlecrafts and get an idea of some of the things she does.  It was her work that prompted me to get the metallic paints and I realised that nice embroideries on plain, light fabric don't really do it for me anymore.  Not surprisingly as a colour freak (just like Rona from Bits and Pieces, who was pleased to meet a kindred spirit), I'm moving ever more towards more colour.  One thing that has slowed me down on kit making has been the thought of having to either provide boring backgrounds or spend forever creating interesting ones!  I thought of maybe providing a light green fabric instead of boring cream.  Not that I've made any decision on whether or not to go in for that yet....

Last, but not least, I got a pleasant surprise when I discovered that my old City & Guilds teachers, Diane Freeman and Annie Smith, were there amongst the education providers' stands showcasing students' work and promoting their own C&G micro-centre, Castle Textiles Group.  If you live within easy distance of Harrogate and are interested in C&G study with good teachers and a style that actually looks attractive, check them out!  Every folder of work on their table was a work of art in itself before you even opened it!  There's a photo on their blog posting of the event which, whilst it doesn't show much detail, gives an idea.  Last year's photo is even better! My local micro-centre's annual exhibition was all black folders with samples just put in clear plastic wallets - not even mounted!  Such a shame!  If I ever do a course with them, I will try to make sure that my work is as attractively presented as possible.

So, I really must get on and finish my current WIPs so that I can move on to some projects using my new goodies and fill my world with vibrant, sparkly colour!

In the meantime, please don't forget to take a look at my e-bay sales page as there are a lot of nice craft and embroidery things going there as well as clothes and trims for the party season.  All sales end on Friday between 11am and 2pm GMT/UTC and there are a number of 'watches' on the embroidery kits already!  Don't miss out...

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2012