Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival was today. Had a wonderful time and spent way too much money. ^_^ Found some awesome deals and lots of spinning fiber! Working on a hank of blue faced Leicester from Dicentra Designs in colorway October. I can’t wait to see it spun up!
I can’t believe it is already the 18th of December! This year has flown by and so much has happened! On November 11th, my boyfriend of over 6 1/2 years proposed, finally! ^_^ I said yes, of course, and our date is set for the 10th of October, 2010. 10-10-10-, gee, I wonder how many people are going to get married that day? So of course I am busy planning for the wedding. I went downtown to the local bookstore and picked up a few things to help me out. The first “book” I got was a Bridal Idea Journal. It is really cool. It has tons of pages dedicated to possibilities and ideas of what the wedding will look like. It has a timeline and due dates, a budget section, and lots of space to jot down general notes about venues and vendors. It has been a handy little book.
Another book that I absolutely adore is The DIY Bride Crafty Countdown. This book is incredible. I told myself I wasn’t going to go through the stress of making my own save the dates and invitations, but I can’t help it. The ideas in this book are so good, and so simple, I have to make my own! Why pay double or triple when you don’t have to? And besides, there’s plenty of time. (Flash forward to a few days before the wedding, and they still aren’t done. . .) ^_^ You have to check this book out if you are in the market to get married, or are helping a friend with a wedding. You can catch this book and more fabulous ideas at www.diybride.com. I also recommend checking out The Knot. They have some great tips and other fabulous bride-to-be stuff, including an online checklist, guestlist, and iPhone app! They can be found at www.theknot.com.
Moving along to more recent happenings, yesterday I roasted some vegetables. They are sooooooo incredibly delicious. Down town at the local health food store they offer roasted vegetables in the deli case. These are perhaps the best I have ever had. . .until now. I went to the store and picked up some organic yellow squash, zuchinni, baby red potatoes, red onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, baby carrots, and a head of garlic. I threw everything onto a baking sheet, after preping of course, drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and threw them in the oven on 250 for about 2 hours. The only reason that I use such a low temperature is because when my oven gets too hot, it warps my pans. . . I know, I have a crappy oven. But I’m renting, so what can I do? When I do it again, I will wait to add the squash, red onion, and zuchinni until about half way through cooking, and I would use way less olive oil. I would also throw in more garlic because that is my favorite part! ^_^ Here’s a tasty picture that I snapped about half way through the cooking process. Caution: Drooling very likely to occur.
I have lots more to share, but it’s just about time to start dinner, so I have to get going. Coming soon: More Project Pyramids, A tour around my Christmas Tree, my Snapdragon Flip-Top Mits by Ysolda, my Urban flip-top gloves for my brother, my hand spun and hand knit hat for my mother, and my future Quilt projects. Stay tuned, I hope to have these posts up soon! ^_^
This last weekend was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, also known as OFFF. It was a blast! Sue, Maria, and I went on Sunday morning to make sure we were able to make it in time for the parking lot fleece sale. They scored some awesome bags of wool. I have been on a ‘pre-done’ kick lately. Not too much into the washing and drying, picking and carding of the fleeces right now.
I started my shopping spree with 3 oz of hot fuchsia Bamboo/Merino. It was so gorgeous, displayed like a silk scarf calling my name. 40% Bamboo, 60% Merino and oh so beautiful. I have already started to spin it up. Two ply, maybe a DK weight. . .or fingering.
The next find we found was Sporfarm. Our all time come back to fiber. Wonderfully soft and fluffy batts were waiting for us. We each got teal carded black Shetland and Fine wool blends, I also got a purple and black blend.
In a tent just beyond the buildings was Abstract Fiber where I found an old favorite. Mossy Rock and Smith Rock. What is it with me and the rocks? I bought the Autumnal Smith Rock for myself, a lovely sprinkling of Alpaca, Merino, and Silk; an absolute dream to spin! Maria bought Mossy Rock, reminds us of a forest with green leaves and brown bark. When I unloaded my newly formed stash at home, I discovered that I had both of these colors already spun into beautiful hanks of home spun. Go figure. ^_^
After that we ventured outside where we were bathed in the warmest water and scrubbed our hands in a salty mixture scented with Pumpkin Spice. This dangerous rub was from a mystical place called Bar-Maid’s. I of course bought some of their Euro Salt along with a Lo-Lo Bar. Yum!
Onto the next fibery find was a beautiful sock roving. A braid of Merino, a dash of Bamboo, and a hint of nylon for strength. This wonderful new find was colored like a rose garden; too pretty to resist. The new vendor is not yet online, but I’m sure she will be soon.
