Living Creatively

Rabbits? Lunch and Dinner (yes, those are their names) are the two adorable thumpers that hopped about Living Creatively's stand at the recent 21st annual Stitches & Craft Show at the Caulfield Racecourse. Corralled in a garden by a white picket fence, the rabbits looked only too happy to explore the vegetable plots and various plants. But as they quickly discovered, this was no ordinary, edible garden.

No, Living Creatively's garden was crafted from fabrics, ribbon, buttons and beads. There were big, blooming fabric roses in wooden crates, cloth hummingbirds sitting aloft trees, an array of felt food - ripe red strawberries, sumptuous cakes - spread out on a picnic blanket, and red and green felt apples scattered over the lawn. Aprons and tea towels in vintage fabrics hung from a Hills Hoist.

Judging by comments we overheard, visitors loved the stand - and we love that. We hope those who saw it also walked away with a sense of what's possible with some well-chosen fabric and a needle and thread; of just how versatile and easy craft can be. The women who helped create the stand were on hand to vouch for that. Amitié owner and expert quilter Jenny Kingwell, who made the gorgeous fabric flowers, promises they are easy - an hour tops; she also kept all our indie crafters satisfied with a steady stream of delicious home-baked treats. Meanwhile, Hiromi Hughes, the Felt Cuisine genius, whetted appetites as she demonstrated how to make felt fruit and directed people to the sewing patterns on her website.

Fabric designer Kristen Doran came down from Sydney to help spread the word at the Living Creatively stand. Fabric featuring Kristen's simple, modern designs is sold in versatile panels and sewers can make lots of things - bags, purses, soft toys - using the different designs on the one panel. Our faves were the owl and dandelion prints, although the elegant botanical print was beautiful too.

In future issues of Living Creatively we'll be publishing interviews with the talented crafters we've mentioned here - and others - who were kind enough to give their time and support Living Creatively at the Show.

Speaking of supporting Living Creatively, talk show host Kerri-Anne Kennerley took time out from her hectic television schedule to visit the stand. Chatting happily with visitors, she later told Channel Nine viewers that the craft industry had moved on, that it had shrugged off its old image and was now in vogue.

"Craft is booming" she said. "It has gone so much more into fashion, getting more in vogue. It's so clever and there are so many beautiful, contemporary things here. It's really special. Coming up with the ideas is well and good but working out how to do it, making it happen, that's the trick."

"Scrapbooking is an enormous industry," she added. "I do it a bit because I have always taken photographs." If she had time to further explore the fair, Kerri-Anne would have seen so many inspiring retailers and producers and craftspeople. We saw women trying out sewing machines, watching fashion parades, finding special tools, taking classes, learning new skills, entering competitions, making new friends and talking shop. You could feel the love.

Annie Hider of ak traditions showed her two new knitting kits, which will be just the thing for those long winter months. One is a tea set - it even includes a gingerbread man and jam fancies; the other is a doll and her wardrobe. Annie also had a new range of stunning ceramic buttons from South Africa.

At the Country Women's Association stand, they were doing cross-stitch and making Romanian point lace while selling CWA cooking publications (in imperial and metric - by demand) including Mince Matters (the meatloaf with BBQ sauce comes highly recommended), Feel Good Cook Book and Our Favourite Recipes.

Cake that looked great but wasn't edible wowed visitors at the Victorian Cake Decorating Society's stand. The overall winner was a sugar cake that looked so like a pot plant, we think it was a pot plant. The winning cake in the 21st birthday category was a brightly coloured three-tiered affair, decorated with a tape measure, cotton bobbins and buttons - perfect for the occasion.

By Carolyn Ford