Are you going? Although I've attended the Festival as a visitor, this year will be my first as an exhibitor and I'm really looking forward to seeing you at the NEC, Birmingham on 10-13th August on Stand C7.
I thought it would be fun to record the journey here (let's hope I'm still laughing in August...) and have already started making endless lists and planning stand layouts. Given that I'll be exhibiting in a snug 2 x 2 metre space my aim is to showcase as many of my designs as I can whilst making my stand a 'home from home'. So this is Plan A...
The layout is inspired by one of our home's prettiest features: the hall window seat. It's also a favourite of our dogs, Buddy & Sparky, so I don't actually get to sit on it very often, but it's a great place to photograph quilts, such as recently completed Traveller's Joy... A suitably dressed folding bed will - hopefully - look the part and will be useful to sit down on (if I get the chance).
I also have a couple of pieces of furniture lined up for the stand: a shelving unit that my son uses to store his CDs in would be perfect for patterns - I'm sure he won't mind me borrowing it - and a wonderful folding screen from Simply Scandinavian that came in so useful at last year's Christmas Fayre. Ideally, I'd like to add some fake panelling to the stand (think painted cardboard and velcro a la Blue Peter) but we'll have to see how that goes.
And, of course, I'll be taking the mice: they're such good company ;-)
I'll keep you up to date with my plans throughout the year. I suspect time's going to go very quickly...
Nicola xx