Some promised pictures of pretty fibers

How was that for alliteration?

I'd talked in a recent podcast episode about the fibers I'd bought at the Fibre Garden in Jordan Village, Ontario (Canada). I'd said then that I'd post pictures...and then I got distracted by, oh, you know, work and life and such. 

So, belatedly but nonetheless still pretty...

Two bags of pulled sari silk*--one group is called "Paint Box" and the other is "Warm Tones." I can't wait to play with these. I'm not good enough at spinning yet to be able to spin slippery and shorter fibers, so I will be using these as embellishments somehow. (Oops--just realized one of the bags was upside down when I took the picture. Sorry if I'm messing with your perspective, there!)

The long tube of dyed roving is named "Sorbet." I'm not normally a pastelly-kind of girl but this one grabbed me for some reason. I imagine it'll spin beautifully.

 

 

I have already started spinning the other tube of dyed roving that I bought. I was anxious to test out the new, slightly heavier top-whorl spindle I bought at the shop. The new spindle does work better with the thickness of yarn I'm able to spin at this stage. The more I practice, the thinner yarn I can manage. For now, though, my yarn is still thick enough that it needs a spindle that'll stand up to it. 

This spindle also has a notch carved into the side of the whorl which has been tremendously helpful in holding the yarn in place as I'm spinning. (I tried to carve a notch into one of my other spindles but couldn't make a dent in the darn thing.) This spindle is also able to be used either as top or bottom whorl, which may come in handy, although I've not tried to use it as a bottom whorl yet so I don't know how well it works that way.

And that's it! Not a big quantity of stuff, but the roving allows for plenty of spinning play time so I'm definitely getting a lot of bang for my buck!

*If you've not heard of it before: "sari silk" is recycled silk fibers from old saris. They're all the rage now in the fiber arts world because they're just so darn yummy! I think this link will take you to some Google images of saris, and this link should take you to images of recycled sari silk fibers.

Photo Album from Paducah

And a wonderful time was had by all. For detail, listen to Episode 123 In Which I Went to Paducah, posted on May 1, 2013.​ As I mentioned in my podcast, we're not allowed to post pictures of the quilts/quilt show (or vendor booths) on social networking or blog sites, so sorry about that. Still, I have a few pictures that will give you a feel for the event.

(For those subscribing by email or reading this through a feed-reader, I hope I've been able to fix the problem with pictures not coming through. I'll be checking that after it posts. If not, just visit it on the web; I subscribe to my own feed so I'll see what happens and, if necessary, I'll keep poking away at the problem!)

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The drive down (all 14 hours of it) was lovely--beautiful weather. Then, most of the rest of the time it was fairly rainy, except for one very nice day during which we wandered down to the riverfront and I snapped this picture. Nice scenery!

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​The shindig officially opened the first morning with a local high school marching band. It was a hoot. I suspect that Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson were somehow involved; a few women began marching behind the band carrying quilts and I recall something on The Quilt Show website (or was it in Quilt Life Magazine?) inviting attendees to bring pictures for a "flash mob" picture with Ricky and Alex. Katie and I were standing too far away to see what was going on once the band entered the building, but we could hear them. Great marching band--especially the drumline.

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After whatever-it-was-that-went-on-in-there, they came back out to the parking lot and played for a bit. The Fancy Dress Majorette must have been freezing--it was under 50 degrees that morning, I think, so I'm hoping she had some long underwear on under there. She was cute, though, so there is that.​

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Later that first morning, I attended a lecture on The Tentmakers of Cairo, with Jenny Bowker of Australia. It was a special exhibit at the show--truly wonderful, by the way. And Jenny was a fun speaker to listen to--great stories. ​

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Two of the tentmakers were working in the exhibit so you could watch how they do it. They're amazingly fast. No, the applique isn't quilt-show-judging-perfect, but you don't care because the finished products are incredibly beautiful. (You can see a snippet of a few of the "tent screens" behind the men.)

