Catching up!

Where was I?  Some of you knew that it was good old Ally Pally (or Alexandra Palace to be precise) and why was I there?  Well, lucky me got to visit the Knit & Stitch Show!  My daughter had a school trip to the Show, unfortunately they only had 3 1/2 hours there, but she came back so excited and enthusiastic and desperate to spend longer there.  I didn't take much persuading! 

There are always so many artists, exhibitions and demonstrations there, and they are really encouraging to the youngsters. Everyone was happy to answer questions, talk through techniques and there was no pressure to buy, although my purse was considerably lighter by the end of the day!

We did buy Isobel Hall's new book, and Isobel made a lot of suggestions for materials and techniques to try for my daughter's current textiles project.  She was signing her books which always makes it special.

My daughter also chose two booklets by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn, which they kindly offered to sign for her.  I  had not expected them to sign the booklets, and my daughter was really thrilled to meet "all these famous people". 


(I am not very impressed with these images from Amazon - first time I have tried this and I am not sure what is going wrong)

It was also good to talk to Dale from Australia and there was a lovely couple from Holland selling Bark cloth.  This was a stall that had to be revisited from my daughter's previous visit and they spent a lot of time explaining about the cloth and other papers they had there, and suggesting lots of ways of using the bark cloth. The gentleman helped my daughter spread out every piece to make her selection and then knocked a third off the price.  Very kind and very much appreciated.  We had a really super day and people like these made it extra special and memorable.  My daughter is also now delighted to be a subscriber to 'Cloth' magazine - despite the huge numbers of visitors they recognised her from her first visit!

Anyway, back to my UFO; for those of you who don't know Ally Pally, at one end of the Great Hall there is a large round stained glass window with bright vibrant colours.

This picture was taken on my daughter's first visit.

At the opposite end of the Great Hall, there is a cafe and whilst getting a coffee I spotted the reflection of the stained glass shining outside above the trees.   I am not quite sure how it reflected out there as the lighting didn't look quite right and the ordinary window is not even in line with the stained glass, but it made a magical moment, and a lot of people were commenting.  I have been to Ally Pally a number of times but have never seen this before.