Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair

Tickets: check.  Four year-old grandson delivered and left in charge of Granddad for the day: check.  Camera: check.  We were ready for our Big Day Out.

My daughter (The Knitting Whirlwind) and I had planned our trip to the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair many weeks back and now the day had finally arrived.

We were greeted at the entrance by a large screen displaying an image of an old friend from Brisbane, textile artist Sharyn Hall.  It was a delightful surprise to see her smiling face and I felt for a moment that I was back in Brisbane.

We grabbed our free copy of The Australian Women's Weekly and then headed straight for the quilt exhibition where I was so happy to see that a couple of friends had taken out awards.  We were permitted to take photos for our personal use only, so I'm afraid you will have to take my word that they were stunning.  The collage at the top of this post will give you an inkling of what we saw; however the major prize winners can be seen here.  There were well over 400 quilts on display, which was a little overwhelming to take in - rather like diving into a bowl of thick whipped cream.  It was wonderful, of course.

After a well-earned coffee and cake, it was time to hit the mall.  I literally bumped into Fiona, proprietor of Fifi's Fabricology.  Luckily she had a trusty helper manning her shop while we had a chat.

So many things to swoon over.

Decisions, decisions.

The Knitting Whirlwind can be seen here stalking her prey before going in for the kill.

My bargain of the day was this box of threads which was on special for $10.  I should have bought more.

Look at the buttons I found.

Aren't they beautiful?

They are destined to be found on some Hot Fudge creations in the near future.

But for me this was the greatest discovery.  Self threading needles.  Whatever genius thought up this little invention, I thank you. 

Don't ask me how it works - just be thankful that it does.  You simply push the thread down over the top of the eye and it pops into position.  No more squinting or swearing.  Thank you, thank you whoever you are.

We two had such a perfect day, bumping into friends, shopping, looking and generally have a typical girl's day out.  There's still time to visit the fair if you are in Sydney, as it runs until Sunday.  Just go - you won't regret it.

We arrived home to find that Dan had taken such good care of Granddad.  They bonded by watching DVDs, playing cars and games, devouring sausage rolls and generally doing things that boys like doing.

It was a win-win sort of a day.