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If you're interested in more information about the tentmakers, I l linked the Facebook page above, but google "Tentmakers of Cairo" to see various other sites that include photos, videos, and so forth. Really wonderful stuff!

I don't have any pictures from the Lorraine Torrance lecture that Katie and I attended--but it was also a great lecture!​

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Friday evening, Katie and I went to "Behind the Seams with Libby Lehman and Alex Anderson." Entertaining. Unfortunately, as Libby explained in class the next day, that's when she first started experiencing some difficulties that were probably the harbringer of the aneurysm she suffered this week. It's a little more difficult to look at these pictures now. (Libby is on the left, Alex on the right.)​

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Speaking of that class, Here's Neicey--the woman who had originally registered for "Sheer Ribbon Illusions" with Libby Lehman but later ended up not being able to attend, so she sold me her seat. Thank you so much, Neicey! (And it was fun meeting you--hope we get to meet again sometime!)​

​I got to be Neicey at the class. I felt like I was walking in very fun shoes.

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And here's Libby during class on Saturday. She explained that she was feeling under the weather and was wearing a heat therapy patch on her neck during class. It's a testament to her professionalism and skill, however, that she was still a great teacher, making us immediately at ease and having fun in the class. Thank you, Libby. I'm praying for you! (As of this writing, no further information has been posted on The Quilt Show blog.)

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​Here's my class project. She suggested that my highlighting was a little heavy-handed (she said it more nicely than that, of course); I studied her samples more carefully and close-up after doing this and saw that she really only lightly highlights hers. Fun technique, though. (And no, I don't plan on finishing this sample--it was just for the purpose of the class. It's a technique I may play with in future quilts, though. I did get to keep the pretty, pretty thread!)

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​A highlight of the week was our visit to The National Quilt Museum. Incredible. They had their permanent exhibition (which gets rotated, of course, through the quilts they have in their collection) in the center, as well as a special exhibit of miniature quilts. On the left side was a special exhibit of quilts using the Jacob's Ladder block. Some were antique quilts with the standard, recognizable block; the rest were contemporary quilts that played with the block in a variety of ways. It turned into sort of a game to see if you could figure out where the block was. Very cool. On the other side was a special exhibit featuring two very different contemporary quilt artists: Emiko Toda Loeb and Regina Alexandra. I can't even begin to explain these exhibits, so check out the link here.

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​Another highlight of the week was a meet-up with listener Angela and her mom! Woot! Mom took this picture so you don't get to meet her, but say hi to Angela!

And now for the shopping. ​

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Books. Mostly on dying and other surface design treatments, but one is a pattern book that I'm using for a baby quilt. (Not for the one you think, Dianne.)

I also got the book/DVD on the Tentmakers of Cairo exhibit, as well as the DVD of pictures from the quilt show itself. ​

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Next, fabric. These are for the baby quilt previously mentioned. I got these on the remnant tables at Hancock's of Paducah--$5.98 a yard. I need a lot of fabrics, but not a lot of each fabric, so I'll likely have enough left over to make other things as well. (I'm not posting pictures of other fabric for another baby quilt due to not wanting to give anything away to certain readers of my blog. So there, nyah.)​

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​And, of course, Pro-Chemical and Dye...

...stay posted in days to come for more pictures resulting from this pile of fun.

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And Tsukineko inks, stencils, and other toys for surface design.​ Had problems deciding what to play with first after I got home! (Haven't even dug into this bunch yet...but plan to this weekend, if the weekend doesn't get away from me.)

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Did you notice this guy wheedling his way into several of my pictures? He's not my purchase--he was Katie's. He's an antique...wait for it...tape measure. Yep--he's got a tape measure coming out of his hindquarters. He's adorable, but you've got to know that I gave her no end of ribbing for having a cat with a tape measure coming out of its butt. ​

And with that image  embedded in your mind, we now leave Paducah and return home--weary, broke, and inspired. Let the games begin!