What a Quilt Show!

The Pacific International Quilt Festival was in town and I went with a few friends to check it out.  Wow!  This was advertised as the largest quilt festival on the West Coast and this was no exaggeration; we quickly realized we didn't give ourselves enough time to see all the fabulous quilts that are really works of art.

                                                                         
Here is some of what we saw:

This quilt was Best of Show:

                                                                   
The lady who made this is from Wyoming and has been quilting for 6 years, has four children and sewed this on a 20 year old sewing machine - amazing!  Four children and still finding time to crank this out on an  old sewing machine.  I didn't dare ask her if she home schooled her kids.

Even the back was beautifully done:

 

I love the colors and design in this quilt:

                                                                     
A lovely begonia quilt:

                       

                                                                                                                                                     

This quilt won best machine workmanship for a traditional quilt:

         

     

       

   

             

 

Kaffe Fassett's book was featured at several of the booths:

                                                                                                                                      

A really great afternoon....



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The Talented Kristin Nicholas

Kristin Nicholas recently announced on her blog that her yarn, Julia, will be discontinued and alot of us who are fans of her designs are disappointed to hear the news.  I knit Kristin's Over-the-Top Shawl using Julia and I loved the colors:

                                                                        


WEBS has Julia on sale and I bought enough to make this garter ridge scarf which I am going to do in Fall colors:

  

This pattern is from the Premier Issue of the Nashua Handknits magazine and it also features an extensive interview with Kristin, including lots of pictures of her home which she has very creatively decorated with hand painted walls, stenciling and lots of interesting antiques and garage sale finds.
I love her decorating style and even though I don't live in New England, I think there is lots of inspiration for anyone who loves color and and an eclectic style.   I'm including a few pictures, with Kristin's kind permission:

Handpainted lampshades in the living room:

                                                                      


Kristin's paintings and a collection of vases:

                                          


                                                                                



Handpainted walls and pottery in her dining room:

                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                    

An old farm cabinet:

    

  
If you can find a copy of this magazine, I would recommend picking it up; lots of nice classic designs, including the Maize sweater that I am now making for the second time - this one for my son:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Jimmy Beans New Place

It's nice to talk about a knitting business that is so successful, it had to move to a much larger space.  Jimmy Beans Wool started out as a small shop and Laura Zander, the owner, had limited knitting skills but she and her husband have used their combined  computer and marketing  skills to develop Jimmy Beans into one of the largest online knitting companies in the country, as well as running a nice shop in Reno.

Here's their new space, in a warehouse in Reno:

                                                                            

    
Their shop is on the small side, but the warehouse more than makes up for it, and if you ask, the folks there are happy to let you go back and choose your own yarn from the back:

                                                                                

                                                                            

                                                                                    

        

  
Jimmy Beans is also going to be carrying fabric for quilting, etc.  Didn't have too much time to check out this area, but Kaffe Fassett's fabric caught my eye:

Brandon Mably is also designing fabric:

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