Thread

Friday afternoon saw the start of Thread at Farnham Maltings.  Thread is a sewing event, held in the same place as Unravel.  My initial feeling was that it was not as vibrant as Unravel; it wasn't as busy, but then I was there on the Friday and there were not as many sellers.  The stalls that were there were full of tempting delights and the displays were beautiful.  This was only the second time this event has been held and I suspect that as word gets around it will get bigger and bigger.

On arrival I headed down into the Cellar Bar, stopping first to admire this silk kimono, "Yellow Shell" tate kasuri by Nao Fukumoto.

In the cellar local guilds had set up some beautiful displays.  The stitch work on the Basingstoke Embroiderers' Guild stand was stunning!  I particularly loved these embroideries of the calendar months

and the use of colour on this panel.

Also in the cellar were the West Surrey Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

and the Farnham Quilters.

There were several free workshops running throughout the event and I participated in the Introduction to Quilting Workshop, where we each machine-stitched a nine patch.  The lady who taught us had been quilting for 17 years and whilst we were stitching she imparted a lot of useful information to help get us started in quilting.  Maybe I will manage to make that quilt for our bed that I have been planning for so long after all! :)

I then went upstairs to the Barley Room and Tannery to look at the exhibits there.

This display was part of What Delilah Did and featured projects from the Stitch the Halls book.  I particularly liked the felt chain

and the cross-stitched bunting.

Back downstairs and the market place was situated in the Great Hall.

Pretty dresses on the Ray Stitch stand.

 Having previously stated that there were not a large amount of sellers at Thread, I still managed to spend out! :)

I love anything to do with toadstools so this fabric was a must-buy.  I plan to make a cushion with it and I bought the linen thread to make a crocheted decoration for the cushion.  I made a slight error and picked up one 3-ply instead of all 5-ply, but I'm sure I can work it out.  I don't always read everything properly nowadays - a sure sign of age!! ;)

I can't resist anything fox or cat related.  The bottom two fabrics are for a project bag and the top fox fabric is for another planned cushion.  I don't know what the cat fabric is for yet.

Another project bag maybe?  I love seedheads!

I would like to make some woodland critters out of felt and this bundle looks just perfect for that.

I bought this for the wooden bobbin, from an unknown mill, but the thread included on it was a bargain at £2.

And of course there had to be buttons!  These wooden and mother of pearl ones were from Ray Stitch.  There were so many to choose from, but bearing in mind that I have quite a button collection I tried to be restrained this time. ;)