The Small but perfectly-formed Craft Fair

Saturday 6th August 2011 and my craft fair commences at 9am ... the other local artists I've brought together have now assembled at Poynton's Civic Hall and we are buzzin' .... we set up all our wares yesterday so now we just need to string up the purple and silver balloons and the banner (made by Liz), put out the A-board and smile and wait for the hordes of punters. 

I have wanted an excuse to show off the cherry-patterned pinny my daughter Sian sent to me in May and so I themed it with some jolly red lipstick, a scarf from the charity shop tied as a turban and painted some old earrings with red nail-varnish in an attempt to look like a 1950's housewife having to Make do and Mend.

There's a big shiny Waitrose store just a few yards away so we're hoping that their shoppers will feel drawn to us as well as all the others who use this large car-park but what happens next is not great ... the weather has been unbelievably good for weeks with very little rain but just as we've settled ourselves behind our respective stalls the heavens go black and decide to open bigtime; it is hammering down on the roof above us, it is precipitating, it is throwing it down, it is perpetrating and all those other words beginning with p.   I venture out into the foyer to check the number of cars, the passers-by, the shoppers - there is not a single body around and it looks like a ghost-town outside.

Some silk/cotton mix headbands, fingerless gloves and cuffs, some Kaffe Fasset fingerless gloves

 and a wonderful collection of Baby Ugg Boots knitted by Anne-Marie

Have faith, have faith ... we chat among ourselves somewhat hysterically and have a cuppa .... and lo and behold by 10 o'clock the lovely people start coming in .... our chosen room is small but really friendly ... there is Liz with her hand-crafted jewellery, Gillian with her very original greetings cards, Philip with his stunning photography and me with my knitwear, wallhangings, doorstops and the like.

By 1pm we have packed up our things and head off to the nearby Costa for a de-brief and much-needed coffee.   We all agree that the Fair was a great success as we have sold a good amount of stock, made contacts, met a lot of lovely old friends and made some new ones and most importantly we have enjoyed a brilliant atmosphere together.   We'll be holding our 3rd Small but perfectly-formed Craft Fair in the autumn.... watch this space.