With quilts selected and rolled, everything made, packed and priced, it's time to load up the car
which seems to include everything but the kitchen sink. And before you ask, no we didn't take the vacuum cleaner!
Loading the car ready is like a game of Jenga in reverse and Terry has become quite the expert. I just carry and hold, I know better than to make 'helpful' suggestions...
Over the years our essential kit has become quite impressive and this year we splashed out on our own cordless drill. We're women who clearly know how to have fun!
See the festival trolley? It comes into its own at times such as these and I did notice that a lot more smaller stand holders have realised the benefit too. We tend to dump everything down in a heap and then get started. We do have a plan, even thought to the uninitiated it probably doesn't look as though we do.
Build up is a long day with little time for tea and cakes, but I'd like to think over the years we've developed a good system. Being the taller one Terry gets to wield the power tools, spirit level and hang the quilts. I'm a dab hand at dressing the tables, sorting stock and handing up the correct length screw when required. I also take the photographs - well, one of us has to step up to the plate!
It all takes time, but we do like everything to be 'just so' and judging by the comments I over hear visitors making I think we get it right most of the time.
Our stand is colourful, bright and definitely well stocked. As our signs say 'Everything on the stand was white until we dyed it'!
Once we've straightened and tweaked, fiddled and poked the stock into order it's time to cover it all up and go to check into our hotel
and , of course, we definitely deserve one of these at the end of build up day!
The next morning all is revealed: thread...a festival of stitch! at Farnham Maltings
or in the Quilting in action area of The Festival of Quilts at the NEC Birmingham
and just this last few days, at The West Country Quilt and Textile Show, UWE Bristol.
Don't you just love our shelves? We were very please with ourselves...thanks IKEA! In fact, where would be without IKEA for equipping both our studio and stand?!
At shows we love catching up with old friends and students and making new ones too. Helping customers select just the right colour fabric or thread,
demonstrating and sharing our passion for fabric printing with all manner of junk, as well as
teaching a variety of workshops and sharing the delight of learning a new skill. In fact 14 year old Millie even ran a poll on her Instagram feed afterwards so her friends could vote on who had made the best brooch - her or her mum. Millie won!
This year I was thrilled at the Festival of Quilts when one of last year's workshop attendees brought back her sample to show me - and buy more of our thread so she could finish it. We had such a lovely chat and catch up - she said that the workshop had awakened a love of hand stitching and now she was hooked. A teacher can't ask for a better endorsement than that!
Of course, we need help manning our stand at shows so we can go and teach workshops and have a sneaky look at the show ourselves! So here's a big thank you to Neel and Gill for helping out at this year's Festival of Quilts and of course the fantastic Christine who also came down and helped in Bristol as well- she also keeps us fed and watered with sandwiches and the occasional gin-in-a-tin(after the show, of course !) We couldn't manage without you. And of course not forgetting my Mum, who for the last 10 years or so, has come along every Saturday of the Festival of Quilts and brought us lunch - thanks mum x
Of course, we need help manning our stand at shows so we can go and teach workshops and have a sneaky look at the show ourselves! So here's a big thank you to Neel and Gill for helping out at this year's Festival of Quilts and of course the fantastic Christine who also came down and helped in Bristol as well- she also keeps us fed and watered with sandwiches and the occasional gin-in-a-tin(after the show, of course !) We couldn't manage without you. And of course not forgetting my Mum, who for the last 10 years or so, has come along every Saturday of the Festival of Quilts and brought us lunch - thanks mum x
But we can't please everyone all of the time, Morgan-the-Pirate has clearly had more than enough of accompanying his mum and gran around the quilt show and now has other things on his mind. Still at least InStitches could provide him with a chair!
We have just one more show to go before we resume our teaching schedule and that is when we open the doors of our studio and invite you all to come and visit us as part of the Wokingham Arts Trail on the weekend of 23rd/24th September. Pencil it in your diary so you don't forget - we'd love to see you and...sssh! there may be a HUGE surprise, no clues....you'll just have to come and find out for yourself!
Hazel & Terry
Both children in this blog appear with the permission of their parents.
We have just one more show to go before we resume our teaching schedule and that is when we open the doors of our studio and invite you all to come and visit us as part of the Wokingham Arts Trail on the weekend of 23rd/24th September. Pencil it in your diary so you don't forget - we'd love to see you and...sssh! there may be a HUGE surprise, no clues....you'll just have to come and find out for yourself!
Hazel & Terry
Both children in this blog appear with the permission of their parents.
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