The Bounty – Show and Tell
I saved for quite a while to take a goodly sum to IQA Chicago, knowing it was the place to find odd tools and such. Here’s a look at everything I bought.
I made several trips to the Cherrywood Fabric booth, and spent over $30 each time.
A pattern I coveted from last year’s show(!), a jelly roll for a couple of baby quilts I am making, and two fat quarters of dupioni silk from Vogue fabrics.
18 inch batting samples from Hobbs. These were $8 a bundle, and there’s 2 different bundles here.
Only at a show like this can you find tools you can’t find in stores. These Clover pompom makers and needlefelting molds are exactly that.
Lakehouse fabrics bought at the Tammy Tadd booth. There’s about $90 worth of fabric here.
I plan to try some dyeing this summer, so I bought a gradation kit from Pro Chemical and Dye.
Two orphan blocks of embroidery that I bought for $5 a piece. I love the idea of rescuing these poor things. The Kewpie doll is really ugly, and I had to have it!
Another place I can drop some serious money is at the Quilting Arts booth. I bought some cool embellishing kits, and the first season o fthe Quilting Arts program on DVD. The little hearts are from an antique quilt booth, made of a cut up quilt with hand piecing and quilting on them. Not sure what I will use those hearts for, but they were 50 cents each.
Booths selling wool were everywhere. And while i am not looking to get into making quilts or projects with wool, I do have a DVD bu Jane LaFazio who does a little wool applique piece I would like to try. So with access to great hand dyed wools at the show, I indulged a bit. There’s $20 worth of wool here.
Lastly, a bit about being Teacher’s Pet. In my experience, I have gotten a “gift” from each teacher I was the Pet for. Now, I will say, that I NEVER expect this, and it’s a wonderful thing that they do, but I must say that I also EARN my rewards. As Teacher’s Pet, you are not paid, and you also paid for your enrollment to the class, so the job should not be so overwhelming that you do not get to enjoy it. You get a pin to collect as your reward, but this is something extra that teachers may do. I always get there very early, ask the teacher throughout the class if they need anything, and also help them pack and clean up IN ADDITION to the duties given by the show organizers. These kits were my reward for the classes I took.
Tsukineko Inks Workshop
Yesterday, I took a class on Tsukineko Inks taught by Judy Coates Perez. She is a great teacher, and I enjoyed the class very much. It was held at the College of DuPage campus in their arts center, which was a great space to take a class. This was the ink project I worked on during class. I love how it turned out, even though I did not have very many colors of ink. Guess I have something to spend more money on. Judy was so nice, and her work is utterly amazing. I wish I had one smidge of talent as she has for artwork. Her samples were cool, and I don’t know why I was suprised that her works are wholecloth. Duh! Her daughter, Nina, was there, and she’s got amazing talent too!