Well it was that time of year again, The Craft and Quilt Fair. Nic and I used to run away from work and attend this in Brisbane most years.. It was always a fun day out even if we pretty much always left having spent way more money than we even intended to.

This year the location is a little more southern and the company a little different but the end result was rather similar. I had a fantastic day yesterday running around with Nancy, Sharon and Tracy oggling at all the pretties and enabling each other at every turn.
I came away with a rather different selection than usual though, with no fabric from stitches and spice and not a cross stitch chart to be seen ( I think Nancy bought the only chart if you can believe that). We were dazzled by so many local producers and stores that don’t travel up to the Brisbane show so the variety was amazing, and there are so many more wool supplies in Victoria.

I think the biggest win for the day was the stall selling hand crafted Jarrah wood pieces, boxes, spool holders of all shapes and sizes, frames, stands even little knitting Nancy’s and wooden spools. I picked myself up a Jarrah box with a place for needlework in the top (I am going to use this to store my Vikki Clayton Minis and also a spool tower .. it spins! It also doesn’t hold all my spools but sure looks pretty all filled up. I also got some pin cushion bases and wooden spools from the same couple. They are based out at Geelong and will do custom work as well so I forsee a trip out to see them again at some point. Their prices were really good (made all the better by the wonderful sale prices they were having at the show) and the quality of the pieces is lovely.

My other big purchase was two stumpwork books by Jane Nicholas. If you get Inspirations Magazine you will have seen some of her work in there from time to time. The stumpwork designs are stunning to say the least and photos just do nothing to capture the three dimensional beauty of the pieces she creates. I got both the Beetle Collection and Medieval Flora books (the second being a complete lack of willpower after walking past her stall a second time). They are both signed by the author and Jane was incredibly lovely talking to us for quite some time and showing us the pieces and in some cases wip stages of some of the wing sections etc. She said not to be afraid and just jump in and give it a try so here’s hoping I can. My current evil plan, seeing as we were all so wowed by the bugs, (who knew so many of us were gaga over insects) is to pull a bunch of goldwork supplies together to attempt at least one of the bugs each next time we meet up for a stitchy day. I didn’t buy a kit as a have a bit of goldworking supplies which I have been stashing away with the hope that one day I would build up enough courage to try some things with it. The only materials related item I bought was the wires for the wings etc. Her website seems to have everything though so I will need to decide if I get things from there or put in an order to Hedgehog Handworks which has an amazing supply of historical embroidery and clothing resources (yes an order to them will just be an excuse to get more books and way more than just a few supplies for some stumpwork bugs).

Everything else was bits and piece that caught my eye really, some acrylic paints in copper and purple for doing stamped embossing styles things on velvets. These are mainly for a few ideas I have floating around in my head for a Stempunk alchemists costume for a steampunk ball we maybe attending for New Years eve… still lots of planning to go into that one. Some fabric for the wonderful guys from the fabric stall I can never remember the name of. They do great36ct evenweave that I love but this time around also had a bunch of new hand dyed products in 28 and 36ct. They also had some fantastic new opalescents in black there was black with silver, I think gold and a purple opalescent sparkle as well. Unfortunately at this point they are only doing them in aida but they assured me they are working on having it done on their black evenweaves too and it should be ready for the next show (which I got reminded I need to take show and tell of my stitching along for because I forgot this time).

I also got a pattern for one of the best goblin dolls I have seen the interpretation of the patter that the stall holder had done blew me away and he was so soft and cuddly I just had to get the pattern so I could make my own. He reminded me a little of the Brian Froud goblins I love so much. Oh and in case you are wondering all that coiled ribbon at the front of the picture.. yes it is about 60 metres of velvet ribbon in purple , black and a dark deep blue in 5mm up to 16mm widths. At 50c a meter how could I resist?