We didn’t stay long. . . it only took us two hours to find what we were after before our lunch started humming our names. We went to the all time favorite, The Wild Hare. One chicken wrap, a chicken sandwich, and a giant bacon cheeseburger later we were on our way to an afternoon of spinning delight. Little did I know I was coming down with the flu and had to excuse myself early to go home and sleep.
What a wonderful day of fiber related goodness. Lots of photos hopefully to come soon. Stay tuned. ^_^
So, I went to a Renaissance Faire this weekend. I’ve been attending for 7 years now. I love it! There are so many great activites and wonderful people. My favorite part is dressing up. I made my own costume this year. (My mother had made my previous two.) I only got half of it finished, however. I made the outer shell, but the underdress came from a second hand store. I’m planning on wearing this costume for Halloween as well, but need to finish the underdress.
This is the pattern that I started with. There was much altering that needed to be done to get it to look the way I had pictured in my mind.
I used view A and left off the sleeves because I mostly didn’t want them, but also because I didn’t have enough fabric. I also did not have the trim go all the way down the front of the dress. I didn’t really care about the trim, but before I read through the entire pattern to see how it was constructed, I wasn’t able to easily go back and fix the raw edges that the trim covers. So, here is what the finished dress ended up like.
This isn’t the best picture of me. . .but when I took my camera with me, I neglected to make sure there was an SD card in it. 😦 I had a little internal memory, and was able to take a few pictures, however I cannot find my camera cable to extract said photos. Once I find that, I will post a few better pictures of the costume. But all in all, you get the main idea. *UPDATE* I have found my cord and this IS the updated picture. . .well, better than nothing I suppose. ^_^*
I have also recently been knitting on Ysolda’s Snapdragon Tam. It’s GORGEOUS! I love the pattern and the color. I decided to use Malabrigo Worsted in Sunset. I adore this yarn, and the Tam looks great with it!
The background in this picture is the quilt that I recently put together. It’s a collection of Anna Maria Horner and Tina Givens fabrics. I just did giant 14″ blocks, alternating light and darks. I had four fabrics total and have plenty left over for some accent pillows, (if I ever get around to them . . .). I quilted it on my mother’s longarm with a pantograph and teal-blue thread. It’s so pretty! ^_^
And now it is laying happily upon my bed. Though there is not enough drape on the sides, there is plenty of length. It almost touches the floor at the foot of my bed and still has enough for a tuck! I have a Queen size bed and this quilt measures approximately 80×108. I should have added at least one more row on the width, but it’s lovely just the same.
And then, just when I thought I couldn’t cram any more onto my Ashford Joy’s bobbin, I go and cram a little more. Poor wheel. I work this thing to death, but it still shows me love. This was some blue faced leceister that I wanted to get spun up. It’s so soft and scrumptious. I love it.
My boyfriend is gone for three months to train for a new position he is taking. If all goes well, we will be moving to the ‘big city’ to be close to his work. While he’s away, I have been trying to find things to keep myself busy. (Like that is hard to do. . . ^_^) So I’ve been finishing up on some of these projects, as well as starting way too many new ones. On the books for the coming few weeks, I will be attending Oregon Flock and Fiber in Canby. This will be year 3. Can’t wait to find some fibery goodness to feed the addiction. I have a few classes to teach at the quilt shop, and some store samples to get through. I have three bags and a long jacket to do. As soon as I can get myself a little better organized, I will be posting some, hopefully, regular updates on my progress.
It’s the second year for me and the girls at the Aurora Colony Antique Spinning Wheel Showcase. It was so much fun! We got to see and learn about the history of the Aurora Colony and the wheels that they used. I tried to take as many pictures as I could, and I even brought home a program this year so that I would know what they were! However, I should have labeled my pictures or something, because I don’t remember the order they are in. . .but I will do my best.
Due to so many pictures, I will break this post into different parts. Here is Part 1. Enjoy! ^_^
We went on Sunday and arrived about 10 minutes early. We had plenty of time to look around at all of the wonderful old buildings surrounding the museum.
This was the Raffle Wheel. They had one last year also. I put in 6 tickets, as well as the girls. Not sure who won it, haven’t heard anything yet. I’m sure it went to a good home though. Below is a picture of the information on the wheel.
This concludes Part 1 of the Antique Spinning Wheel Showcase. Stay tuned for updates and more photos! ^_^
Melissa's Kre8tions 