I've kind of known for awhile that it was out there, but just never felt the urge to check it out.
Well, that changed this year, because it's a really big deal where I work now. The past several weeks, we have been working up to a big crescendo of planning and preparation, which hit a high level of crazy-busy last Monday and Tuesday (at least so far as I was involved).
Anyway, my friend Julie and I drove down this morning to Puyallup and spent about 4 hours and a bit of $$$ perusing the show.
It really is a venue where you can see (and buy) things that you might not otherwise come across.
My first purchase was at the Shibori Dragon booth. Julie told me that they have closed their brick-and-mortar store and gone to online-only. If that's the case, their website does not reflect that.
Anyway, I spotted this ginkgo leaf print fabric in the 1-yard cuts section. After a bit of dithering, I decided, if you're gonna buy one yard, just go ahead and buy two.
A little later on, I saw some ginkgo motif ceramic buttons. I thought about buying a few, but at four dollar EACH, I just couldn't quite justify it.
Another item that caught my eye was the mink yarn at the Great Yarns booth. It was so soft . . . and so expensive! $25 for a solid-color skein, $35 for hand-dyed. As with the buttons, I took a pass; I already have a fair bit of yarn bought on impulse that has yet to be turned into something usable. But I will keep it in mind.
At the Thimblecreek booth, I spotted a fat quarter bundle of 4 red fabrics.
There is the polka dot, the plaid/check, a solid, and in the back where you really can't see it a red-and-white stripe. What caught my attention is that these looked to be more "true" red than what I've been seeing in the store the last few years, where the reds have an orange-y cast to them.
Some time ago, I complete one of my hand-pillow fronts using some red-and-white prints that had been in my stash for awhile. The problem I ran into, however, was finding fabric for the piping and the back that matched the front in hue. As I said above, what was in the stores was too orange.
I don't know if today's purchase will fit the bill. I haven't retrieved the pillow front from my studio to compare it. But when I do, I will let you, my faithful readers, know!
My final expenditure was The Big Splurge. This was one of those situations where you see something, it's really cool and you want it, but it's kind of pricey. But after thinking about it, you know that it's not something you can pass up, so you say WTH and just do it.
I saw these hand-marbled fat quarters at the Marbled Arts booth, and they were just gorgeous!
Some years ago, my mom gave me a small piece of marbled fabric. It had been in my stash ever since. Every time I sift through my stash, I come across it, and every time I look at it and think, how could I ever cut this up? It's just so beautiful. Well, maybe now it will have some company, and I will do something special with it.
At the end of our visit to Sew Expo, we came to the Vogue Fabrics booth. This could be a real gold mine. Julie bought two one-yard cuts of silk dupioni in a couple of neutral tones. What caught my eye was a different dupioni where the color alternated between lavender and pink depending on how the light hit it.
I was sorely tempted, but did not buy any. I may yet regret my decision.
I worked that show a couple of years and it is indeed a mecca of fibery goodness.
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