Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Heart of America Fiber Festival

Last Saturday, my husband and I attended the Heart of America Sheep Show and Fiber Fest in Sedalia, Missouri. It is held every year about this time at the Missouri State Fair Grounds. We have wanted to go for the last couple of years, but something else has always come up, and we've missed it. Now that my husband is more interested in fiber arts, particularly the animal end of it (sheep, goats, alpacas, etc.), he volunteers to go to these events and doesn't have to be dragged to them. He has always been very supportive of my fiber art passion, but now he has a passion of his own which is very nice for both of us!

While at the festival, I was particularly interested in the vendors. Of course, I always head to where the wool roving is first and look at everything else later. And of course, I always end up buying some fiber! There were many vendors with quality fiber, but I tend to buy from the friendly ones that are helpful and not overbearing. I really dislike it when I'm totally ignored by a vendor which did happen a few times, and I didn't leave with any of their roving either. On the other hand, there were several very nice vendors that I did purchase from.

I bought several ounces of a turquoise, purple, and dark blue mix roving from "A Loom With a View" from Hermann, MO. It is the large roll on the left in the photo. I also bought a few ounces of colorful roving from Morning Sun Fiber Barn from Wapello, IA. It is the two smaller balls of roving in the photo. Both vendors were lovely women with a nice presentation and great quality fiber.


Besides buying wool roving, I also bought some dyed locks. The way I understand it, several women from Louisiana set up a booth together as one vendor. They had a large variety of rovings and equipment among other fiber art related items. They were all very sweet, helpful, and lovely to talk to. I bought some gorgeous Mohair locks from Nightsong Farms, one of the ladies' farms. It is the bright turquoise colored locks in the photo. I also bought some wool locks from Marsh Mellow Meadows, another ladies' farm. On the bag of these particular locks, it even gave the names of the sheep that the wool came from - Lulu and Lillie! I thought that was adorable. You can see Lulu's and Lillie's wool in the pale blue and orange colored locks. You can find out more about all of their southwestern Louisiana fiber farms here.

Next weekend, I think that my husband and I are going to attend the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, Iowa. We both enjoy these festivals so much, and I get super excited about purchasing a sampling of roving to work with! I'm not sure what I'll do with all of it yet, but I have some ideas.

2 comments:

  1. Congrats on your vacation! It sounds wonderful.

    I just surfed in and wanted to tell you how gorgeous your work is. I love the colors!!
    Holly

    ReplyDelete

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