Stitch and Craft

I got very very excited when my friend Jo invited me to go to the Stitch and Craft Show at Londons Olympia, she very kindly bought me the ticket for my 30th bday pressie! Thanks Jo! 

Id never been to a craft show bfor, and wasnt really sure what to expect, but I was very excited especially when I found out that my favorite designer Emily Peacock would be there!!!!!

I would say that Emily is one of my major inspirations, shes not only a fabulous designer but shes also an incredibly lovely lady. Emily very kindly donated some kits that helped us to raise over £600 pounds for Macmillan last year, and she sent me a Love Tattoo Kit as a present which was unbeleivably kind and made me jump around my house for the majority of the morning in excitement! Since then Emily endures a random phone call from me every now and then with some random idea I have had, or something I have seen which I think she might like! It was during one of these phone calls that Emily told me she thought I was a frustrated designer... now for me thats incredible. Emily saw potential in little old me... 

So for ages Id been saying to Emily that I would make her a little something to say thankyou for her kindness, as you know ive been dallying with Crochet so I thought Id have a go at making Emily a 3d model of her Momiji Doll design.. You can find the cross stitch pattern here Emily Peacock Momiji Dolls

I found a yummy pattern and changed it slightly to look like Emilys doll and this is what I came up with :) You can find the pattern I used here PassionFyre Kokeshi Doll. This piccy isnt 100% finished because as per usual I was still putting on the detailing at 11pm the night bfor the show!!!! She also came with a cocktail umbrella to complete the look :)

So on the day of the show I was all excited, my other half had dyed my hair for me which was long overdue, and I got all dressed up in my favorite clothes with my hair all straightened (and almost long enough to sit on EEEEK) and off we went on the train to London :) I may be 30 but I still get excited like a 5 year old and jump up and down and clap etc ... yes I know its not cool - but I dont care! When we eventually got to Olympia and got inside I was astounded by how busy it was - seriously busy.... I can only describe it as tho someone had put out a bulletin that Craft supplies wouldnt be available after that day and that everyone had better get their asses down to the show or never craft again!

There was stall after stall of DELICIOUS craftyness, cross stitched art adorned the walls of the stalls, there was oooooh and ahhhs from myself and my friends. There was reams and reams of fabrics and balls and balls of wool, buttons and ribbons and just a world of yummyness. If I was rich I could have spent an absolute fortune but Im not so I didnt! We wandered around the first floor of cross stitched goodies and then went downstairs for lunch. At which point we joined a huge queue for the food and I was sworn at by a little whiskery chinned 75 year old who was 'fucking gasping' for a cup of tea :) Good job she was going for the tea bcos the Coffee was VILE! 

After lunch we went to find Emily, who was sitting in the CrossStitcher stall - this stall was absolutely gorgeous, It had 2 big tables and a comfy sofa with yummy stitchy cushions on and a world of delicious nik naks. They had adorned the walls with beautiful fabrics in embroidery hoops and it was probably one of the best thought out stalls in the show. Emily was sat at the table doing free embroidery, I had a slight jump up and down in excitement moment which I tried to hold back! LOL! 

(sorry my pictures got eaten by the interwebs and ive not been able to retrieve this one )

Emily Peacock is beautiful, I hope she wont mind me saying this but shes like 1950s american movie star beautiful, she was flawless! So I gave her the doll and a little pin cushion Id made and some SweetBird coffee syrup, and she hugged me and said thankyou and was super lovely and I went all shy and so when she asked me to sit down and sew with her I got all nervous and said Id come back later.... I am such a dufus! 

So off we went to see the rest of the stalls... The next 2 stalls were Mr X Stitch and Jane Greenoff - I have to say I was a bit dissapointed in Mr X Stitches stall.. Being that he is contraversial, and one of the only male crosstitchers I expected something more from his stall than 3 white walls with framed work up on it. Yes fair enough he had 3d cross stitch which you had to put glasses on to look at, but I just thought his stall lacked imagination and effort in the set up of it.. Sorry Jamie I do like your work but I think your stall really let you down - your cooler than that!

We wandered around the rest of the stalls, on the 3rd level was a lot of yummy wool and quilting fabrics, but bcos it was soo busy it was very difficult to actually look without feeling under pressure to get out of the way, so I skimmed most of the stalls which was probably good for my bank balance :) I was very surprised at the lack of anything amigurimi/crochet apart from a few books on the bookstall... Crochet is cool!

The bottom floor was all card making and papercraft which isnt my cup of tea, so not a lot to report about downstairs... 

After that Id plucked up the courage to go and do some sewing with Emily so I went and sat and had a chat with her and started embroidering an anchor :) Another thing to add to my list of works in progress :) 

Want to find out some more about Emily - you can find her here Emily Peacock