Saturday 30 October 2010

WI Craft Fair! 30th October 2010.


Jam and Jerusalem - ? -


More like Jewellery, Curios and Ceramics!
And Of course Cake!

Folksy was proudly represented at the WI annual Craft fair, in St Georges Hall, Newbury in Berkshire, by none other than Jacqueline Austen of J Austen Jewellery Design, Pauline Rhymes of Snowfireandruby and of course myself, Natalie of NOfkants Curios.

The ladies of the Newbury WI made us very welcome, and kept us supplied with tea and coffee!
Always like a home from home with these wonderful ladies!

Jacqueline, for those who have not met her yet, is shown below, a lovely, kind lady who is also a domestic Goddess, who baked and donated a beautiful rich chocolate cake to the WI cake stall, sold for £1.00 a slice!




Yummy Scrummy or what? It was such a popular cake that is sold out super fast!


And had the full attention of the WI ladies! Can't say I blame them!



And you can see how close I was to the cake stand! LOL! I'm taking this picture from behind my table, so if I took a really deep breath, I could almost inhale a cake!

Meet the Folkster's!

First of all we have the beautiful Jacqueline! Just as sparkly and colourful as her wonderful jewellery!

And how did she do?

Even though the craft fair was a little quieter than expected, Jacqueline's stall was a natural draw, posted opposite the entrance, she was in prime position to be spied quickly by all the Newbury Glitter and sparkle magpies.

Having the stall next door, I can honestly say that Jacqueline had them queuing to view and to buy, I was so pleased for her, as her jewellery is stunning, and I should know, I own a fair bit of it myself! I am wearing one, yes one, of my fossil coral bracelets as I type!
Jacqueline also took some commission requests for jewellery items to match other items purchased, from ladies that wanted a whole ensemble of jewellery.

And one young lady who purchased, went home, and popped back with some of her own jewellery, a necklace that needed restringing, so Jacqueline is also a lady who does repairs! Good to know!








Also present is WI lady herself, Pauline Rhymes!



Pauline creates unique and beautiful pottery and ceramic items, which is so much more lovely in real life than can be captured on a photograph.








I adore Pauline's artwork, and am a big fan, I have quite a few pieces, including my very own Christmas scene, differing from this one shown above. Every year we choose another animal to add to the scene, pretty soon we will have a whole set of farm animals to display with our nativity scene. It is rapidly becoming our treasured family Christmas tradition!

And then there was Me!


Jacqueline pinched my camera and snapped me mid crochet, creating a pair of fingerless mittens and matching hat, which I hope to pop on folksy in November!






I attempted to have a range of all my passions on display, including my fossils, gemstone keyrings and knitted and crocheted items!



Pauline and her WI friends were also kind enough to allow me to bring along some of my oriental collectibles, traditionally carved boxwood netsuke and gemstone animals, not created by myself, so not something I can sell on folksy, but something Hubby and I adore. The netsuke actually were a big hit, and I sold four of them. Yay!


My Crocheted and knitted items were a big draw too, and the hats and fingerless mittens were admired, thank you so much everyone, it makes you feel you are doing something right, when people actually say they like something you have created.

I hope you have enjoyed my little self indulgent blog!


Please click on the links to the folksy shops and see what else there is to offer in these Jacqueline's, Pauline's and of course my shop.

Thank you!

17 comments:

  1. Fab to see - mmmmm....CAKE....It's loely to actually sell in te real world with other folksers isn;t it - I always get a bit mixed up with names when I do!

    X

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  2. Your stalls look fantastic and its great to see all your lovely items together. The cake looks gorgeous - not surprised it was a big hit! xx

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  3. It's great to see pictures of you both with all your wares spread about you! The cake looks fabulous, shame you can't sell slices of that on Folksy, it's handmade after all!lol

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  4. That cake looks yummy!

    I love reading about craft fairs, all your stalls look fab and i'm glad it went well.

    Kate x

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  5. Coongrats on having such a good day, the cake does look lovely:)

    It's great that there are actually still some great fairs around, your stalls all looked brilliant, but if I'd had your table I'm afraid there'd have been precious little left on the cake stall to take a photo of:)

    Leanne xx

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  6. Now I want some more cake! The stalls look yummy and full of gorgeous goodies!

    Hannah

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  7. Wow! I am blushing as I type!

    Thank you so much for this amazing blog and for featuring Pauline and myself too.

    We had a great time at the fair and you were a wonderful companion - making the day so much more enjoyable. Thank you! I am really looking forward to the fair at Kingsclere now.

    I will be baking again - more cake like the chocolate one and several others too. I would sell them on Folksy too if I could!

    Thanks for taking so much time to promote your Folksy Friends, Natalie. I will do a blog about the Kingsclere Craft Fair and make sure I have plenty of photos of all the Folksters too!

    Love Jacqueline x

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  8. Well done on such a fab blog post, Natalie. And well done on the sales for all of you - I hope Pauline did OK, too?
    It's really nice to be able to put a face to a name.
    Liz
    x

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  9. Yep, it was lovely and Pauline sold some ceramics, some hand made cards and a pair of earrings I believe!

    So good for everyone!

    Natalie x

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  10. Oh what fun!! I am so looking forward to joining the "folksy Gang! at Kingsclere...Mmmm especially if there is cake!
    So pleased it went well for you all.

    Marie x

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  11. Wow! look at all your professional looking stalls! Mine will look quite shabby next to yours at Kingsclere.
    Gald you all had a successful day. Cake looks very yummy! looking forward to scoffling some in a couple of weeks
    Gemxxx

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  12. I really enjoyed this post - thank you! The WI fair looked like lots of fun too - and such yummy cakes!!

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  13. How fab to put faces to names - you all look great. Your stalls look fabulous too! And the chocolate cake...well! Scrummy!! Dottie x

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  14. Pleased you had a good day. It's lovely to see photos of you all with your fab stalls & I have to say what a chocolate cake! Clare :)

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  15. How great to put faces to names...great blog post.

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  16. All your stalls look great ladies. I had no idea that event was going on - and it's literally around the corner from me! Damn, to think I missed out on that gorgeous cake. Hope to see you all soon at the Yew Tree Garden Centre one though, and I'll be at St Barts Xmas fair on the 14th Nov - will any of you be at that one? :)

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  17. Sounds like it was a good day and the chocolate cake looks delicious! It's good to see you both included in the pictures and your stalls look so professional! Beautiful jewellery by Jacqueline and your knitting/crochet and gemstones too!

    Jen x

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