Fabric Nation at Crafty Fox

My first outing this year will be at the marvellous Crafty Fox Spring Market with my Seaside Sisters. We had lots of fun there last year and are looking forward to sharing our latest souvenir finds, textile accessories, prints and all things bright and coastal…We will be running an Easter Fox workshop as well, so pop down for some Spring fun.

Linda is enjoying a brief quiet moment before the doors opened – have a peek here for more photos…

Here’s the lowdown…

Crafty Fox Spring MarketSaturday 24th & Sunday 25th March 2012, 11am – 5pm, The Dogstar – Brixton.

Brixton’s favourite Crafty Fox Market is back at the Dogstar on 24^th & 25^th March with a weekend event full of handmade treats. Each day will see an eclectic mix of over 40 designer-makers transforming the Dogstar into an exciting showcase of local creativity.

Visitors can take part in a range of workshops, relax in the tearoom or visit the nail art booth by Boom Nails. You can even make your own Crafty Fox with the Seaside Sisters, screen print a shopping bag with Mr Wingate, write letters with Letter Lounge, or settle in a cosy corner for a knit and a natter. There’s a busy programme of activities over the weekend with local DJ’s providing the soundtrack.

It’s free entry and children are welcome – there’s even a dedicated parking area for buggies. The first 50 through the doors on each day will receive a Crafty Fox CD or an illustrated tea towel courtesy of Etsy.com. Visitors can also vote for their favourite stall and be in with the chance to win goodies from moo.com.

Waggy tails

I'll be joining my Seaside Sisters at Dog Day Afternoon at the Cabbage and Frocks market this Saturday from midday until 5pm in the grounds of St Marylebone Parish Church, London W1.

Alongside the lovely handmade stalls at this sweet market, will be their annual Dog Show, with competitions for the most waggy tail, owner lookalike competition, and the intriguingly named "ain't misbehaving" game.

The Seaside Sisters will be making some special doggy-related gifts alongside our usual range of vintage fabric and gocco printed accessories. There may even be puppies... Hope to see you there wagging your tail!

Winchester - part II

Still playing catch up... here's what we got up to at Handmade Winchester. The Guildhall was a lovely grand venue and brimful of lots of wonderful crafty people.

I was looking forward to my new stall set up with the Fabric Nation bunting and a traditional postcard spinner for my postcard purses.

Alas the pop-up card display was not! I met someone at the Makey Do as well with one of the same dreadful contraptions and he had ended up making his own. Looking around the craft fair I was impressed by the ingenious homemade displays people had constructed. Raspberry, had homemade clamps that could display her bags and string decorations across her stall. Hatastic used a chandelier, and Ruby May London made a rack for their teacosies. Funky Mutts had a homemade display for their dog collars with clever use of towel rails!

I had lovely neighbours in The Soap Fairy and 23 Beech Hill, with These Charming Things and Sarah Dodd across the way - I loved the table cloth These Charming Things had embroidered for their stall with cups and plates.

There are too many lovely crafters to mention, so for now I'm just going to mention some of the other textile crafters who were there too. I finally got to see the famous Half an Acre sock bunnies and saw more lovely textiles from Non Such and Menina Feliz, Junky Chicken, Kate Talbot, Monda, Coco Crafts and Tomato Tea, who along with Hearts and Skulls is setting up the oOak Tree network for crafters in the South. Kate Talbot's work was very inspiring, she is a textile illustrator and her work included pages from a children's stories and wonderful textile illustrations of tarty chaps and robots to name but a few!

And finally, lino prints from Five-in-the-morning. I had been admiring these online, so it was lovely to see these full size, and he had brought some of the linos too, which look amazing. I couldn't choose between the vegetable print and the fish.

It was a good day, thanks everyone for your hard work! And all of you who stopped by for a chat. Knitted biscuits all round (courtesy of Kate Talbot)!

Handm@de Craft Fair Cambridge 4th April

Really pleased to have just heard I will be at the Handmade Craft Fair in Cambridge Guildhall on 4th April. I'm looking forward to meeting the other 40 or so designers and crafters as well as a jaunt to Cambridge. I read about their last event in Oxford, it looked really successful and good fun. As well as a stunning array of crafts, there will also be goodie bags for the first 200 visitors featuring samples and gifts from the stall holders as well as other folksy and etsy sellers. A local charity, the Blue Cross animal adoption charity which rehomes cats and rabbits will also be there raffling off handmade prizes, donated by the stallholders. I'll be entering one of my handmade dogs into the raffle. Can't wait. I'll also be at the Makey do in Kent on July 11th, details to follow!