Friday 17 February 2012

Textiles in Focus

I've had a lovely day out today with Wendy and Tina at Textiles in Focus in Cottenham near Cambridge.  Wendy very kindly drove us down there and we were soon enjoying this very friendly show.  

The Show consisted of two main exhibitions by Out of The Fold textile group from Bury St Edmunds and Running With Scissors (for whom I cannot find any internet reference).  Sadly no photography was allowed but you can read about the artists involved in Out of the Fold if you click on the link.  I was particularly impressed by the work of Jane Rowland and Caroline Brown who had a magnificent stitched sculpture.  

The bulk of the show consisted of two halls of traders stands with the emphasis more on stitch and surface design than on quilting which made a refreshing change. 


It was lovely to see my friends from Art and Stitch from Peterborough (in the photo above).





We decided on the spur of the moment to do a workshop to make a twisted bead necklace and earrings.  The workshop was very relaxed and I learnt enough to be able to continue at home and also to adapt the technique for decoration and embellishment.  

By the time we came out of the workshop there was just time to find Lynda Monk's stand and enjoy a chat with her.  She had a  lot of work on display including work from her book Fabulous Surfaces



If you purchase Lynda's book you can download extra free lessons from the d4daisy site.  Lynda is not only a very talented artist but a very generous lady.  I'm looking forward to seeing her again at the Fashion Embroidery and Stitch Show at the NEC in March.

I have to admit to a very little shopping which consists of a few threads and some evolon so not worth the photograph.  If you live within reach of Cambridge the Textiles in Focus show is on over the weekend and is well worth the journey.  The Show is small enough to get round easily but large enough to be worth the effort, especially if you are into textile art, embroidery, knitting or fibre work and there is quilting fabric from Art and Stitch and The African Shop on offer among others.  Refreshments are available throughout the day so you don't need to go hungry or thirsty.

10 comments:

Sharne Gregory said...

So glad that you enjoyed your first visit to TIF. I dont need to buy anything apart from the new Brusho colours from AVG, but there again I could be easily tempted/led astray. lol

Heather said...

That looks like a fantastic show - I recognised Lynda Monk's pieces from her book and blog. She is so clever.
Nice to fit in a workshop during your visit. Thanks for sharing.

Su said...

I was there too! It was my first visit too and I thought it was excellent. I didn't do a workshop, but maybe next year I will. Maybe we walked straight past each other without even realising!

imac said...

Neat work.

3rd try at verification lol

Emma said...

Sounds a great venue, I'm looking forward to Creative Stitches in Glasgow beginning of March.

Gina said...

Pleased you enjoyed your first visit to TIF. I was sad to miss it this year.

Linda’s Textiles said...

Looks great - you are lucky to be close to many interesting shows and people. Thankfully we have the internet now!
Thanks for commenting, you're entered in the draw.

Maggi said...

Glad you had a good time Julie. I so wanted to go and there were some workshops hat I would have loved to do too.

Angela said...

Hi Julie it was lovely to see you at Cottenham. Glad you enjoyed it, I thought the exhibitions were great.

Linda Vincent said...

Well you can't beat arty days out with friends ;-) Glad to see you had a great day.....
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