Christmas Fair at Samlesbury Hall

The day is nearly dawning when Tracey & I forge ahead with the craft fair at Samlesbury Hall.
I think we have everything at hand, boxes sorted, labels made & outfits at the ready.

We are taking suitable Christmas items along with our normal array of eclectic items ie tray dyed scarfs, bags, cards, etce etc.

We are known as the Three Stitches, but have been reduced down to Two, as Caroline is off to fair climes. She will however not escape from the fair at Chipping!!!!

Below are the details of the Samlesbury Christmas Fair.

Chrtismas Fair, Sunday 30th November at Samlesbury Hall, Preston New Road, Samlesbury, Preston, Lancs PR5 0UP T 01254 812010. www.samlesburyhall.co.uk

11.00am to 4.00pm -Craft stalls, Christmas food sampling, refreshments & ample free parking.

Father Christmas visiting 12 noon to 2.00pm.

Adults £3.00 & Children £1.00.

Hope to see you there??

Results not good despite loads of people & our stall looking spectacular - it didn't help being on the end in the middle of the Great Hall & next to a cheap Chinese imported items stall, which really drew in the children & most mothers by passed ours.

Anyway better luck at Chipping Christmas Fair on Sunday 7th December 12.00 to 6.00????

Photos of craft stall at Samlesbury Hall are below;

Tray Dyeing Session at home

On 12th Nov I ran a  tray dyeing & decolourant workshop in my home. I can accommodate 2 students (just about!)

It was very successful & both Diane & Nicky enjoyed the day- as did Sky the Dog!

I had decided to run this workshop as a test to see if it would work & to iron out any problems, as tray dyeing is a difficult one to run as a day workshop.(the fabric is best left overnight in the trays)

I mixed the dyes up before the workshop started as this takes a fair bit of time & you need to be precise with the measurements.

So when we started at 11.00 all was in order & ready to go!

I had decided that we would manipulate the fabrics & dye them before lunch, and after we would play with decolourant on some ready dyed silk scarves & plain dark fabrics.

This order worked well & I can now make this into a day workshop. Funily enough I have now been asked to do a workshop at Alston Hall, & have agreed to run this workshop on 6th May 2015.

Here are some photos from the day

Diane trying out the decolourant on a silk scarf

Busy Bees!

Nicky & Diane at work

Trays stacked on cooker ready for the long soak.

novel idea for a bin!

Nicky's washing!

The Mystery of the Embellisher-Solved!

The workshop went very well, with a small friendly group of ladies attending. The 'newbies' to the technique soon cottoned on & were well away. The results were some lovely & very interesting pieces of work,

I think everyone went home feeling more confident with their machines, despite broken needles & screw driver problems- why oh why do manufacturers tighten screws on their machines so much, and make it so fiddly to change needle?.

My thanks go to my friend Caroline who popped in after lunch to act as my technician, and make numerous cups of tea. Of course more importantly she helped my clear up & also load & unload my car at home.

Of course I still have to put all the stuff away, which I left in piles in the hall to sort out today.

Judith & Pam

Michelle, Val & Rosie

Here are some photos from the day. Despite none of the pieces being completely finished, they all look great & have potential as hangings.

We used pieces of light fabric, cotton, silk, scrim etc, with wool & silk tops included.

Great Day- what can be acheived by using a silly sewing machine with no thread!!!