Handmade Cambridge

We did it! And had a lovely day. After an very early start from London, we arrived in Cambridge at the lovely Guildhall. Such a wonderful setting. We were bathed in pools of gentle sunlight from the huge stained and leaded glass windows that lined the hall and were overlooked by startled dignitaries from Cambridge's past. A lovely blue and gold organ dominated the top of the hall - I loved the colours of this.

We had a fabulous day, mainly down to the organisation by Deepa and co. I was very impressed by the enthusiastic goodie bag disher-outer! And met lots of lovely people. The other Handmade sellers are a fab bunch of people and I could have spent all day chatting. I had lovely neighbours in the form of Lazy Giraffe, Paper Leaf, Xtina Lamb and Cozzee Cuddles over the way. And every one's work looked so impressive. Beautifully made, inventive and original and all displayed with much flair and verve! I especially liked Made by Kate's stand.

I panicked about the table size having measured up and found that the table was 2 feet longer than my dining table, but of course not so wide! So dogs were jostling for space on my table with cats, cushions, brooches, gocco prints and purses.

I was really pleased with my postcard purses, these are a new addition along with the vintage fabric and wool backed cushions. I got lots of very encouraging feedback on these and the dog brooches were popular too. It was really inspiring to get so much positive feedback, and to see everyone else's work for real. And I won in the raffle! One of Acorn Attic's sweet cupcake bags. I was also very pleased that Timmy the dog was adopted by the lovey Sarah from Lapwing Printworks.

Work I had admired online looked even more impressive on display, and it was so good to meet so many lovely people and hear about their work. The visitors were all very enthusiastic too, and many older ones reminisced about some of my fabrics! I took a few pictures, but couldn't stay away from my stall long enough to snap everyone, so for a complete photo show, have a look at the Handmade and Twinkly Spangle flickr sets. Pictured here are Helena Carrington, Hannah Chan and Xtina Lamb.

I loved Xtina's gocco bunting, and this summed up our feelings when we got home after a very long day...

Thanks Deepa and co for all your hard work!

Looking forward to seeing you all again at Handmade Winchester!

Hamdm@de Cambridge - meet the designers...

Between now and the end of the month I will be featuring sellers who will be exhibiting at Handmade Cambridge on April 4th. This week, here's a peek at some of the lovely textile based work that will be on offer. Pictured above is one of Namolio's elephants. Namolio works mainly in linen to produce beautiful coasters, pincushions and toys, a graphic designer by trade, her work has a gentle, calm quality. Helena Carrington's textiles suggest an illustration background with her range of travel inspired, digitally printed interior textiles, accessories, photography and art pieces. I love the mix of colours and text on this Camping in France cushion.

Poor Robin creates bright and cheerful button bracelets, felt cuffs, pendants hair clips and other handmade gifts, celebrating all that is joyful and chromatic! I can't resist anyone that combines orange and blue, my fave colour combination.

And finally, lucky visitors to Handmade Cambridge will have the chance to pick up one of Cozee Cuddles handmade quilts. This one is made with mix of cotton fabrics and even the flowers are filled to make them extra cosy!

Next week I'll be featuring the knitters and hookers!

Handm@de Oxford

Yippee! I'm also going to here, Handmade Oxford on November 29th 2009 at the Town Hall in Oxford from 11am until 5pm. This looked like such fun last year. What a nice way to start the weekend and thanks to the organisers for making this all happen! Have a lovely weekend everyone.

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!