Minneapolis

* This picture is from August a couple of years ago. I did not bring my camera this trip, but wanted to include something scenic from Minneapolis. The spoon is in the sculpture garden next to the Walker Art Museum.


We went to Minneapolis last Friday so that I could attend the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo at the Convention Center. It was my first time attending one of these shows and I enjoyed myself. I took three classes and had plenty of time to wander around the vendors booths and find some fun stuff to bring home with me.

I was looking especially for buttons for Coleen's coat because it is finished and I did not buy enough of the buttons that she had originally chosen. Unfortunately I did not find anything suitable, but that didn't keep me from finding other things.

I bought three pieces of fabric. The green and the brown are bamboo/silk blends and the robin's egg blue is a bamboo/silk/wool blend. After dissection our best guess is the brown is the wool, the white bamboo and the blue silk. It is lovelier in person and definitely more blue than this picture conveys. The green and the brown will be shirts for William and I. The blue I am thinking of a jacket and skirt combination for me.




I also couldn't resist this Indonesian sarong. It is actually brown over-dyed with navy blue. It will probably become a blouse or a skirt, but I haven't quite decided yet.


These books are references from two of the classes I took. The classes are really more like one-hour seminars. Both of these classes had lots of good information. Cynthia Guffey warned us ahead of time, that in order to fit all of the information in she talked so fast you would not be able to take notes. Boy was she right! But really quite a delightful speaker. I can see why her class was packed. The book here does outline exactly what she said in class without the charm.

Lorraine Henry talked at a pace you could follow, but did not get through everything she wanted to cover. I got the book from her class because I liked the measuring tapes. One has 0 in the middle, so you can measure back and front(or right and left) at the same time. The other can attach to the first one to help with measuring inseams. Very clever.




The third class was with Lyla Messinger and was more like a trunk show. She showed us several different techniques for edge finishes in knits and showed us how she used them on garments she had made. Of the three, it was my least favorite, but when discussing it afterwards with William, I decided it is also the one that I will use the most. She had some good pointers on working with knits and since knits are quick and easy, these tips will get their fair share of use. I will probably order some notions from her in a couple of months.

While I was there, Coleen and William went to the Walker Art Museum and Magers&Quinn, our favorite bookstore. William also went searching for weaving supplies. We did finally go to the Weaver's Guild on Saturday. They are closed on Saturday, but had a class in session and were very kind and let us look around and make a purchase. William found a really great book on woven Shibori and also bought some cotton to play around with.

We made a quick run to IKEA and REI to do some shopping and then made our way back home.