The benefits of crafting with others

I have been lucky enough to find a friendly fellow crafter at my first (test) event, sadly I can't link to her website / blog yet as she doesn't yet have one.  But Emma makes lovely rustic/country looking hearts and bunting out of natural textures such as raffia and hessian.

We both attended a Christmas Fair in my home town, which was not particularly craft-orientated, but we admired each other's stalls.  We swapped numbers, bound together by the fact that we both had the same business card design from Vistaprint.  We obviously both have similar and very good taste!

Since then we've done our first Craft Fair together, which is great to have a buddy to watch your stall whilst you peruse the others or take a break.  We have put some time aside for joint crafting sessions which have been great fun and very inspirational for both of us and shared hints and tips of what we have found useful.  Her two dogs and five cats also wanted to be a part of it, at one point I had three animals jockeying for position on my lap, whilst trying to knit, of all things, a pet snuggler!

At home my lovely Ella is a constant companion to my crafting, she has relatively no interest in my sewing, but as soon as the wool or crochet cotton comes out she makes an appearance, usually taking up residence somewhere she is definitely not meant to be!

My Mum has always been an inspiration to me in crafting - we have always enjoyed doing courses together, and making things together for Craft Fairs when I was younger and still living at home.  Now I've decided to start doing Craft Fairs again, she has been happy to share ideas and get together when we can to craft like mad.  Sadly she lives nearly 3 hours away so I don't get to see her as much as I would like!

I always find I'm more productive and less distracted when working alongside someone else, as well as the benefits of their knowledge and perspective on what I'm doing.  A little appreciation when you're doing well and constructive comments when not so well, go a long way.

Do you like working alongside someone else or prefer to work in isolation?  Do you seek feedback as you are going along or at the end?  I would be interested to hear any comments...

Happy crafting!

Lou x