Happy Christmas me!

I think I was remiss in that I didn't do a sewing-related Christmas pressie post in December. Well, now is the time to let you know that one of James' Christmas gifts was a trip to Brussels to include a visit to CREATIVA - an exhibition for crafters. 

How exciting, I thought!  We couldn't really make much out from the website so I wasn't sure what to expect - but since we were spending the weekend in Brussels, along with our friends Sarah, Russel and baby Izzy, we didn't think it would matter if the exhibition turned out to be a flop.

Anyway, we caught the Eurostar last Friday, and on Saturday morning, Sarah and I left our menfolk in charge of the babies and the snack pots (they were headed for Antwerp Zoo) and we negotiated the Brussels tube system.

The day started well when a lovely french speaking lady gave us her spare tickets for the exhibition, as we walked up towards the entrance (thank you, whoever you are!) and then got even better as we walked into an enormous hall, and were handed a free sewing pattern and reusable bag to put all our goodies in...and then we looked up and saw...this

 Craft shopping heaven!

All morning was spent browsing up and down the isles, making sure we didn't miss anything. We were very controlled and the purses didn't come out until after lunch when we started filling up our shopping bags.  I would estimate that the hall was a third filled with paper crafting, a third with jewellery making and the most astonishing array of beads, findings and embellishments...and a third filled with fabric (joy!)

Want to see what I got?

Here's the haul:

• A large piece of french linen, printed with cream polka dots
• A funky roll of vinyl, printed with glossy magazine covers (I'm thinking insides of make-up bags)
• A metre of this "Big Daisy Dot" Michael Miller print

• A metre of that abstract design cotton (top middle - not my normal colours but I thought I'd add it to the stash)
• A large chunk of Echino
• Two stamps, one with text on, to give stamping on fabric a go!

•  Three fat quarters, including that gorgeous tape-measure fabric
• Plus a length of opulent ribbon and some Liberty binding

•  This fab vintage style fabric that I had to unfold before taking the picture, just so can see the fab-ness!

• A whole host of little bits and bobs - including a jar of teeny buttons, an "F" button (guess who that's for!), three reels of sewing related sticky tape and a little wooden red-riding hood (for what purpose, I'm not sure!)  

All in all, a VERY pleasing day, and the babies apparently loved the zoo (and they even got some sex education when some Condors decided to get...errr friendly!)

To top it off we found a cool fabric shop when wandering round an arty part of Brussels the next day where I picked up this zingy vinyl, and two metres of cotton by "Petit pan"

Hmm....more fabric is entering this house than is going out at the moment...I need to get sewing!

x