Made In The Shade Summertime Hop - Thank Yous & Retrospective

We're still recuperating after Summertime Hop here at Made In The Shade HQ. We worked our bobby socks off in the run up to the event and we put in a good 17 hour shift on the day. We need a big snooze!

Despite the footfall being lower than we anticipated, we still managed to have a fun, productive day at the Debating Chamber & Reading Room. Lots and lots of hands helped make the day a success and we gotta give due thanks. First up - thank you to the 25 vendors who set up shop with us. The stall displays looked beautiful and the variety and quality of products on offer was spectacular. We received fabulous feedback from visitors. Customers were thrilled to leave with a little piece of handmade magic or vintage treasure! Special thanks must go to this season's Made In The Shade newcomers for embracing the whole affair and to the hard core that helped with the daytime/night time changeover and continued to sell way into the night! Thank you too to those who donated fabulous gifts to Flora the Tombola! She appreciates it. This season's charity is the SSPCA. They'll be receiving a tidy little cheque from us.

Thank you to the friends and Made In The Shade volunteers who worked hard throughout the day to keep things organised: Ruth Hollywood did a sterling job meeting and greeting our visitors and Sheena May made a fantastic job of managing Nora's Bake Sale & the Craft Lucky Dip. Thanks too to Allan and Jacqueline for ferrying us around and helping out where needed! Thank you to the GU Stitch n Bitch gals for setting up their pretty crafty tea party in the Craft Lounge and thanks to Miss Moovelous for getting in the swing with the crochet craft-along!

We had some flippin' swell entertainment at The Hop! Thanks to David Duffy for squeezing in a sneaky wee acoustic set in the Craft Lounge. This hardworking chap played 3 shows in 1 day! Thanks too to our good chum Dave Arcari for taking part and giving us a sterling performance. We're grateful to Margaret, Matthew and Catriona too. They came as guests and ended up as roadies! The Tennessee Hotshots had us movin' and shakin' into the night. If you get the chance to catch these cats live, then we can't recommend 'em enough. Just swell. Thank you to Aaron & Sailor Tony of legendary killer 50s record hop All Tore Up (and chums) for keeping us entertained and on the dancefloor til we got papped out of the venue. We couldn't think of a more fitting, more fun way to end the day. We'll be donning our frocks and getting along to Blackfriars for another All Tore Up fix soon! Huge thanks go to Ken for providing us with all the technical bits we needed to put the event together and to Paul for putting the whole shebang together. He humphed, he climbed and he plugged everything in AND stayed around to make sure everything went smoothly onstage. Thanks Paul! And thanks to Ian for doing the Sailor Jerry run. That was crucial to the success of the party!

Thanks to everyone who made it along to shop handmade and join in the crafty fun. Special thanks go to our fellow Starter for 6ers for taking the time to lend their support and thanks too to our chums from NESTA and the CEO. Thanks to Josie, Lyns, Lyndsay and Jo for making not one - but TWO trips! 'Twas lovely to see you! And we must give a very special mention to The Birthday Girl who chose to spend her 10th birthday celebrations with us at The Hop! Best dancer on the floor! ;o)

We'll be posting a little photo gallery soon. Stay tuned!