Craft & Quilt Fair

If you haven't been to the Craft & Quilt Fair at least once before, then you're not really a crafty person. Held this past weekend at the Melbourne Exhibition Center in Southbank this years fair was fantastic. I think out of all the trade fairs i attend this one would be my favorite. The Craft & Quilt fair brings together not just quilting and craft vendors but also beading, jewellery and scrapbooking, there are plenty of brand new gizmos and machines on display for you to try out and just as many over eager sales reps happy to take your money for them too. It's basically like going to a big crafty shopping center, and they don't just sell "granny style" products either, there's plenty on offer for all ages and personal tastes. Kelani Fabric Obsession are one of my favorites, though a little pricey i find there boutique designer fabrics very inspiring.


But the Craft & Quilt fair in not just about the shopping. Whilst at the show you can participate in more then 65 workshops from free seminar-style classes featuring plastic garden chains and poorly rigged up mics which either give constant feedback or are set to quite. Here you can listen to experts talk about new product and how to use them. The fair also features something called "The Craft Circle" these are small school group-like hands on tutorials set up at the back of the fair, where participants buy a "kit" from a vendor and are shown how to create the kit. This year i signed up for something called "Air Dry Enameling". I have always wanted to learn enameling but the cost had prevented me in the past, so when i read about this new way of applying enamel i had to sign up. The "kit" basically contained a large alloy silver pendant and shared use of the enameling products. I choose this super cute daisy, the petals provided a great surface to work on and practice my new skill.


So happy was i with the finished product, i spent a small fortune on new enameling products and because i participated in the class, i was given some for free. As soon as i got home i began colouring my own settings, pendants and charms. Expect to see some very colourful creations coming up soon.

Paperific Came to Town (and so did the storms)

This past weekend the Melbourne Show Grounds played host to Paperific - a wonderful trade fair for Scrapbookers and papercrafters alike. Paperific is held twice a year in Melbourne in March and August and brings together papercraft retailers from all over the country, with free demos, advice, show specials and ATC swaps this trade fair is while worth a visit.
For me personally, although i'm not a scrapbooker i find this show a great place to gather odds and ends that often find there way into my jewellery designs. And secretly i horde things like paper punches and rubber stamps which are far too expensive to posted too us here in the country.

This years fairs lacked a little from previous events (some of my favorite where not there this time), the day was still worth the 2 hour drive to attend - and then the storms came. While my sister and i where making our final purchases there rumbled some of the loudest thunder i heard in recent times. Then can the hail - yes the picture is real - that is hail inside the exhibition building, rain began to pour in through the light fittings and eventually flowed into the trading area, causing the place to be evacuated and bringing to end the fair a day early. I feel for the vendors and those who traveled to get to the fair and only just arrived before the storm hit. But thankfully the event will be back later on this year.