Hobbycrafts And Sewing For Pleasure At The NEC

One of my christmas presents this year was a ticket to The Hobbycrafts and Sewing fo pleasure show at the NEC this week, 24th - 27th March. Details can be found here .

I went on Friday and the show was absolutely packed with women. The car park was home to several coaches from all over. Many women walked with trolleys, obviously intending to spend spend spend!! The first hall was mainly for card makers with each stall selling everything you could possibly want for card making. It had been my intention before i went to make sure i looked out for a stand selling the BigShot Sizzix machine so i could have a demo and see if it was really something that would be worth buying for myself.

I wasnt disappointed as THE CRAFT BUG had a stand there specialising in machines and dies and they were able to answer all my questions which resulted in my OH declaring that he was buying me one for my birthday! They were £20 cheaper than the one i had looked at in Hobbycraft the other week so it made sense to buy it then and there.

And here it is.




As my OH had bought the machine i needed to get a couple of DIES to get me started. They were selling at £12 each with an offer of 3 for £33 so i went with the offer! These are the 3 i chose but have since had a look at their website and made a list of 6 others i want!

Another purchase i made yesterday was some fabric that i spotted looking very lonely in a basket on the stall of a lady selling wooden hanging plaques. Not sure what i'm doing with it yet but i'm sure i will think of something!!

As i said the lady was selling hanging plaques and very kindly let me take a photo of the stall, as it was one of my personal favourites and she was very welcoming and friendly.

You can find more of her work at www.woodenheartco.com and i see she also has a shop on folksy .

As well as all that i also bought some fabric squares for pin cushions from a company called PINFLAIR .

Have a look on their site for all your craft requirements as they seem to do quite a range of items.

And then i found spotty buttons so i had to have some!! They were supplied by CRAFTY RIBBONS and what a selection of ribbons they had. Take a look at their site for more info and i've also just found their blog which i will be having a good read of when i have time.

After a quick spot of lunch we came across two lovely ladies working hard at a small table with polymer clay. Now i bought 4 or 5 packs or fimo in the summer with the intention of making buttons but the ones i made didnt really look quite right and i was interested in learning more so they talked me thru a few processes.

Even my OH found their demonstration really fascinating and we both felt we had learnt something. You can buy clay and other materials from their website CLAYAROUND .

To end my days spending spree i popped by the JANOME sewing machine stand to ask for a new foot for my machine that i could use when trying to embroider a design, as with my present foot i cant see the pattern i am sewing and this foot has a wider eye so i can see.

I will let you know the result. If you are a janome machine owner you may be interested in this blog i follow SEW JANOME

I left the show at 4pm feeling exhausted and rather poor, but excited by my new goodies i had purchased. Definately a great christmas present.

The HobbyCrafts show returns to the NEC in November from the 3rd to the 6th and will be accompanied by Crafts For Christmas Show. One ticket gets you into both shows. Full details can be found on the ICHF Events site .

Thanks for popping by.

Until next time.

xxx