One of my favourite past times - visiting craft shows!

I visited the Craft Show at Rosehill at the weekend and, while there was not much in the way of qilling supplies, there were quite a few exhibitors with card-making, stamping and scrapbooking supplies. Of course there was quilting, patchwork, embroidery, tapestry and candle wicking suppliers and lots of beading.

I picked up an interesting product called Perlen-Pen which adds "shimmering half-round pearl drops on your textiles, hand made greeting cards and scrapbooking". It is in a plastic bottle allowing you to squeeze drops of the product out to form the pearls. It was $10.00 for 25ml and would be very economical for anyone who likes to add pearls to their work.

I think this is a rather new product as, when I googled Perlen-Pen, most of the sites seemed to be in Dutch. I purchased this product from Posh Pendants but I am sure this product will become more readily available

I also attended a Make and Take workshop with Posh Pendants using another new product which which is eamelling without having to use a kiln. It costs about $4.00 a bottle and I bought a few colours. I hope this is not one of those products I buy and put in the cupboard for later use.

The most exciting item I bought was the Embellish Knit. When I was a child sewing machine thread had wooden spools and we collected these, hammered four nails in and spent our time "french knitting". Then came Knitting Dollies (aka Knitting Nancy) made of plastic which gave the same result but lost some of the adventure. Now they have mechanised the french knitting dolly and you just turn the handle and the French Knitting comes out at such a fast pace. You can use this tubular knitting for embellishments like frogging or flowers or use it as a yarn to knit or crochet scarves, bags or whatever you fancy.

Had wonderful time at the Craft Show, saw what I wanted to, discovered some new and interesting products and spent more than I intended and isn't this what craft shows are all about?

Not everything in quilling is easy to master.

Is it Worth the Pain?

I twist, I turn and fold it,
I do not think this is right.
I curse, I yell and throw it,
Did they say to roll it tight?

I crease, I roll and bend it
And now I'm feeling queazy,
Again curse, yell and throw it
They said it would be easy.

Fifty tried and thrown away
But think I'm getting nearer.
This is good, what do you say?
(Instructions could be clearer.)

To continue is it wise?
Tell me is it worth the pain?
Yes it is, surprise, surprise,
I have made a rose again!

Jocelyn - March 2011

Quilling and Poetry - love them both

I really love poetry and I hope to get back to writing verse. A member of the Creative Quilling Forum began a stream on poems about quilling so here is my first effort (in the form of an acrostic).

Discovering Quilling

Quite a few to choose from but
Until I find the best bit,
Its a maze of buy and try
Lest I should fail to test it.
Look all around the craft shop,
It needs to be fulfilling,
Not any here that grab me,
Gosh! I have just found Quilling!

Jocelyn - March 2011