Bridging Arts

Sunday, 11 October 2009

The final day of the Knitting and Stitching Show













The final day of the Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace. The organisers say attendance has topped 50,000 for the first time. A key audience for Stitch Wandsworth.
Above: Munawar Ahmed at the display - she won the British Bridal Sari competition earlier in the year.
And .... Amanda Beasley helps with taking down the show - so much quicker than the set up.
Katrina Williams brings huge cloth bags she's designed herself to store everything in.

Friday, 9 October 2009

Restart 50+ to the Knitting and Stitching Show













Women who created the embroidery and loaned some of their own possessions visit.
Restart 50+ visits - driven by the same Peruvian bus driver from Wandsworth Community Transport who drove the Asian Women's Group to the show yesterday. He likes the embroidery.

Knitting and Stitching Show team














At the Knitting and Stitching Show.
We were so fortunate - thanks to Twisted Thread - to have a fantastic position for the display by the doors. About 50,000 people visit the show over four days. Early afternoon on the first day, just after the lunchtime rush, there was a chance for a photo. Katrina Williams (left) who has volunteered throughout and taken the project to her heart, Bridging Arts' Hannah Walker, me, and Priya Kulkarni who looked stunning in her sari. And a rare chance to capture our designer, David Cross (below) the mastermind behind the display, on camera.

Thursday, 8 October 2009

The Asian Women's Group visit the Knitting and Stitching Show















The show opens. And the first visitors from Wandsworth are the Asian Women's Group who are delighted to see their embroidery. Centre of this picture is Safia Qureshi who (with her sister Zubaidah Shah) loaned rare fish scale embroidery which fascinated many visitors. To her right is Violet, who works daily with the group.

Sans volunteers?















The set up day of the Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace. We have a prime spot and a huge task to set up the show. We just wouldn't have been able to manage without a fantastic team of volunteers. Olga Redondo (right) climbs ladders, bangs in nails and manages to hang banners with the minimal materials.














Wendy Benn irons saris, despite a dodgy knee.















And Priya Kulkarni starts to drape....