Pins & Needles Show

Yesterday I went to the Pins & Needles Craft Show at Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. I wasn't going to go, but someone who had a ticket couldn't go at the last minute and she gave me her ticket, along with a ticket to a scrapbooking workshop. I drove down to the arena and was there in time to nab a disabled parking spot - few and far between! It opened at 10am so I got in and had a wander around while it was fairly quiet. I had a 10 minute sit down out in the foyer and a drink of water, then went back in and it was absolutely HEAVING! Couldn't get moved for people, and bloody push chairs! Why can't people leave their babies at home instead of putting them through that? It can't be pleasant for them with hoards of marauding crafters all around them, bashing them with bags and stampeding to get the best bargains. Poor little buggers.

Anyway...I found the Jayne's Attic stall. It was much bigger than she's had in recent years and it didn't seem to be as cluttered as it normally is (sorry Jayne but it did look cluttered in such a small space). She had lots of new goodies, two new designers on stand, and the usual suspects helping her man the stand - Sheila, Julia and Marion. They were the three I saw, dunno if there was anyone else over the three days. I was tempted by so much stuff there, but I decided to hold out a bit longer as funds were limited.

I went back out to the foyer to grab a seat and have another bottle of water. By this time it was almost noon and time for the workshop. I made my way to the workshop area and settled in for a really enjoyable hour and a quarter. Debbi Moore was the demonstrator. Apparently she's been on a few of the craft channels on TV, and in about six weeks time is going to be on QVC. I never watch the shopping channels, I don't think we have them on Freeview, so I'd never seen her before. She was really nice though and talked us through the basics of scrapbooking, with some very useful handouts. I'm not a complete novice at doing this, as I did books for Kate's 18th birthday, and also for her best friend Laura's 18th birthday. However, Debbi did have some excellent advice and tips, and after a quick talk, she let us rummage through her papers and we selected three each to tone in with each other. Then we had to design our own page and pretend we had photos to put on it. I did a wintery theme for mine and even if I do say so myself it looks pretty good. Mind you, I have no idea what the hell I'm gonna do with it. LOL.

After that, I wandered around the hall again and spent some money. The Knitting & Crochet Guild stand had some baby patterns for 50p each, so I bought some. Another stand had some baby wool so I bought 4 balls of white. I also bought a 'Quilters Quarter' and some charms from the LK stand. I then went back to Jayne's and treated myself to a pair of blue platinum (I think) scissors. Like I don't have enough pairs of scissors! I think I'm starting to get a serious fetish. I also bought three packs of Mill Hill beads for my collection.

I then went over to the Make & Take stand, run by one of Jayne's new designers, Debbie Johnson, who does the Letters tied with blue designs, sort of native American freestyle stitching. I did a little flower design which I was really rather pleased with.

So all in all a pretty good day, but I was glad to get home and have a comfy chair...I was absolutely knackered.