Woolfest

I have a lot of catching up to do again as most of my time has been taken up with working on my quilt for Festival of Quilts.  More of that in a future post.  What I havn't had time to talk about is our trip to Cumbria at the end of June to go to Woolfest.  I've seen adverts for Woolfest for several years but never managed to go so this year we decided to make the effort.

Woolfest is held annually in Cockermouth cattle market and the stalls are all set out in the pens.  The setting is eccentric and as well as showcasing all things woollen and fibre-y it showcases many rare breeds of the wonderful providers of said fibres, sheep.

The exhibition fills two halls and it was lovely browsing up and down the aisles seeing all the amazing things people make with wool and fibres.  

If you click on the photo above you can see the name of these very cuddly sheep.

Sedbergh, Farfield Mill and Pagoda Arts of Liverpool were advertising an upcoming Sheepfest at Sedbergh in September with a variety of manmade sheep in amusing poses and a coat of many colours woven by 650 children, each square hiding its secret dream in its lining.
 

If you get a taste for a fibre festival from this post you can catch Sheepfest here.  

This weaving above is Saori weaving which is a very free way of weaving.  I would love to be able to do something like this.

These coats above, left to right,  are made by Linda Chapman (Cobble Coat) and Ruth Strong (Flora of the Fells) (I didn't get the name of the third coat, sorry).

I was tempted to do a little shopping with the Woolly Pedlar.

You'll have to wait and see exactly what my dear DH bought me from this stall.  It's far too warm to model it at the moment ;-)

The best part of going to exhibitions is the people you meet up with.  This time was no exception and I met up with the very lovely Jackie Cardy who had a stall selling her beautiful brooches and pictures.

I sneaked up on Jackie and took a photo of her while she was deep in conversation.
 

Her stall was kept very busy all day.  Sadly I didn't think to get a photograph of the two of us together.  Doh!

Before I finish I would like to refer you to the work of Iona Mackenzie Laycock.  I had a lovely chat with her about her stunning work but again didn't get a photograph.  Iona's work incorporates fibre and paint and she has spent a long time perfecting her technique.  If you get the chance to see her work it is well worth seeing.  It is so vibrant!