Talks & Craft Fairs

 

I've met lots of really lovely people lately. September was quite a busy time for me with several talks and a craft event to get ready for. 

These photos were from the North Kent Embroiderers in Southfleet - which is a bit of a distance from me but actually we seemed to fly there down the motorway! Reece and I have quite a good set up going (well I think so, he just kind of shrugs about it); I go in for first contact and start shifting things in, he brings in Baby F to charm anyone who has already arrived and to polish the floors with his bottom shuffling, then I set up the display table and Reece gets the sales table going. 

When it's all done and beautiful, he whisks off Baby F until I've talked and chatted myself out and have started packing up, then we say thank you and goodbye and go home! 

I try to take as many examples as I can to these events. You never know what will spark up a question or conversation and it makes it much easier to describe a stitch or a technique if you can pass round examples of what you are referring to. The table may start out full of pieces and looking lovely but by the end it has been ransacked and there are hoops in piles all over the place!

It's not a formal set up, I don't have a presentation on a power point or a fun video or anything, it is just me chatting in front of a group of ladies (usually, no men yet). I do have a written down spiel, but to be honest the minute I start speaking I totally forget about it and the next 40 minutes or so are a bit of a blur! Eventually I run out of things to say in cohesive sentences and ask for questions from the audience which then spark off new ideas and discussions. It doesn't sound particularly slick when I put it like that, but usually I get requests for workshops or further talks so presumably it's not all bad. 

When I think of the me 5 years ago, I would never have considered standing up in front of a (often quite large) group of people on my own and be able to actually speak!! I think I've learned to speak up and also slow down so that it actually comes out in English rather than garbled speech and I'm quite proud of myself really for being brave enough. I suppose it helps if you are really passionate and enthusiastic about it. 

I don't take huge amounts for sale at these talks, usually a selection of kits, books and any other bits that are packed in one of my boxes. Kits are the big sellers anyway and what most people ask for when I go. 

For craft fairs it's a whole different type of packing! I try to have lots of different things on offer and lots of different price points ranging from cards to little stitched daisy pendants, postcard packs, rockpool magnets, kits and original pieces. To be honest I very rarely sell an original piece but they are good at drawing people in to come and have a look so they are a nice advertisement to what I actually do. 

This was at Lindfield Craft Market a few weeks ago. I'd never been here before but had been approached by the organisers who spotted me at the Heathfield Show and took my details. 

It wasn't a huge event and the footfall wasn't amazing but actually I did rather well! And I was next to a local perfume lady so we smelt lovely too. The quality of the sellers was very high with lots of beautiful creations so it was amazing to see and be a part of. 

I don't always mind it so much if the events are a little bit quieter as I can sit down and concentrate on a stitching project all day (a slight luxury these days!!).  For this event I'd brought my pig Stitchscape to work on and I managed to mostly finish it off which was brilliant. 

You can also see my super cool new card machine in the below photo, it's very snazzy on its stand there and connects to my phone brilliantly. 

This is an interesting piece, possibly because I genuinely can't remember what I was thinking when I first put it together years ago. I'm sure I had lots of plans of where to take it but I feel a little bit like I lost my way with this one. It's very busy, there's lots going on and nowhere really for your eyes to rest or be specifically drawn to. I don't know that I'm entirely happy with the pig section or the really solid green section at the back, but other bits of it I really like so I suppose it balances out. 

There's definitely a lot of stitching in this one though!!

I did try to finish it off completely at the Lindfield market but I thought I'd try adding some fly stitch birds at the top there in the blue sky layer and I didn't have the right colour so it ended up coming back home. The birds were a bad idea anyway as that's one of the only areas not stuffed to the gills with various stitches so they quickly got pulled out. 

I also couldn't get it to frame in the hoop properly because of the way I'd cut the bottom layer which was by then fraying and bobbly so I had to trim it down and tidy it up. Because the piece had been in the hoop for so long, when I took it out it stayed with the little crease all of the way around, standing tall and proud on the ironing board. It didn't entirely iron out but wasn't an issue because it was going straight back into the hoop. 

Exciting to finally get this finished though!

I also gave a talk to Heffle Quilters which was really lovely. They found me at the Heathfield Show as well and what's so nice is that they meet in the same hall that my Godfather had his wedding reception in so I know the location quite well! It's lovely and bright and airy in there which is great for stitching and giving talks so you can really see the detail in the hoops. 

Very kindly they also produced some toys for Baby F to play with whilst we set up. He was absolutely over the moon with them (although it did cause some tears when leaving as he didn't want to leave a certain fire engine behind - don't worry, there's a playground outside and he soon forgot all about it!). 

It does take a while to set up the table and make it look pretty. I still find it slightly amazing that I've produced so many pieces - can you imagine the number of hours represented on these tables? I haven't even tried to count! Tidying it away is usually a bit quicker as I just stack all of the same sized hoops on top of each other and make sure they get put away into their box carefully - all of these fit into one big box (including the framed ones). 

Whilst setting up the pop up shop on the other side of the hall, Reece found the advertisement for my talk and I honestly could not have been more chuffed - what a lovely thing to say!! It is the best kind of review, and before I'd even done anything for them!!

I have been booked to go back to both the North Kent Embroiderers and Heffle Quilters to run workshops with them and I'm looking forward to seeing what my next few talks bring.