I had a day out yesterday with some of my needleworking friends, to the Madeira Needlework Show in Harrogate. It was a lovely show, not huge and overwhelming like the massive AllyPally show next week, (that's the annual Stitching show in the Alexandra Palace show venue in London). On display were a set of costumes from various films, some heavily beaded and elaborately embroidered. There were also displays of embroidery of church vestments that ranged from very old ones with lots of goldwork to some modern ones that I didn't exactly care for. And there were a decent number of beadwork displays and beading supplies, which shows that in the UK the interest in beadwork is growing rapidly. A few years ago there would have been very little beading information available or beading supplies, but it's really taking off here now.
My friend, Linn Skinner, runs an annual tour for interested women who spend a week with her in London. She gives guided tours of the V&A museum, including in-depth discussions of historical embroidery and spends a lot of time with the displays and the collections there showing the techniques used and exploring the history of embroidery. She's a wonderful woman with a fund of knowledge that is amazing. And she shares so much of it with people, encouraging them to explore their own talents and grow within themselves.
She brought six of her tour members up to the Harrogate area for the weekend before the main part of the tour starts on Monday. Among the group were another old friend of hers and a good friend to me, Libby Streuli who is a superb photographer and needlework designer too. I had not met the other women in the group before in person but by the end of the day we were all fast friends. Linn did have one surprise tucked in the group which made my day even brighter, one of her very good friends is the beadwork designer June Huber. We had a great time walking around and looking at the displays set up by the Beadworker's Guild. She had some of her own work in a bag, so we had a small show-and-tell at one of the display tables. One of her pieces was a small amulet bag that was absolutely gorgeous. I was really inspired after seeing her work, and today I'll have to dig out my older copies of Bead and Button to see if I can find some of her articles. She's very funny and charming and we're planning on a regular correspondence via email. When I said goodbye to them at the train station, after much hugging and laughing, I said I'd have to run right home and tell everyone on the group about my new acquaintance! She said 'Oh, no, tell the about your new _friend_, June!'
So, I came away from the trip with a lot of treasures. First off a visit with my best friend Linn, a chance to meet people I only knew from online, and a new beading friend. Plus a bunch of stuff for my son, they always bring him cool things when they visit. He got a metal Pooh Bear lunchbox from Disneyland, a big puzzle map of the USA, and I got a bag of candy corn! It's waiting for tonight, when we have our ritual slaughtering of the Candy Corn.
We had tea at Betty's, all nine of us. It was a laugh and a half. I only wish it were more often than once a year.
-Su