Another Week, another Show or two

This weekend there were actually 3 major shows in the Knoxville area to go to. I guess the Women's Expo downtown should have been the one to go to but I didn't get there! Friday afternoon I went to Maryville College to see the Smoky Mountain Quilter's Guild annual show! I love to just look at all the quilts (and the vendors are fun to browse through as well!) and I took a few pictures of quilts that just were neat. I like the

picture quilts I've posted here. I like the creativity shown, either taking a picture and using it as a "pattern" to make a wallhanging or as inspiration to figure out something new and interesting.

The show we were involved with was the Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival in Townsend, TN. We'd volunteered to demonstrate Saturday and do a free make and take to teach anyone that wanted to how to straw weave. I got there before 9am and the vendors were just opening up. I just took a quick picture as it was opening before it got crowded. I guess there were about 15 vendors selling all kinds of fiber related items. The color of the fleece and yarns were enough to entice anyone!

Besides all the fiber there was a booth that sold benches. Can't you just see yourself sitting on one of these benches threading your loom and then another taller one to sit at while you weave? Walter Turpening is a pro at doing these benches. His wife is a weaver and he's used weaving patterns as inspiration for the bench tops. He'll be at Convergence this July!! Those of you that are fortunate enough to go will be able to see his gorgeous work!

We weren't sure how many of our members would be able to come as well as the Clinch Valley Handweavers members. I know LouAnn was taking a ton of pictures which she's posting on our Guild website. So check it out to see more of our members.

Maggie was so excited to get her leno warp off the loom and we were excited to see the pieces. I know she's bringing them to weaving on Tuesday so I included this picture just to entice our members that didn't come yesterday and that will have to wait til then to see how awesome they are! Maggie's a good weaver!

This also shows our little area where we were demonstrating. The table was where the straw weaving kits were given out from and the 2 looms in the background are LouAnn's and my Schacht wolf pups. I know that I didn't get into the straw weaving much. I sat and wove most of the time and talked to alot of people about weaving and about the pup. The pup is so easy to transport and she weaves great! I have small kitchen handtowels on my loom and LouAnn's got placemats on hers. I think that if we'd had several looms there we probably could have sold a few to people stopping by. This was a fiber fest and fiber people from all around were there checking it out.

I do have to tell a funny story on the people that organized the show. This was their first year and some of them were not fiber people, just people from the area that wanted to help. In emailing back and forth about what we were doing, I told Cindy that we would be having the free straw weaving kits and then we were bringing our wolf pups to demo on at the same time. The email I got back stated that they were sorry, but they didn't have any place to board wolves during the show........... Needless to say, when I forwarded the email to our members and also when she told the committee at their next meeting, all the weavers were rolling on the floor laughing! Cindy now knows what a wolf pup is!

I got a good picture of the people that were helping the whole time we were there. From the left, LouAnn, Maggie and Joyce spent their day helping with the weaving. Plus, Maggie and Joyce were knitting when things calmed down. The lady on the right is Kay. She is in her 90s and still going strong. She still weaves but doesn't do the coverlets she is famous for any longer. Kay is a living treasure!!! She wove her scarf and skirt.

We were so excited to see Gaynell. Gaynell is on the left of the picture and she used to weave with us each Tuesday, coming all the way up to Norris from Townsend and being in the thick of things until her life became too complicated for the long drive. We're hoping she'll have time every so often to just bring a lunch and come join us sometimes. We have missed her!

I am including a few pictures of people weaving, using straws to hold the warp and just having a good time doing it. I love the Mother and daughter. This was near the beginning of the day before things got chaotic. Later there were usually at least half a dozen children and/or adults sitting at that table working hard on their projects.

We were great babysitters for all the kids that came because they were occupied while the parents checked out the booths. Because this was the first year we didn't know how many kits to bring. We ran out of the 45 we'd brought shortly after 3! We were supposed to stay longer but since we were out and kids kept coming to ask for them, we felt we should leave early to avoid disappointing them. Next year we'll bring more, many more. I did find out that the local home school association had been told about the festival so they came with their children and we had several families of home schoolers whose children were working diligently on their projects. Some kids worked a couple of hours on their kits and I saw LouAnn help a bunch of them tie off their piece. It was quite amazing!

It was just before 4pm as we were loading our pups back into the cars and we looked up the hillside to the school playground. Two cousins, one from Alabama and the other from Townsend were busily continuing to work on their weaving. Now that was the icing on the cake! We were able to strike a chord of creativity into all these children. They were able to pick the color to weave with since LouAnn had alot of different balls of yarn to pick from. They saw it progress in their hand as they went around and around those straws! I wonder how many Moms were given it as a gift when it was done.

Jeanie Hilton and the organizers of the festival were very pleased with the response for a first year and I know they'll be doing it again. We're going to be ready next year with alot more kits and we'll be bringing those wolf pups again as well!

On the home front, I got both blue warps off the loom and they're ready to be serged. My DD is going to have to have surgery on her knee. She really tore it up at the RUSH gym when she fell off the machine her trainer had her on. This week she will be performing(knee brace and all) at Maryville College in a play, the Vagina Monologues. She's got a good part in it and will do great. My DH says, great, she's in a play and I can't tell anyone and to go, I have to put a paper bag on my head. He'll be there to cheer her on! The play is a fundraiser and I think they've done it about the last 3 years. I'm glad she's able to be a part of it. Oh yeah, her part is the homeless lesbian. I'll let you know how it went next week when I have pictures of what's on my loom again!

Carol