L’Aiguille en fete is a french convention centered around needlework. The 2013 edition will start tomorrow February, 14 and last until Sunday. I’ve been there in 2010 and 2011 and really enjoyed it. I missed it last year because I was preparing the wedding and really didn’t have any spare time to go, but I intend to go this time! I even bought my ticket in advance.

As you can guess it consists mainly in seller booths. Lots of quilting and embroidery (mainly cross stitch), but also a good number of knitting/crochet and some general sewing (notions, fabric, kits, patterns…). This time they changed their location to a bigger venue, so I guess there will  be more sellers and maybe a little more variety. Still, even if I don’t quilt (yet) or knit, and if cross stitch isn’t my favourite kind of embroidery, I found the event to be quite inspiring. Plus it’s nice to be surrounded by lots of people who also like needlework (in 2011 I didn’t have that many people around me to share that love with). Each year they pick a theme and organize some exhibitions centered around it. The years I went the themes were “theater costumes” and then “lace”, and I found the exhibition quite interesting. I think it’s nice they not only have seller booths but also an exhibition part. The theme is year is “knits”.

If you’re in the neighborhood, you might want to take a look!