Cataraqui Guild 2018 Needle Arts Fair

I was happy to be able to visit the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts fair again and reconnect with my stitching friends from Ontario. On the way in, I spotted the new bookmarks the EAC made this year to promote the association, one of which has my friend Natalie's design. I made sure to snag one for myself.

I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to get enough pictures to really show off the fair as we were busy all day (which is never a bad thing).  I just had enough time to take pictures of the setup for L'Atelier de Penelope's booth before customers started coming.

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This year the boutique was in the gymnasium which was a more comfortable setup.

There were some new vendors this year, one of which was Lianne van Leyen of 1897 Schoolhouse Samplers. I met Lianne at last year's fair and she had brought in one of her antique samplers that she was creating a cross stitch pattern for. This year she was back with her own booth selling her patterns. I'd been following Lianne's progress on Instagram and she accomplished so much in the last year getting her samplers in multiple shops. When I visited her booth she was in the process of acquiring a new antique sampler for her collection.

I did get new stash. I found Luzine Happel's book Fancy Hems at Books for you. I've been wanting it for a long time but only found copies online. It was good to save on the shipping.

Picked up a few things from L'Atelier de Penelope. More sashiko threads for my panel as well as the last Marie et Co. book on whitework (how could I resist?) and a box of Tulip tapestry needles.

I couldn't pass up these pretty glass head pins. They come in a blue color-way and a mixed color-way as well but I really liked the pink and purple.

Patricia just got these silk combo packs (I showed the purple one earlier) and this dark blue was exactly the colors I needed for a design I'm working on. I almost caved and got another one as well, but they are a little expensive so sacrifices had to be made.

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In July I bought this Mirabilia kit, called Mermaids of the Deep, that I will stitch as a gift for my sister's birthday. A while back Patricia mentioned she had someone at the boutique who has been experimenting with fabric painting and dyeing, and could create a custom fabric for the pattern. This is what came out of it. I did a floss toss just to make sure the colors will go well with it.

I love that shade of blue and there is just a tiny hint of purple in there. The colors are also not too dark so it will look great in her bedroom. The artist had also added some sparkle in there which you can't really see in the pictures unfortunately.

Now that I have my fabric, I can start stitching. I think it would be great if I can have it finished and framed in time for her birthday next June. I just need to finish Hanabatake first.