This weekend I was invited to a Bloggers workshop at the second summer Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts Show was held at the NEC in Birmingham. For those who haven’t heard of the venue, it’s the National Exhibition Centre and one of the largest exhibition spaces in the UK. The last time I was here on Plutonium Muffins business was for CHSI Stitches. I was delighted to be invited back to enjoy the retail equivalent this weekend.
Bloggers Workshop
On Saturday morning, a Bloggers Workshop was held for those of us in the blogging world who like to talk about their crafting online. I was honoured to be included in the guest list, along with people including Jenni of #SewingRevolution, the lovely Hayley from Craftaholique, Julie from Sum of their Stories, among others. The workshop showcased two different crafts with a couple of guest tutors, and was an hour and a half of sociable crafting with muffins, tea and coffee galore.
Sociable crafting around a table on a Saturday morning is something that can be hard to find in everyday life. Although I do have a few friends who craft, few of them are as over the top about it as I am! We also all have those pesky lives that get in the way of creating, so the chance to engage in some making while talking about topics ranging from how hard it is to cut in a straight line, to winning the Australian Lotto, was utterly delightful.
Gift boxes with Crafty Devils
The first of the two activities was papercrafting. We were supplied with a template, some paper, glue and pens. We then set to work assembling a little paper gift box. Running the session was Crafty Devils, with a couple of samples, an excellent variety of decorated papers, and hair to make anyone jealous! I assembled my little box, and gave it to my friend Beth that night.
It was fun doing a workshop in something I would never normally choose to do!
Tapestry with Tina Francis
The second activity was tapestry, run by Tina Francis. Having done a lot of cross stitch recently, this was much more in my comfort zone, and something I hadn’t tried out before. The canvas is very different to Aida or linen, and using yarn instead of embroidery floss was definitely novel!
My first attempt ended up so wonky that I couldn’t even fit it into the brooch we were provided with. More practice is required! The second attempt was much better, and I’ve got a brooch to be remind me of a lovely day. As a bonus, I’ve got plenty of ideas of what to do with all my excess yarn.
Exploration time!
We were then let loose on the show. I’d taken along my lovely friend Ricky, of Wonderwool and felting fame, and we enjoyed walking around looking at everything on offer. His blog is here. We both have a problem when we spend time together at crafting events, or even just with the wonderful world of Internet shopping available to us. We encourage each other to shop, shop, shop!
Luckily we both recognise that fact, and we were relatively restrained! I did come away with a small collection of items. At least I didn’t get a spinning wheel this time… These stashquisitions, as well as the gifts I got at the workshop, can be found on YouTube here.
I’ll post all of that another time. I think it’s time to actually do some craft rather than just talking about it!
Much love,
Corrie xx
