Amana Iowa is a small town that was settled in the 1800's. Actually, there were five or six towns, East Amana, West Amana, High Amana, Amana, South Amana, and Homestead. (Yeah Homestead doesn't really fit into the naming pattern does it?) These towns were settled by a German immigrant group who wanted to pursue a self-sufficient life style. One of the things that appealed to me is that until the 1930's, the groups ate meals at a communal dining room, meaning that those who wanted to cook, cooked, and others could pursue other interests, such as making clothing for community members. Sounds like a great idea to me.
They have turned now into normal towns, but retain their historical significance and have opened a number of touristy attractions, such as gift shops and restaurants which cater to tourists by serving German-style meals. Anyway, there were several quilt shops. One of them was really remarkable. I just wanted to go home, toss out my entire current stash of fabric, and start over using entirely the gorgeous, amazing, beautiful fabrics from this shop. There were also many many patterns, especially patterns for bags. I guess bags are very popular now. This shop showcased some of it's fabrics in the bag samples, and I wanted to make every single one of them. Maybe I could get a job making shop samples for this shop. It was really wonderful.
I should also talk about the Des Moines (Iowa) art show which is happening this weekend. The walk Friday went right down the street but we were walking too early and the booths were just being set up. This is a fairly large show, and very lovely. So I returned after the walk and strolled past all of the many booths. There were three fiber artists that I took particular note of. Two of them seemed to be similar- I had difficulty remembering the first one and how she differed from #2. (#3 was very different, I'll comment below.) Anyway both of them used what appeared to my unartistic and untutored eyes to be rather simple designs and simple color schemes. Both of them created small quilt tops, or perhaps quilt top fragments would be more descriptive. The largest for both were maybe three feet by four feet, perhaps even 40 inches by 50 inches, but not really big enough to be a lap quilt. Not that the items were quilts, as both artists framed their work, or prepared it for framing, and neither included any sort of backing or batting.
The first fiber artist seemed to have things like a framed "swatch" or fabric samples. Here, how do these fabrics coordinate for the bedroom, Mabel? The three fabrics were stitched together with a zigzag stitch, then framed. $75.00. Ouch. Other works included circles stitched to squares, then lined up into a two by eight rectangle of squares, each with its circle in it. Then framed. Finished! For sale!
The second booth featured a larger bargello quilt top, about 40 inches by 50 inches. As I remember it, the colors were greens and yellows, maybe some gold. The best thing she had to me, as well as the biggest. The quilt top was framed, (edges left raw if I remember rightly) and the price was $4500 or something like that. I did not make a mistake when I typed two zeros in the price. Clearly the Monday Morning Quilters are missing the boat to put so much effort into batting, backing, and binding their quilts, as most of their quilts are far more appealing to me than these from the art show.
I thought the colors were uninteresting in both booths. Are my eyes perhaps going? Are the cataracts getting worse all of a sudden? The second fiber artist advertised "Hand dyed" fabrics used in her projects. I wanted to tell her that any bigbox fabric store sells plain colored fabrics, but perhaps she couldn't find the colors she really liked. There were a variety. None of them popped, none of them spoke to me. None of them vibrated or sang or even hummed a tune. They just all sat there on the walls, and in the bins of "matted, ready to frame" artwork, and quietly waited for a purchaser. It wasn't me, obviously.
The third fiber artist created "art" using felted wool, that she processed herself, making the felt from "raw" wool, (I wasn't brave enough to ask her if she washed it first, but of course, making felt uses lots of detergent or soap along with water in the felting process, so I suppose prewashing is a moot point.) She then painted it with acrylic paint, cut it into narrow strips, and glued it into groves in boards. She cut the grooves and finished the boards herself, and they looked very good The finished product was quite interesting. Her colors, many of them, popped. I just couldn't see buying something like that to hang on my wall. Oh well.
So much for my recent forays into crafting. I've been looking, not doing. And wanting to start over. And not really knowing where I am going. At least with this blog, and the 52 projects goal, I might know if I get there.
Hope you get where you are going, too.
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