Month: October 2007

Country Threads, Garner, Iowa

Boyd
Country Threads, Garner, Iowa

(Click on the photo to see the slideshow of our trip!) On Saturday I headed down to Iowa with three of my quilt buddies, Joan, Karen and Dawn. It was a perfect fall day for a car trip. We were off for Garner, Iowa, about 145 miles from my house, and a fabulous quilt store on a little town west of Clear Lake. On our way back, we stopped in Northfield. We were going to go to a yarn store called Cottage Industry, which we discovered had closed over a year ago. So we went to Digs instead. They took over the yarn stock of the place that closed. What a fun little store. Actually, all of downtown Northfield is fun – great little shops along Division Street. If you haven’t been, you should make a day trip of it. Just don’t show up at the Indian restaurant expecting to eat between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm. They won’t be waiting on you.

WOW 2007 Quilt Show

Boyd

Several weeks ago now I attended a quilt show given by a local guild to which several of my friends belong. The name of the guild is “Women of the West”, or WOW as they are known to many. I’ve been terribly tardy in getting the pictures off my camera and onto my site, but I offer these two links for you to peruse. The first link contains some of my favorite quilts that were on display. There were dozens and dozens more, but I couldn’t shoot them all: http://www.fiberguy.com/slideshow/slideshow.html#id=wow2007 The second slide show is from a “bed turning” they did at the show. The folded back each old quilt over the bed, and told it’s story, where it was from, how it was made, what people remember about it, etc. It was most fascinating. Almost a “quilts as journals” type of thing. http://www.fiberguy.com/slideshow/slideshow.html#id=bedturning Enjoy!

Blackberry Hills Farm Open Studio

Boyd

A couple of weekends ago, I traveled to Wisconsin to visit the Blackberry Hills Farm open studio event. I had never been but I had come across a flyer for it at the Minnesota State Fair when I visited the booth for the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers Association.

Karin and Helen petting the farm's friendlier llamas.
Karin and Helen petting the farm’s friendlier llamas.

 

The cream colored llama was not a happy camper!
The cream colored llama was not a happy camper!

 

A stunning vista from the hill at the top of the farm, where the house and studio are located.
A stunning vista from the hill at the top of the farm, where the house and studio are located. Isn’t it beautiful?

 

The yarns I bought.
These are the hand-dyed yarns I bought from their studio. They are, from left to right, (1) a fingering weight sheep’s wool/mohair blend for a pair of socks; (2) an alpaca I’ll probably use to make a hat; and (3) a llama that I will definitely use to make a hat to match the socks!