Amy Artisan

 Jen & Kristy each purchased some “soap in a coat” at the fair on Saturday & we all quickly decided that we wanted to get the materials & give it a try ourselves. As I showed in the last post, among my spoils from Saturday were some lovely soaps and some colored wool batts for this project.

Last night, Jen hosted Kristy & I for an evening of crafting. After a simple summer meal of a delicious pasta salad (thanks Jen!) it was time to clear the table and get to crafting. First on our list was trying out the felted soap bars. I had printed out some instructions, we set up the dining room table with towels, piles of wool, assorted soaps & bowls of hot water. Before long, each of us was sudsy & had fun getting the wool to felt to the soap. We didn’t have a felting board, I used a spare hand towel to help with rubbing the wool into the soap. Within short order, we each had a plateful of assorted soaps to take home. As we were cleaning up the table, I noticed that the turquoise wool had bled onto the towels. As the soap dried, the turquoise one bled onto the paper towel it was drying on. So, I’m pretty sure that wool won’t be on the soap for much longer. We give this craft “3 pruned thumbs up” & plan to do it again. Hmm…I have all sorts of ideas brewing…

After we had our fill of felted soap, we turned our attention to another favorite of ours - knitting. Jen continued to make progress on a scarf. I was working on a new pair of socks (am way behind on blogging about summer sock progress…) Kristy has two projects going - a shawl with some of Diann’s curly mohair from last year’s fair & a felted bag. As Kristy worked on her projects, she had a notebook out to capture tips & tricks from me so that she can continue on the projects after her move at the end of the month.

In addition to fun with fiber, this crafting evening also had a different task on the agenda - helping Kristy update her resume as she prepares to move back to Kansas for the next chapter in her life. It seems like it was just yesterday (or maybe last month) that Jen asked me to help her little sister (via email) with her resume as she was preparing to graduate from college & move to Chicago for a job in 2004. Once Kristy moved to town, hanging out with Jen quickly evolved to hanging out with Jen & Kristy. Before long, Kristy had me teach her how to knit - her first project, a baby blanket based on the Grandma’s favorite pattern. Since then, Kristy has been a fiber pal - always up for my latest fiber outing…be it a yarn store, a festival, just sitting & knitting or anything else. Since my sister & I live so far apart, Kristy was a local little sister - we added Rebecca into the mix when she would visit & the “4 Kansas Sisters” could always count on a good time - be it tea at the Peninsula, scrapbooking retreats or trips over to Harbor Country.

Before long, it was time to pack up our crafting and call it a night. It seems like our lives have all been pretty busy lately - we used to get together & craft regularly - I’m glad that we were able to get in one last crafty time before Kristy’s departure.

This weekend was the 2nd annual Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair. Last year, it seemed like I stumbled on announcements about the fair and it was definitely a highlight of summer fun. This year, as soon as I saw the dates for the fair it was on my calendar. Saturday morning was rather rainy when I picked up Jen & Kristy - so we picked up our standard iced coffees and headed northwest - by the time we arrived at the fair the rain had stopped.  In addition to the vendors, these cuties were outside basking in all the attention.

With the new location and layout, vendors were spread out indoors and out. Our favorites from last year were mixed in among new discoveries. This year I ended up with quite a bit of fiber; however, each skein was unique in it’s own way & I’m looking forward to turning them into some fun projects. Among the spoils:

- A pair of Ohio Flats needles that Sistermaide debuted at the fair. These are so cool to knit with - they are flat instead of round needles which have a totally different feel to them - less stressful on the hands. (These are so new they aren’t on the website yet.)

- Diann was back with her beautiful Creatively Dyed yarns. A skein of Ocean in a sage/rose overdye combo & a skein of her newest Woodbrook in the chocolate brown namesake color.

- Brooks Farm: 2 skeins of their new Willow (wool & bamboo blend) and a skein of Four Play from the Widows & Orphans rack. Their Limited Edition III yarn is now a regular called Ellie - there were so many beautiful colorways that I may pick some up at Stitches Midwest next month.

- HeavenSent Home Spun soaps & some roving from Esther’s Place - the 3 of us are planning to try making felted soap bars soon.

- A new discovery - Redfish Dye Works had beautiful skeins of silk dyed in just about every color of the rainbow. I picked a skein that reminds me of boysenberries.

- A skein of llama in Wedgewood blue from Rach-Al-Paca Farm. This yarn was spun from Zander - a 4-H show animal in Wisconsin.

I did pick up several other non-fiber finds; however, since I actually planned ahead & picked up a few gifts most of the pictures can’t be shown. I can show you one of my favorite finds of the weekend, some new art of my art wall in the living room.

- This little piece is from Sue Schneider (no website) - she had many beautiful oil paintings. Beautiful birds, detailed tea pots, gorgeous flowers & so many great fiber insired pictures. When I saw the colors of this one I knew it was coming home with me.

