On Monday I went along to the bloggers brunch at the CHSI stitches show at the NEC in Birmingham.

Spoiler alert - I took A LOT of photos, be ready for a very photo heavy post today! 

CHSI stitches is a trade show for the craft industry, so craft suppliers sell to the shops & online stores that we, the public, all buy our goodies from. Many of them also have their own websites to sell directly to the public too. 

The whole thing is just a feast of lovely stuff, all so tempting, and I came away with my head full of ideas for things I'd like to try.

The bloggers brunch was hosted by ICHF Events with a workshop from DMC - great food, great company and a lovely goody bag of DMC products to try and take away.

More about that another day. I'll finish what I started and share the results later.

Luckily I wore my comfy shoes, there was a lot to see! Some of the stall holders had produced some amazing eye catching displays.

I got to meet the lady from Cygnet Yarns who made this fantastic tree and a stand full of yarn based loveliness.

This great big gorgeous fella was just chilling on the Creative World of Crafts Stand.

Viridian Yarns had this cute sheep guarding their yarns and knitting accessories.

Caron Simply Soft yarn is shown off beautiful in this rainbow display, also on the Creative World of Craft stand. They even had knitted shoes!

Kaffe Fassett had been at the show given a talk on Sunday apparently so I missed that, but there was evidence of his most recent book and vibrant fabric all over the place.

These fabric are from his collections for Free Spirit Fabrics.

Arne and Carlos were there and showing off their new design line for the 'one ball = two identical patterned socks' yarn, Pairfect. I'm not a sock maker (yet) but apparently it's widely available. You just knit the socks and the pattern appears, sounds like wizardry to me!

I loved this beautiful flamingo quilt displayed on the Patchwork Promotions stand.

The biggest trend I noticed was the kits. 

There were so many with just the cutest thing to make and the loveliest packaging. 

I love kits, I think they are such a great way to try a new craft and when they are so nicely presented they make great gifts too.

Everything you need to make something in a cute box or bag - what's not to like! 

These were some of my favourites:

These felt embroidered beauties from Corinne Lapierre.

Fancy making a bow tie or trying your hand at paper piecing?

The New Craft House have it covered.

Gorgeous needle felting and embroidery kits (and more) from Hawthorn Handmade. Who wouldn't want a fabulous embroidered unicorn?

Everyone must know someone who needs a felt flamingo in their life, and these kits to make mobiles come in a box that looks like a house - how cute is that? All from The Crafty Kit Company.

These cross stitch and printed embroidery hoops from The Make Arcade really bring embroidery up to date. They also have kits referencing Prosecco, gin and tea so all the bases are covered!

More pretty felt kits in the cutest carry boxes from Kitty Kay.

Rag rug making is something I've always wanted to try, so I'm thinking these kits in a bag from Ragged Life as just brilliant. Not just rugs either, they have cushions, bags and more.

Famous for their knicker making kits, Flo-Jo actually do much more besides. These apron and tote bag kits have a lovely modern vintage vibe.

Edwards Imaginarium from Toft was a hard stand to walk past without doing a double take. The giant versions of their crochet kits were amazing, and apparently have traveled all over the world.

Mindful colouring but in embroidery form - I was so inspired by this beautiful embroidery idea from Solo Crafts. They call the range Zenbroidery and you can find a list of stockists on their website. These photos don't do it justice, in real life the colours and effect with threads and beads was just exquisite.

These knit mugs from Debbie Bliss Home collection really caught my eye. A coming together of 2 of my favourite things - hot drinks and knitting.

DMC is a company most crafters are familiar with. For a company that's been around for over 250 years (and which produces 1 million skeins of embroidery thread every DAY) they are certainly moving with the times. As well as lots of traditional designs and kits they have some really modern and on trend stuff going on in all sorts of craft mediums.

I particularly love the cushions on the right, two very different styles but equally beautiful.

Phew, that's it, my CHSI stitches show highlights. 

Of course the biggest highlight of all was getting to meet a load of lovely like minded people, all interested in creative crafts and encouraging others to enjoy crafts too. It would seem the craft industry is vibrant, thriving and full of so many different things -  there really must be something for everyone.

Julie