Sewing and Stitchery Expo -- Puyallup, WA Part 2

Ok, so where were we from the last post? Oh yes, I was on the show floor looking around (aka, shopping). LOL!  I was good. I kept to my no new fabric promise. In fact, I only purchased stuff from one booth -- Pendleton Woolen Mills. (I know, I'm boring!)

This was what I got -- three cute little wool zipper pouches and those two wooden things. What are those wooden things? Take a guess and find out at the end of the post. (I gotta hook you into this somehow!)

I'm not much of a show shopper. I like to go to these shows to learn. This is where the event planners bring in the product reps and teachers to educate, educate, educate.

I did stop by a couple of booths and picked up some material to read and consider for later. This card was from a young lady sells a software she developed to make beautiful mosaic quilts. The quilt of a ballerina she had in her booth made me stop in my tracks. It was so beautiful! The card was from Tammie Bowser of the Mosaic Quilt Studio. Her software takes your photos and breaks the photo down to mosaic squares, groups and labels the pattern by color and also allows you to print a shopping list so you know how much of each fabric you need. Then you put these squares together, take a step away and gaze at the beautiful photo quilt you just created. She did a quick demo at her booth of the software and it looked like it would be really fun to use.

A second booth that caught my eye was that for the Pacific Northwest Art School. The pieces they had on display in their booth were amazing. The school was promoting their fiber art workshops. This school is located on Whidbey Island, north of the Seattle area. They offer coursework in areas ranging from painting, mixed media, fiber arts, and photography. Taking a course from them is now on my bucket list for sure!

My time on the floor was short, as it was time for my last class. I signed up for Boutique Buttons, A Designer Detail with Vaune Pierce. Vaune talked about how she creates buttons for her fine children's clothing line. She creates the buttons herself and uses all sorts fabrics. I loved how she uses embroidery to embellish her buttons. Here are some of her buttons. See the cute little "bee" button on the far left? that's a hand embroidered button!

Vaune also showed this beautiful dress, which was featured in an issue of Sew Beautiful magazine. These photos do not do this dress justice. The impeccable detailing in this garment were amazing! I learned one important tidbit in this class. The buttonhole with should equal the width of the button plus the thickness of the button!

I was lucky enough to catch up with an old friend at the show as well. She is from this area and moved back here about eight years ago. We used to work together at a major healthcare company. She now runs an embroidery business of her own (Spangler Stitchin Station) and does various shows here in Oregon. I'm so blessed to have been able to meet with her and see each other after all those years. She was one of the reasons I was so excited to be back in this area! Little did I know she would leave me with two surprises -- a stitched tote bag (which came in handy) and a very useful microfiber hair turban towel. She said her customers really like the turban towel!

So, let's revisit that photo from earlier. Have you figured out what the wooden things are yet? I'm keeping a pair as candlesticks. But they started out many years ago as wool bobbins! Yesiree, those are antique wool bobbins from Pendelton Woolen Mills. Aren't those cool? I'm thinking of using a couple pairs in my studio for something fun. (I have a sweet friend who purchased some more for me) I'm so excited to be living near a historical treasure of America. Pendleton Woolen Mills has a great history. I love their trading blankets and plaids.

We all enjoyed a nice fret-free drive home, showing our treasures and skipping the nasty Seattle traffic. And best of all, I got home just in time to get out of cooking dinner! LOL! It was a great way to spend the day.

And sorry I was good. Trust me, there were some beautiful, fabrics out there at the show -- tons of silks, hand painted fabrics, current sellers, and the like. But I was good and stuck to my word. I'm glad I did. I prefer to learn at these shows. That way I can refresh my creativity and start something fun.

I think I'm going to try my hand at making a scarf like one mentioned in part one of this post series. I can't wait!