After we had our fill of fiber & folk art, we worked our way back to the city. Kristy had never been to Ikea - since she is leaving Chicago at the end of the month it only seemed right that we stop & let her experience it once.

All in all, a great day of fiber, folk and fun with friends!

While Artisan Dad isn’t a July 4th Birthday, his early July birthday means that our July 4th celebrations quickly morph into birthday celebrations. This year was no different - ok, it may have been a bit different because this year Artisan Dad’s birthday was even bigger…but I get ahead of myself.

I flew home to the Ville early on the 4th - the plane was very empty - so having the row to myself meant plenty of sock knitting progress. By about 10:30 AM we were leaving the airport. “On the way” back home we stopped at a ‘new to us’ organic farm in the Ville, Two Doves Farm. (Mom has joked about being jealous of my weekly farmer’s market excursions so I searched out an option for her.) We quickly filled a bag with all sorts of delicious produce that was worked into meals throughout the weekend (Big tomatoes, the cutest cherry tomatoes, beets, garlic, potatoes, blackberries - yum!).

Mom & Dad needed to get a new grill for the deck - so Dad & I picked one up before lunchtime on Friday. I was then in charge of the grill menus throughout the weekend. So to break in the grill for our July 4th dinner, I turned to a favorite CA cut of meat (the tri tip) & grilled veggies.

Monday…Dad’s Birthday…This year it was a “big” birthday and also marked another event - Dad was retiring after 27 1/2 years with his company (& 13 years in the Air Force). Since Dad was there to take pictures as Rebecca & I left for kindergarten all those years ago, it was only appropriate that I got up to see him off to his last day of work (& snap a picture).

The end of a routine…every morning Mom stands on the garage steps as Dad leaves…
they blow each other a kiss & flash the “I Love You” sign.
I’m glad that I captured this image of his last day!

After a few hours, Dad had turned in all his paperwork, his security badge & parking permit and was back home. Because of the security at the building, he now couldn’t go back to work if he tried. The rest of Dad’s birthday was family time - a bit of outlet shopping, another grilled meal. The evening ended with Dad’s favorite chocolate cake.

As is always the case when I’m home in the Ville, it was quickly time to return to Chicago Tuesday afternoon. In addition to celebrating Dad, the weekend was filled with lots of other fun - dinner with a college roommate (I hadn’t seen Kelly since I was finishing up my Chattanooga assignment - umm, Oct. 2006); shopping; lots of knitting (to be shared in future posts) & just hanging out with the family.

What’s next for Dad? In short, anything & everything he wants to do. Dad has always enjoyed gardening - I think he’ll be spending more time with his hands in the dirt. As I’ve mentioned before, he is very artistic - maybe more art projects are on the horizon. He’s always had a way with words - so I’ve set up a blog for him to get writing in a new medium (hint…hint!). He & Mom will hopefully be taking more day trips and road trips.

Initially it may feel more like vacation that Dad isn’t going to work every day. He has definitely earned the right to enjoy this time. Even though I don’t live as close to the folks anymore, my routine has already changed because of his retirement - I will no longer be sending an email to the “Dad - work” email address everyday or dialing “Dad-work” on my cell phone for my early morning commutes.

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C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S   D A D ! ! !
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Wishing you a safe & happy 4th of July!

As you celebrate with family and friends,

take a moment to remember all those who have served - past and present!

…another summer weekend, time for the annual Kansas Sisters Weekend over in Harbor Country.  Rebecca flew in from Atlanta last week and late Friday afternoon, we picked up Jen & Kristy and pointed the car east - towards our escape. While the trip is a ritual, each time we visit we mix & match from our “menu” of favorite items, add some new items to the mix and end up with another lovely experience.

Our time away was a bit shorter this year so some “standards” of previous trips were passed by this year - all the more reason to go back again soon. On Saturday morning we picked up coffee and scones for breakfast, packed up our beach bags & walked a few minutes from our inn to the beach. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy the view, read a good book, catch up with one another.

Saturday afternoon our priority was to sit and knit with Kim & baby Max at the always charming Sit & Knit, A Yarn Cafe. Baby Max charmed us all. Rebecca & I continued our tradition of picking up “matching” yarns as souvenirs - this year it is sock yarn. Hmm, how is it that the non-knitter ends up with yarn souvenirs on these trips? Throughout the weekend I made great progress on the latest sock on my needles. We didn’t do as much shopping as we have in years past; however, we still stopped at a few of our favorite shops as well as “discovered” a few new ones. And there was no shortage of delicious dining and drink options.

Sunday morning it was rainy as we packed up the car to head back to the city. After breakfast and picking up some produce at the farmer’s market it was time to point the car west & come back to Chicago. As the rain gave way to sun and beautiful skies, DJ Becca Bec in the back seat kept us going with quite the eclectic lineup of tunes on the iPod.

Until the next time, this quick clip of the beach on Saturday morning will serve as a reminder of another wonderful weekend to celebrate sisters.