Tales from the Sea Garden

Tales from The Sea Garden

Email me: theseagarden@btinternet.com

Wednesday 28 March 2012

A week in London


So Gertie, Patsy and I are back from our expedition to London to exhibit at the Country Living Spring Fair - but oh how nice it is to be back home! I wish the Fair was only three days long instead of five; it is so exhausting! As the winners of the Editor's Choice Award last year we were given a great spot right at the front of the mezzanine, with three metres of frontage, an absolute luxury!


Here's how the finished stand looked:


And yes, Mum and I took everything up on the train with us in suitcases!


On the wall I hung this old child's quilted silk coat, which provided the perfect backdrop for my little vintage fabric brooches



The base for each brooch was a piece from an old padded patchwork quilt


The one below has a beautiful hand-stitched Dorset button (top right), and eleven of the tiniest mother-of-pearl buttons still on their original card



 I just love working with little bits!




One of Gertie's linen cushions, with the front panel made from original Suffolk puffs from the 1920's


Patsy had this wonderful idea of making bunting out of 1940's and 50's fashion magazines, showing knitting and embroidery patterns!





I covered the side wall with old sea charts, and the seaside theme was echoed in the stripy ticking bags made by Patsy,




and her strings of bunting and hand-stitched books made from old maps and sea charts.


I managed to make a few small shell collages too






On one of the shelves, a little drawer with my latest stitched piece displayed inside


It says, 'you are sew lovely'


Hair grips embellished with vintage buttons, and cards of buttons made simply to show off the beauty of each individual button


And one of my natural box-framed collages


'Hours fly, flowers die;
New days, new ways
pass by;  Love stays'






It was so nice to meet everyone who visited The Sea Garden stand at the fair, and to say hello to some fellow bloggers. One of my lovely customers, Jan Pearson, sneakily took this photo of me arranging the cards. Thanks Jan! x














10 comments:

  1. Christine, the stand was exquisite! I only wish there had been fewer people around so I could have really stood back and taken it all in. WHat brilliant attention to detail. I bought some sets of Suffolk Puffs and some vintage fabric bundles - already made a lovely cushion with some of the pieces.

    Wish now I had bought some more but it was a crush, wasn't it?
    We chatted about whether I had a blog, which I just about have, and when I've got my head round it I'd love to have your blog in the side bar - bit I haven't worked out how to do it yet. I shall be blogging about the Fair and your stand next post, hope you will pop over and read it. Well doen again on a fab stand! I hope you did very well for all your hard work!
    Lynne from Textile Treasury

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  2. Your booth was wonderful & as creative as last year's... well I only look from Australia at the photos... come decorate my booth in July !!! You have such a wonderful creative way of display... and carrying it all on the train in suitcases..You are amazing...
    Barb

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  3. PS Have you thought of a book???? it's half done !!!
    Barb

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  4. Hi Chrisitne, posted yesterday but it appears to have got lost. Thought your stand was brilliant - and not surprised it won 'best of show' last year.

    I bought some lovely sets of 30's 'yo-yo's' and a couple of bundles of vintage fabrics which I have already started turining into cushion covers. Wish I had been able to browse a bit more but it was very busy, wasn't it?

    Trying to list you in my blog side bar but am such a beginner I haven't figured it out yet! Will be posting about the CL Fair soon.

    Lynne at Textile Treasury.

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  5. absolutely beautiful, creative stand!...you have made such a wonderful job of the art of display! be very proud of yourselves...and to carry it all up to london in suitcases reminds me of my last year exhibition on my degree in textiles in London...my arms were falling off carrying everything to London, I totally understand how you both must have felt...thanks for sharing your photos- very inspiring ;0)

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  6. What a terrifically good looking stall!
    Would love to have been there!
    Hope you did well with lots of follow up sales too!

    Best wishes,

    Sandie xx

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  7. I thought the work you put into the stand was amazing, it must have been you I passed on Tuesday on my way in, to my stand G42 with my fledgling business My Aunt Agatha, upstairs, slowly pinning all those lovely pages on the wall.You have really inspired me for my next fairs and have made me think about what I want to do with my stand ( I had kept the walls white this time - what a fool ! hahaha).
    Lovely to hear from a fellow blogger.. I have just done a post about the show as well...the link is below.
    http://moderncountrylady.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/fabulous-adventure-of-country-living.html

    I loved the antique sheet with the monogram you had, so goegeous.My mum collects old lace and embroidery ( mm might have inherited a bit of the love :-) ) and has a few of those.. gorgeous!
    I think we need more people like you! But I agree the show is very very long and quite tiring!
    Have a great weekend!
    XOXO
    Bea
    Modern Country Lady Blog
    My Aunt Agatha

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  8. What an amazing stand full of goodies. Looks fab. Hope it was successful for you. Really can't believe you took all that in your suitcases!!

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  9. absolutely BEAUTIFUL WORK....I would love to see your work in person....

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