Craft Fayre Photos!

(Warning - photo heavy +++)!
Well, here goes! Unfortunately, some of the photos were spoilt as I took the camera without the case and the switch moved to a different setting in Chris's pocket which went unnoticed! So, here are the best of what we have!

At present, I'm still feeling a bit exhausted (think I'm coming down with a cold or something) so I hope you won't mind if I just let the photos tell their own story just adding a few words here or there. If you want to see more detail, please click on the photos as you go.

Approaching the Tithe Barn.


Close up of the duck pond which had been fenced off to make it childsafe.


The other side of the Barn with a bit of the Church in view.


The Barn Entrance (and, by the way, barns are cold places!)


Some shots of the stall and Chris's homemade display stand complete with sign just after final set up and before we were descended upon by the throngs.








There were so many knitted items that we had to attach strings to the beams so that we could hang some of them up.


A colorful display of curly whirlies . . .


. . . and the most amazing array of knitted toys!




The dogwood "Xmas tree" decorated with tiny knitted stockings with lollypops inside for the children.


On this table were lots of handmade goodies we could buy without even moving from where we stood such as lavender bags, wheat cushions, lace bookmarks, bundles of cinnamon sticks, mulled wine sachets, etc, all at ridiculously low prices.


It was great, too, to meet Ruth (Woolly Wormhead) at last and we got chance for a brief chat before the proceedings (certainly long enough for me to nab some of her lovely hand-dyed yarn which I'll show in my next post along with other gorgeous items I bought). Here's a photo of Ruth's stall when she'd set it up looking gloriously colourful after all that hard work she'd done dyeing the yarn especially for the day!


And here she is spinning on her beloved hitchhiker spinning wheel.


I couldn't believe just how cute and diddy this wheel was in reality having only seen it in photos previously!

So, then Jan arrived to help and the Mayor turned up and opened the proceedings.


And, after that it was just a whirlwind of activity until 1pm when it quietened down somewhat. Having done her stint, Jan then left, and it was only then we realised that we hadn't had a second to even think about taking any photos after opening.

Mary-Lou then arrived to help with Holly and Emily. We were much quieter by then and had promised Ruth, who was on her own to relieve her for breaks, so Mary-Lou went to help Ruth and Emily decided she wanted to be my 'bag lady'. In other words, she assisted by putting the stuff that people bought into carrier bags for them. Holly bought herself one of Ruth's wonderful knitted hats that she'd kindly donated. You can see her wearing it here.

Later, Mary-Lou found time to do some shopping. Here she is contemplating buying a vintage wool winder.


And there was a box full of interesting knitting books which I think she may be looking through here!


Sue also helped on the stall for an hour and purchased some of the sari silk which I can't wait to see what she does with as she's so creative!

This photo, taken looking down the barn, gives you an idea of the atmosphere of the place.


And here are a few of the other stalls which I didn't get around to looking at but which Chris took photos of. Firstly, the handmade glass and silver fusion jewellery stall.


And, secondly, the stall selling handmade ceramic and pottery items amongst other things.


There was also a stall selling the most wonderful felted items but, unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have taken a photo of that.

There was a program of live musicians performing throughout the day and the folk music towards the end I found particularly soothing and mellow. By this time, I think we were all feeling very cold. Did I mention that barns are cold?!! The Morris Dancers did their bit, too.




Chris asked if there was any particular reason why the men's faces were blackened and was told it was because, historically, they did this as they danced in other people's fields and didn't want the owners to recognise them.

Well, as I said, at the end of the day, we had raised £667. The actual amount was £666 but, Chris, being of a nervous disposition, decided he didn't like that number and added another pound! LOL To everyone who donated and helped, I can't thank you enough!

So, that's it for now! I'd love to show you what I bought but not only am I wiped out with all the blogging but Blogger is bound to get temperamental very soon after uploading all those photos so it'll have to wait for another post.