Handmade Trend Report Part 1

Well, I'm back from the trade fair and it was just as exciting/tiring as last year! With ca. 314 international exhibitors and hundreds of visitors it was a hive of activity. All types of craft continue to be hugely popular, with sewing topping the popularity list for the first time. Since I own a  fabric shoppe this is fabulous news for me, obviously! Also, there's an increase in young people (ages 12 - 14) who are becoming interested in taking up a craft as a hobby. All in all, very good news for anyone working in this industry.

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Hallo Mädels, bin wieder von der Stoffemesse zurück. Wie immer war es spannend und anstrengend zugleich! Mit ca. 314 internationalen Ausstellern und hunderten von Fachbesuchern ging es recht geschäftig zu. Handarbeit liegt weiterhin im Trend. Immer jüngere Menschen (12 - 14 J) begeistern sich für's Nähen, Stricken, Häkeln und Basteln. Ein Trend der für jeden, der in der Branche tätig, nur zu begrüßen ist!

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As I was walking down the various aisles I snapped some images with my digicam. I don't want to overwhelm you with photos, so this is Part 1. I will post the fashion show in Part 2 next week.

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Achtung, es folgt eine Bilderflut (daher Teil 1). Die Modenschau zeige ich nächste Woche in Teil 2.

This tent greeted me at the entrance. It is made from handknitted squares.

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Dieses Zelt stand am Eingang. Es wurde aus handgestrickten Quadraten gefertigt.

Turquoise/Red Quilt // Türkis-Roter Quilt

crosstitch from acufactum // Kreuzstich von acufactum

Owls are as popular as ever // Eulen sind nach wie vor sehr beliebt

colourful crystal beads // Kristallperlen zur Schmuckherstellung

amazingly popular Zpagetti yarn // Zpagetti - superbeliebt

Knits // Gestricktes

Patchwork & sewing // Genähtes

more knits & fabrics // gestrickt u. genäht

...and I saw Maya, the Bee ;-)

...und die Biene Maja war dort auch anzutreffen ;-)

Good for you, if you've made it this far :) Anyway, the fashion show I went to was really exciting, better than last year in my opinion. Stay tuned for that next week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Glückwunsch, wenn ihr es bis hierhin geschafft habt :) Die Modenschau fand ich dieses Jahr interessanter als letztes...und nächste Woche zeige ich Euch ein paar Fotos!

Habt ein wunderschönes Wochenende!

♥

Hello Spring?

It's officially spring, but this is what it looks like outside the kitchen window. It's starting to slowly melt, but the temperatures are nowhere near spring-like.

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Wir haben offiziell Frühlingsanfang, jedoch sieht's bei uns so aus (Blick aus dem Küchenfenster). Der Schnee schmilzt langsam, aber die Temperaturen sind definitiv nicht frühlingshaft.

I haven't been blogging much lately, and I apologize for that! I assure you - lots has been going on behind the scenes...work, preparing for tomorrow's trade fair plus the usual home life activities, some of which aren't so pleasant but need to be dealt with nevertheless.

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Ich bin in letzter Zeit wenig zum Bloggen gekommen - sorry! Ich versichere, dass hinter den Kulissen eifrig gearbeitet, vor allem aber auf die morgige Stoffmesse vorbereitet wird! Und dann ist ja da noch der Alltag mit seinen Höhen und Tiefen und in meinem Fall traurigen Ereignissen.

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Therefore, I especially cherish moments like these...precious moments, possibly never to be repeated again. Remember Leo from five months back (found out it's a he btw)?  The funny bit is, that just after I took this picture (thank goodness I had the camera on hand) Leo "closed" the curtain with his little paw - as if to say, please do not disturb ;-)

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Deshalb weiß ich solche kostbaren Momente (s. Foto) sehr zu schätzen. Vor ca. fünf Monaten sah das noch anders aus (habe später festgestellt, dass das Kätzchen männlich ist)! Sehr witzig fand ich, dass kurz nachdem ich das Foto aufgenommen hatte (zum Glück hatte ich die Kamera parat), der kleine Leo mit seinem Pfötchen die Gardine zugezogen hat - nach dem Motto "bitte nicht stören" ;-)

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Later today I will announce the winner of the rose necklace! Oh, and I decided to give away the set of three hair pins too. So there will be two winners :)

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Später werde ich die Gewinnerin der Rosenkette bekannt geben. Ach ja, und ich habe mich entschieden auch das Haarnadelset zu verlosen, somit gibt es heute abend zwei Gewinner :)

Good Luck!

Meeting Kaffe...

Hi friends!        Hallo Freunde!

Just back from the trade fair and I'm still wired. As always it's going to take a while to decompress ;-)

The fair was jam-packed even on the first day! A good sign I suppose. I attended a short presentation on facts & figures on "handmade" and was informed that in 2011 German consumers spent a whopping one billion Euro on fabrics, yarn and notions!

