Day out at the Sewing, Stitching & Hobbycrafts show....

Last month I had a lovely day out at the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts show at the Excel.  The organiser's had invited me along to the bloggers' brunch where the talented Helen McKenna showed us how to make embroidered brooches using vintage fabric. This is my (second) attempt....

Helen also had a stand at the show, look at these shoes she created inspired by A Midsummer's Night Dream....

The show is small compared to the one at the NEC (that's huge!).  Going on the Thursday instead of the weekend meant it was less busy and easy to get around.

I saw an amazing textile designer Louise Mabbs who used bright colours so her stand really stood out....

I'm not a quilter so I was in awe of her work and the detail. It looked really complex and I imagine taking a LOT of time and patience.

There were various inspiring exhibitions including one by the Quilter's Guild on the theme "The Living World". Here are a couple of my favourites....

A Selection of Tulips by Carol Dowsett.

Stratified Sunflowers by Sabi Westoby

Another display that stood out was "A cardigan for Cardigan!"

The 5m wide Aberteifi Cardigan is a collaborative work of art by local talent that took over nine months by the people of Cardigan to celebrate 900 years of the town's heritage. Around 300 people of all ages and abilities contributed to the cardigan.  Knitters had complete freedom to create their own pattern and shapes.  It took stitchers six weeks to make up the cardigan.

Romford WI marked their 25th Annversary with this map....

The costumes from the film the King's Speech were also on display....

I'm on a tight budget but I did buy a few things, I couldn't leave empty handed!....

I treated myself to some textile markers, more storage for my dies and a bunting die set. Also a flamingo wooden block which came in a pretty bag, this can be used on fabric or in papercraft.

Events like these are great for inspiration and shopping, a lot of stalls offer exclusive deals. The organisers have a lot of shows coming up throughout the year across the UK. You can check them out here.  Workshops book up fast at these events so I advise booking them before you go.  

I was kindly invited to the Bloggers Brunch by the organisers of the event, the views and opinions are my own and I have not been paid for writing this post.