Festival Fever

Home again - bliss. The Festival of Quilts was as good as ever and we had a great time, but it was exhausting. I have no voice left and suspect that this is not just down to the demo-ing but is also caused by too much chat.
It was a bit traumatic at first as they had changed the original stand we booked, which meant that all the electricals, furniture etc. had been delivered to the wrong stand and it took ages to sort out. It was also wrong in the catalogue which was annoying. We did wind up with a better stand this year, Sue. It's all a bit arbitrary and the stands are very expensive - even at demonstrator rates - so we usually have quite a small one. We don't really have a huge product range to recoup the money but this year we did have Quiltwow to promote and it was very well received. Although it's not here until December (the October issue is a free taster) we had people wanting to sign up already and lots of advertising enquiries. Gave away so many leaflets that we had to photocopy them on the last day. Carol Dowsett (editor) and I are really excited that so many people are so keen. You can see us being excited below. Here are some of our boards with previews of the taster pieces.

It was wonderful to meet so many bloggers. Julie gave me this dear little card, titled 'A Summer Garden'.




It's all a bit surreal when folk come up and introduce themselves by their blog name. Even more weird when you know exactly who they are! Sara from Kuwait (otherwise known as English Rose) was such a help on the stand and with carrying my workshop stuff up four flights of stairs. I don't know how to tell you this, Sara, but I found a lift!
I'm glad that you thought Clive was presentable, Sue. He still managed to make a hole in the seam of his new jumper by day four. I embellished it together - it worked, too. There were lots of embellishers sold - Janome ran out. People who hadn't seen it in action were quite fascinated and my demos went well. I sold more Embellish and Stitch books than I expected, so that was good. I have finished the background and one of the panels for the Apples and Origins piece and will show you tomorrow. I have also managed to make an organza quilt by embellishing all my sample bits together.

The half day workshop was great but a bit frantic, Leanne. I found that it's not quite possible to fit a whole Summer School into three hours. It was wonderfully cosmopolitan with folk from Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and the States, as well as Dorothy and Jane, who are both members of Dundee EG but had never met. Dorothy was a hero and helped me pack up at the end. Big thanks.

We were using Moon Shadow Mists and were combining them with Glitz Spritz from the same company. We made books for samples from black envelopes. Envelope books are great as you can slip samples into them, play games with the flaps etc. Clive had punched holes in the tops and we fastened them with wrapped pipe cleaners. I like to spray with the Spritz Glitz first and then with the MS mist while it is wet. Gives a great effect. They also sprayed white tags to see the difference that the background made. You need to set the Spritz with hair spray or pastel fixative. Pics below.

I thought the show was more fantastic than ever with first class exhibitions. Andrew Salmon really does invest in getting the best and he should be applauded for that. Many visitors come for the whole four days and so many come from overseas. Lots from Europe, many from the States so it is a huge draw. The Europeans all say that it is now the best show in Europe. What did anyone else think of this year's show?

So good to be back with the blog - I've had withdrawal symptoms.