Weekend Aussie Handmade Markets

I’ve been announcing tons of US indie craft markets lately, but those of you Down Under have been sorely neglected. Here’s a roundup of some local weekend craft markets going on now. Most happen monthly. Watch for more later this week!
Eveleigh Markets’ Monthly Artisans’ Arts & Craft Market– first Sunday of each month, from 10:ooam to 4:00pm.

Eveleigh Market hosts an Artisans’ Art and Craft Market showcasing the very best individually designed local art, sculpture, design, ceramics, glass, craft and Indigenous artworks.

Kirribilli Art and Design Market – June 14, July 12, August 9, 9:00am to 3:00pm.

This makers’ market has a vibrant atmosphere. Artists, Craft Practitioners and Designers are all welcome to submit their work. Original Paintings, Glass, Ceramics, Fashion & Accessories, Homewares, Millinery and Fresh Flowers along with international food and great live music!

The Olive Tree Market – Saturday the 6th of June, 9:00am to3:00pm, ‘The Junction Public School’.

Over 80 regular stalls. showcase The market showcases Newcastle’s contemporary art, craft, design, photography, textiles, handmade toys and fashion directly from the artists. Local musicians play at each market and buskers are welcome to come and play on the day. Come along to the next market, find that unique gift, mingle amongst friends and artisans, drink good coffee, eat delicious food, buy organic bread and plants. Relax and watch the bustle of the markets go by…..

Cobbitty Craft Market – Saturday July 4th, 8:00am to 1:00pm. First Saturday of each month.

We are a craft market, with our stallholders selling a wide range of unusual and interesting hand-made goods, gifts and wares – from ceramics, woodwork, paintings and frames, to clothes and jewellery, unique furniture, gorgeous nick-knacks and trinkets, lovingly made soaps and body products, toys for the littlies, and a whole lot more – always something perfect for that special gift, important occasion, or just to spoil yourself, friends or family. We also sell a selection of gourmet fresh, baked, and carefully prepared foods and produce; and there are flowers, plants and seedlings as well.

I don’t usually cross stitch text or add words to my cross stitch projects. Sometimes I will sign things using basic block lettering worked in backstitch (luckily my initials are pretty easy to stitch), but if you give your cross stitch as a gift or otherwise want to personalize it, adding text is a great way to go.

But if a project didn’t already come with text, and you don’t want to draw your own, you’ll need a good cross stitch font that you can use for your project.

I like collecting fonts that are easy to read and to stitch and that would be good for lots of different uses.

For example I really like this bold alphabet font from Cross Stitch with Art, which has both capital and lowercase letters as well as numbers if you need them for dates or other information on your design. The capital letters are an inch/2.5 cm/14 stitches tall, which makes it easy to figure out how much space you need to leave for them. It’s a nice, basic, readable serif font you can use for lots of project.

If you want a script font that’s still really readable, check out Magic Calligraphy from Soft Pattern Designs. This hand drawn font has upper case letters around 28 stitches tall, with lower case letters mostly being around 20 stitches (though the ones that go up or down a lot like f, p and y are bigger). The numbers also vary a bit in size but range from 25 to 29 stitches.

Sometimes you just want a classic font that looks like sports lettering, and in that case you’re going to need Varsity, an all caps font from Stitch Mod. This one has letters that are 21 stitches tall, and it includes capital letters and numbers. But there are definitely times this one would come in handy!

Another sometimes useful and really cute font is this alphabet block letters alphabet from Stitch Junction. These letters are all upper case and look like classic building blocks, and there are also numbers available. This one would be perfect for a birth announcement project or some other cross stitch for the baby’s room.

And if that’s not enough for you, check out this post with 85 free cross stitch fonts for you to try!

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