Country Living Spring Fair - Episode 2

This is my "show and tell" post for all the goodies I bought from the show and my favourite stalls.

As I mentioned before, our pink carnations really attracted loads of attention and one stall actually knew what we were talking about when we mentioned our blogs. This was where we bought some gorgeous pocket mirrors and I bought this sweet little badge.

They are actually bloggers too and this is their shop website - definitely worth visiting!

One of my absolutely favourite stalls was The Polka Dot Pear
where the textile artist Sharon Blackman makes the most beautiful fabric pictures. She was originally inspired by Janet Bolton (like many of us) but her work is much brighter and happier (in my opinion!!!). The stall looked absolutely amazing and I asked if I could photograph it to share with all of you.
She doesn't have a website yet but it is in the pipeline and here is her email address if you want any further information:- thepolkadotpearco@btinternet.com

I bought some of her cards so I could frame them

I think the tractor one is my favourite from this set but I really love these seaside ones too.

Jennifer Collier had an amazing stand with fabulous art works made out of old papers including dresses stitched from envelopes and sewing ephemera set into resin jewellery.
I didn't take any pictures of her stall but this one is from her leaflet and do visit her website - her work is inspiring!

My lovely big sister Ally bought me these wooden birds after I had admired them. She managed to do it without me even guessing too which was pretty clever (but don't tell her I said that!)

And I treated myself to this Greengate tea-towel and napkins - which I plan to cut up and re-invent at the earliest opportunity!!!

I managed to get the chance to talk to Janet Bolton again and she has signed a little card for me to stick in my new book (she was offering to sign any books bought at the show)

And my other ambition had been to buy some Caroline Zoob mugs as my last one broke ages ago. I love her work and her book is one of my favourite sources of inspiration. I did ask her when she was writing another one but it doesn't seem to be on the cards at the moment.

Finally here is our delicious goats cheese tart with guacamole and roasted hazlenuts and roast pumpkin - this photograph was taken especially for Kaz who wanted to see what yummy things we had to eat - she gave me special dispensation to ignore my diet for the day - thanks Kaz!

- you can see how delicious it was here (although Lesley refused to lick the plate!)

I met up with my other friends at the end of the show and while Ally and Lesley went to catch their tubes we went to the Slug and Lettuce for a well deserved glass of wine (couldn't believe how much it cost though!) and some scrumptious food. We then went to King's Cross where I treated myself to this book (it's really enjoyable) and finally caught our train at 9pm by which time we were all dropping with fatigue and after what seemed like a never ending journey got home at 1am.

However beautiful the stalls and however lovely the goodies I bought, the best part of the day was definitely having a trip out with my lovely friends from home and meeting up with Ally, Lesley, Gina, Val and Jane - can't wait for the next grand day out!