A very crafty 2 days at Stitches 2016

Hey there! Phew buiiiiiisy weekend! Freya and I were at CHSI ‘Stitches’- a ma-hoo-sive trade show at the NEC in Birmingham. We had a really great time and discovered so many innovative, inspiring and beautiful products I’m so excited right now!

We got to the show on Sunday morning buzzing with expectation and excitement!

Moda, a fashion buyers show, was on at the same time in the next hall.
There was a marked difference in the clientèle for each show! Moda was all skinny ankle carrot jeans, inch of make-up, flouncy coats and sunglasses- and that’s just the boys! I had a real moment of realisation that I might have finally found the real me as we walked past versions of my past self and towards the Stitches entrance to see handknit-clad, slightly dishevelled- in a creative way- types smiling as they looked forward to a day of crafty inspiration.

We made a bee-line for the seminars and workshops booking stand to see if we could get in to one of the clock making workshops for the following day but unfortunately we were a bit slow off the mark.

We’d scheduled in for a few seminars anyway which proved to be nice rest breaks between shopping! The first was on blogging (don’t you love that blogging still comes up in a spell check btw!) with our lovely new friends Hannah and Rosie from The New Craft House.

As award winning bloggers, they gave some great tips on how to write interesting content to keep you guys coming back for more. Hopefully you’ll see a marked improvement in my blogs!

As well as running a gorgeously inspiring blog – where it all started- they now sell a beautiful range of kits too! We bought the quilted make-up bag and hexi patchwork cushion cover kits for the Crafty Sew&So shop- I think they will fly out!

We also discovered These awesome PINK cutting mats! This brilliant company are really listening to what customers are looking for and took time to talk with us about what we looked for in a quilting accessories range- I’m really excited to get some of their really innovative products in – but I’m keeping schtm about what they are for now. You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled on our Crafty Sew&So Blog for more!

We discovered so many new ideas- if I was to share them all this post would be like war and peace- but a bit more pink! But we’ll be sharing all our news over the next few weeks as new products come into store- so keep an eye on our facebook page

More importantly than all the lovely products, was something I’d not considered so much beforehand, It was great to get away from the shop and spend some time with Freya. As we get busier and workshops fill up and our days whiz by even faster than ever, it was great to have a chance to stop and reflect on everything we’ve achieved in the past 6 months and get really excited together about what the future will bring.

We went to the Craft awards on Sunday night which was fun- We’ve both never been to an awards show before so it was a nice end to the first day. That evening over dinner we talked about marketing strategies, staffing, doing up our office, systems to make everything work more smoothly and also social stuff too. It was really great.

I felt for Freya having to go into the shop on Tuesday- by Monday night my feet were aching and I was looking forward to enjoying a short lie in the next day but that night my mind was whirling around and I was awake by 7am designing display units in my head and recalling all the gorgeous fabrics we chose!

I spent most of Tuesday morning working on a social media plan, inspired by Warren Knight’s  brilliant social media seminar. I tend to get bogged down and properly ‘into’ this kind of thing and before I know it the day is gone so I pulled myself away from the computor and made up the rest of the blocks for our 6 week patchwork for beginners course.

I reeeeally enjoyed doing this and I can’t wait to put it all together now with the help of our fantastic teacher Harriet. We’re so glad she’s agreed to run another course on Thursdays starting in April.

Happy sewing

Sarah x