Knitting and Stitching Show at Edinburgh

I'm at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Edinburgh today, Friday and Sunday, and Glyn and Fiona will be there with my fabrics on Saturday (when I'm teaching).  Stand C16.  I have lots of 'new' vintage goodies!

The Knitting and Stitching Show at Edinburgh for the first time

Tomorrow afternoon will look something like this, as we set up for the first Knitting and Stitching Show at Edinburgh, which opens on Thursday and runs until Sunday.  Lots to do today to get ready!

The latest issue of Today's Quilter goes on sale in the shops on April 28th.  

I don't have a new quilt in this one but there's a great supplement this time, all about world textiles and featuring articles by and about many of our World Textile Day traders, including me.  I'm saving my copy for bedtime reading while I'm at the show.

The Knitting and Stitching Show is coming to Edinburgh

The Knitting and Stitching show is coming to Edinburgh for the first time on May bank holiday weekend 2016, on the showground but in a different hall to the one used for the Scottish Quilt Championships.  I have booked stand no. F40, so we will be there fabric trading.  I may even be persuaded to do some demo workshops.  The dates for your diary are 28th April - 2st May 2016.

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show 2014

Saturday before last we were at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate.  I was demoing on the Quilters' Guild stand, with one of the blocks from the 1718 coverlet, and Glyn helped out at Japan Crafts while it was busiest midday.  Afterwards, he joined us on the Guild stand and had a go at making hexagon rosettes.  It was the first time he'd stitched hexagons or done any English paper piecing.  We timed his second hexagon - 34 minutes.  I think he is hooked.

This year all the various guilds and groups had their stands in one of the basement halls rather than being squeezed into the much busier gallery and sales halls above.  It seemed to work out far better, because there was more space, so the hexagon rosette drop in session could be run on the stand itself and visitors had more space to see what was going on.  This year, the Guild focused more on current quiltmaking rather than bringing antique quilts - the '1718' hanging behind the table is a large digital print of the original - things that people could touch.  It was busy all day.

Towards the end of the afternoon, there was time for a little shopping (hand dyed yarn and a lovely piece of Irish tweed for me) and the galleries weren't as packed as when we arrived in the morning.  Our favourite gallery was by Zero3.   Some of the quilts were still for sale, so I have added prices - if you are interested, the quilters can be contacted via their website.

 

 

 "Dark Skies East" by Janine Ayres (£400).

"Sunset, Hastings Pier", also by Janine Ayres (£375).

"Luminescence" by Janet Atherton (£750)

"Changing Season" by Janet Twinn (£750)

"Textile Moon" by Cindy Kearney (£900)

"Gateway", also by Cindy Kearney (£1150).  These two were Glyn's favourites.

"Little Birds II' by Leslie Morgan (£1280).

"Playing with monoprinting" by Audrey Critchley (£575).

"Tuscan Landscape" by Janet Atherton (£750).

"How many mountains" by Leslie Morgan (£1240).

Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate

We visited the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate on Saturday - one of the shows where I usually go as a visitor, rather than as a demonstrator or trader.  The venue is huge with four main halls and a basement.  Out of the exhibitions this year, the one I enjoyed most was John Allen's gallery, 'The Forbidden Kingdom'.  He allowed me to take some photos of his work.  These are carpets - when we walked past the gallery on the way in, I thought they were woven tapestries, but they have a woven pile.  Read more about his work at his website, here.

From the main Twisted Thread website -

My new exhibition of carpets for the wall and mixed media pictures is called The Forbidden Kingdom. All the work has been inspired by Nepalese culture and landscape. I have travelled to Nepal for many years trekking in the high Himalayas and exploring old cultural sites. The exhibition is my creative response to my experiences and Nepalese visits. The work starts with figurative pieces which are slowly abstracted, with elements of decorative pattern and flowers being introduced. This work leads the way to the final section, which is totally decorative or abstract. This later work has been influenced by the strange mix so often observed in Nepal of the sophisticated being juxtaposed with the naive. Into this heady mix I have introduced my own western creative style and ideas. The mixture of religious cultures and architectural styles experienced in Nepal are not only fascinating, but visually stimulating and sometimes disturbing. Alien elements are often introduced in to traditional themes and used together, producing exciting sometimes disturbing, but always interesting, visual effects.

The exhibition at Harrogate included a lot of pieces inspired by the British landscape. Initially, this piece, 'Pink House' was my favourite - I like the way value and texture is achieved by patterning in black and white.

  

I like the areas of flat colour given texture by the carpet pile.

 

 

There was far more wool/fibre at this show than the last time I attended several years ago.  About six years ago, the show seemed to be going towards scrapbooking and papercrafts, and before that there was a LOT of cross stitch, so it's good to see it becoming more fibre oriented again.  There were so many gorgeous yarns and rovings, so plenty of materials to inspire, plus the quilting side of K & S seemed to be back to strength.  We enjoyed meeting friends from other shows but from the other side of the table this time.  A good day out and we were there the whole day.