Day 1 - Setting up

Once more the cavernous halls of the NEC in Birmingham are being transformed into a vibrant and colour-filled space. Today was set-up day for Fashion, Embroidery & Stitch held alongside Sewing for Pleasure and Hobbycrafts, the three shows in one, means there is most likely something for everyone. We like this show for its varied character and over the next four days I'll try to bring you some of that flavour. For now, here are a few shots of us trying to turn a blank canvas into something inspirational…

I made sure that this photo was taken at a far enough distance so you can't see my red nose - Amelie's cold has got me this week, but I'm vowing to be better by morning.

The organisers at ICHF who run the show provide all the tables and chairs for the stand which is just brilliant and saves us the grim job of lugging trestles from home. Instead, all we have to do is pop on some white tablecloths!

And a couple of hours later we're nearly done. The quilts are up, Linda's paintings are on the wall and the projector playing DMTV videos onto the back wall is even getting a road test.

I should probably have covered those white cloths with some lengths of hand dyes as they look really blank in the this photo, but by tomorrow morning there'll hopefully be so many visitors it won't matter!

Tom from Pfaff popped over and set up the Powerquilter for us. We're very much looking forward to being able to put the machine through it's paces this week. I had meant to bring the instruction book home tonight so I could swot up on how to thread it, but I forgot. If you come early tomorrow you might well find me thumbing through it!

The show's a nice opportunity for a few quilts who've only had a brief outing before to get another airing. On the table is my Husqvarna Diamond geared up for doing some digital embroidery/quilting.

Jamie's been printing non-stop so I hope we'll have enough fabric. You know how it is, impossible to predict the one fabric design that everyone will want this time!

My helpers.

A pile of sketchbooks for leafing through.

This is the tidiest the demonstration area is going to be all week so I thought I better record the moment. Amelie's high chair is tucked in there and I've packed a big bag of toys and books. I'm not sure how long her attention span will last. Wish us luck!

Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch opens tomorrow (20th March) until Sunday. All details on the website www.ichfevents.co.uk Our stand which we thought was ZL15 is abbreviated to L15. Hope to see lots of friendly faces over the next few days. More photos tomorrow….

Laura

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