As mentioned in my previous post I was looking to buy a few notions myself. After failing to come to acceptable terms with first Dutch and then Italian suppliers I got lucky on the third try. If all goes as planned (fingers crossed) I should be expecting a shipment of ribbons, lace and polkadot buttons (yay!) in a few weeks :)

The highlight for me was meeting renowned designer and knitter extraordinaire Kaffe Fassett. I love his motto: don't be afraid of colours. I had a chance to speak to him for about two minutes before being jostled aside by other people. The best bit was that I got to choose one of his books - I chose Quilt Romance - which he then signed with a flourish. He was there with his sidekick Brandon Mably who also signed the book. I'm going to treasure it.

Puh! Ich bin nun von der Stoffmesse zurück und immer noch total aufgedreht! So geht's mir immer nach solchen Veranstaltungen. Die Messe war rappelvoll. Ein gutes Zeichen, finde ich. Eine kurze Präsentation der Initiative Handarbeit informierte mich über die Jahresergebnisse 2011.  Fest steht der Markt für Handarbeitsbedarf wächst. Im vergangenen Jahr wurde in Deutschland von Endkunden über 1 Mrd. Euro ausgegeben. Tendenz steigend. Dieses Jahr hatte ich mir einen Zukauf von Bänder, Borten & Co vorgenommen. Beim dritten Termin wurde ich dann fündig! Wenn alles klappt wie geplant (drückt mir die Daumen), dann erhalte ich in einigen Wochen süße Bänder, Spitzen und Püncktchen Knöpfe (*freu*).

Das Highlight der Messe war den renommierten Designer und Strickkünstler Kaffe Fassett aus nächster Nähe zu sehen. Ich mag sein Motto: don't be afraid of colours. Ich hatte sogar die Möglichkeit 2 Minuten mit ihm zu reden bevor ich von der Menge verdrängt wurde ;-) Das Beste: Ich durfte mir eines seiner Bücher aussuchen welches er dann für mich signierte! Ebenfalls von seinem Kollegen und Studiomanager Brandon Mably. Ich habe mir übrigens Quilt Romance ausgesucht.

That's me in the white jacket speaking to Kaffe (on the left) in the purple shirt signing the book and Brandon handing it over to me!

Btw, the flower brooch at the top is made up of Kaffe's fabrics and one of the hostesses chose this one for me. I saw a lot of women wearing theirs and all of them were different colours/fabrics! Cute idea, no?

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Das bin ich in der weißen Jacke. Kaffe (links im Bild) mit lila Shirt signiert mein Buch und Brandon überreicht es mir! Übrigens, die Blumenbrosche oben im Bild ist aus Kaffe's Stoffen gemacht. Eine der Messehostessen hat sie für mich ausgesucht. Ich habe viele Frauen mit so einer Brosche gesehen und jede war eine andere Farb/Stoffkombination! Witzige Idee, oder?

That's it from me today. Going to put my feet up now...looking forward to reading up on your blogs :)

Das war's von mir...werde jetzt die Füße hochlegen ;-) Freue mich schon bei euch wieder vorbeizuschauen, bis bald also

Knit Trends 2011/12

At the trade fair two weeks ago there was a mini fashion show highlighting trends for the winter 2011/12 season. I wanted to film the whole thing, but there was too much activity around me and people were jostling for a better view. I was outnumbered by the Italian contingent. lol.
The two main colour themes were - a palette of luxurious beiges/browns/stones/caramels and the other reminding me of those fluorescent marker pens - bright fuchsia, apple green and orange! Patterns were large scale and three-dimensional. There were some unusual crocheted pieces that looked like spider webs, knitted ruffles and fluffy scarves with tassels! I tried uploading a video, but Blogger wouldn't let me :(

Have a great day!

Cologne Trade Fair & Celebrity sighting ;-)

Hi guys!

Good news. I got back from the trade fair earlier than expected, because why stick around when I got my contracts signed and sealed within the day. Yeah *punch the air*!!! I was so glad I had dusted off my ten-year-old classically cut suit, because there were a lot of 'suits' around and I blended in seamlessly. Plus I wasn't feeling well on the day, so my 'suit of armor' helped me appear more professional. Oh, I managed to surreptitiously snap some photos too :)

Anyway, the company I had earmarked had the biggest booth by far, with a nice seating area, beautiful displays and even catering. I was extremely lucky that the agent assigned to me turned out to be a friendly, efficient lady not much older than me. We had an instant rapport and it was pretty much smooth sailing. The best news by far was that my complete order will be shipped to me next week. I can hardly believe it! I'm so excited! The nice agent told me that next season I won't need to go all the way to Cologne, she will come straight to my house where I can peruse the samples in the comfort (and quiet) of my home. Cool, huh?

After, I quietly pack up my stuff, thinking that maybe I'll grab a sandwich or something when just a couple of feet from where I was sitting I notice a tall, blond woman...Oh. my. God. It's Amy Butler. Now I know how my blog buddy Nancy felt, when she spotted Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps at her pool! In case you don't know who Amy is, well, she's like the queen of handmade. She's one of the top US fabric and lifestyle designers and hugely successful. So, I watch her for a while - she's very friendly in a business-like manner and an excellent sales person, I note - then because she's standing so close to me I decide to introduce myself. We shake hands...and then I momentarily forget how to speak English. How embarrassing. But then she asks me something and thankfully my brain kicks into gear quickly :)

And here I am with my nerdy glasses on and grinning like a loon. p.s. I told you she was tall ;-)

Bye for now!