Today I attended the craft fair at the Guildhall in Derry, and I'm feeling soooo festive! This craft fair always marks the beginning of the Christmas period for me. It's in a beautiful location, decorated with Christmas trees and fairy lights, and as you walk around in awe of all the lovely handmade treats on display, a string quartet plays to the crowd. I almost didn't make it today having spent the best part of the weekend in bed dosed with the flu. But there's nothing like a room full of craft to put the colour back into your cheeks!
This year I had a second reason for attending - being in the process of setting up Crafty Jemima I need to do a little market research. I got chatting to a few of the stall holders and got some much appreciated advice and guidance. Thanks in advance to everyone who agreed to answer a few further questions via email. An extra specially big thanks to Julie Bell from Joolly Woolly, Sinead McLochlainn from Happy Banshee and Aine Clarke from Hansel and Gretel Knits for giving me plenty to think about! Check out their websites - they really do make the most beautiful things.
Having been a fan of Hansel and Gretel Knits for a couple of years I was overjoyed to discover that the lovely lady behind the label has only gone and opened a shop in Pump Street, Derry! Annoyingly I have no little ones to buy her hand knits for, but I'm sure I'll make many a trip there to cheer myself up on a gloomy day.
Anyway now that the countdown to Christmas has officially begun I really need to get my skates on and craft some more. I'm planning to do quite a bit of sewing this week, much to Pearl's delight. (Pearl being my sewing machine - she's a Singer!)
Hi Nerys,
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful craft fair, wish I could've gone too! Hope you're feeling better. Feel free to ask me any questions you have (re twitter request) and I'll try and help. I don't however have a vast knowledge! I started Little Eve in June and I'm learning new things as I go along. I'm offline for a few days because of tree removal activities at our place. A very noisy business!
Cathy