My weekend at OFFF

Yes, this is the only picture I took of my weekend at OFFF - Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. Long story short on Friday the alternator went out in my van in the parking lot of Fabric Depot 45 miles north of where we were staying and where OFFF is held......my less than 3 year old van 3000 miles out of warranty.  Three AAA visits and two tows later my van came to sit in a Dodge dealership lot that thankfully had Saturday hours in the service department.  So $750 later I have my van back but the air conditioner no longer works - it worked when it went in.....it was too late to go back to the dealership so I left a message and Sam will deal with it today - he thinks they forgot to hook it back up after replacing the alternator. Obviously we won't drive 4 1/2 hours north for a fix so they'll have to contact our local Dodge to arrange for it.......Sam tried to fix it last night but it's too buried to do it easily. Luckily there were several cars of us at OFFF so I had loads of help and support from my friends but it did affect everyone's OFFF experience and I feel horribly about that. We will be filing a claim with Dodge to try and get reimbursement - an alternator shouldn't go out at 39,000 miles.....wish us luck with that.

We've had two Dodge Grand Caravans in the past - a 1990 we kept for 10 years and loved, then a 2000 we kept for 13 years which my cousin now has - it's still going strong at over 220,000 miles. This 2012 model we hated within months of buying it - they changed so much, including the transmission. We've been talking about getting rid of it all year and had decided we'd do it before winter.....guess we didn't dump it in time.......

Flock & Flea.....



Spiral Nuno Felted Scarf

  ...or more commonly known as Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, aka, OFFF. That's where I spent a long weekend. A fiber friend and I head north up near Portland last Thursday morning for the weekend.

We started out our trip as any trip heading north on I5 starts - breakfast at Bronx Bagels in Sutherlin - the New Yorker was the bagel of choice for both of us. Then a stop in Eugene to shop at Home Goods and Trader Joe's. Then on to the hotel in Wilsonville. Fiber friends from the coast arrived right after us so we all went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant I found - incredible food and the owners were so fun, on the list of places to eat in the future when up in the area.

Friday morning brought classes for both of us while coast friends went up to the quilt show in Portland for the day. I took a spiral nuno-felted scarf class with my buddy Loyce Ericson. I'm really not a wet felter but thought this would be fun....I wasn't disappointed. My photo really doesn't do this scarf justice, the sheen of the merino/tencel is incredible and the blue is really almost black. Loyce's method of nuno felting requires no effort, it's like rocking a baby (as she said) and took just minutes to accomplish this felting. She is such a fun person and teacher. I won't be mass producing these but I will make more. The afternoon was a fun shopping trip to Fabric Depot in Portland where we ran into other fiber friends. Dinner, as always for Friday night of the OFFF trip at Sushi Track - there were 10 of us.

Saturday morning I had a soft goat cheese class with Tammi Paul. She was a great teacher. We learned about how to make ricotta, chevre & feta - definitely adding this to my cooking repertoire. Knowledge gained not only included how to make the cheeses but what to look for in buying goats milk - eye opening for me and am so glad I learned it before finding a farm to buy my goats milk from. Afternoon was browsing the vendor booths, buying very little since I don't need a thing. Dinner mexican for 16 - lots of empty margarita glasses on the tables as we left....although not one in front of me since I was driving.
Sunday morning brought more hanging out at OFFF, then we headed home making the regular stop at Trader Joe's in Eugene on the way. Next month marks the opening of a Trader Joe's in our area so I won't have to stop when on road trips to stock up - I'm so excited.

Today was back to where I left off last week, weighing out pounds and pounds of roving that needed to be bagged, tagged, put into inventory and relisted in the etsy shop - thank goodness I finished up that job today so I can get back to playing - hoping to weave this week and maybe finally getting to painting warps....in-between the other mundane chores that need to be done.....






Lots a shopping!

I had a weekend full of shopping but first here's Bailey - he's a turncoat - he's now a Beaver's Fan! His pooch pal Sophie and Mom Janette who is an Oregon State alumni saw the picture posted last week of Bailey with his green and yellow duck - that was just not acceptable in their eyes so a new dog toy was gifted in Beaver's colors. Bailey is saying to heck with those Ducks - I'm a Beaver's fan now!

Early Friday AM I headed north for the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. That was really my side trip this year as I had lots of other shopping to do. A number of us from down here were heading up and all met at Bronx Bagels 1 1/2 hours north for breakfast, then a caravan of vehicles pulled into Trader Joe's for snacklets for the weekend. At that point we split up with Margie and I heading up to the hotel in Wilsonville to drop one van and go on up to Fabric Depot. I went with my list for making a few beach house quilts. I never looked at any other fabric because the place is too overwhelming - they have maps at the information counter to find your way around! I did leave there with a lot of fabric and a whole lot less money even at 30% off everything in the store. On the left are the fabrics plus a white on white fabric I forgot to take a picture of which will make two 9 patch and snowballs twin bed quilts. On the right is what will become a log cabin quilt for a full size bed. It was too overwhelming to pick out fabric for our queen size too so that will wait.........besides it will take a long time for me to even get to sewing these quilt tops. The ginkgo fabric in the center is for who knows what - I just love ginkgos.

Friday night was the annual dinner for all at Sushi Track in Wilsonville - sure wish I could get there more often but a 4 hour drive is a bit much for sushi. Much of Saturday was spent at OFFF which is held at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds - great fun, saw lots of friends I hadn't seen in a while and did a little shopping. Really very little shopping since I don't need a thing. I bought some mystery batts (above) from Fantasy Fibers just because I loved the coral colors in them. Picked up some short double point needles, a small gift and that was pretty much it. Left there in the afternoon to head up to Crate & Barrel and The Container Store in Tualatin, on the south side of Portland - dropped a bundle there. And then dinner with 15 of us at a Mexican restaurant.

Sunday I didn't go back to OFFF with everyone else but instead drove through a driving rain down to the Corvallis Fall Festival to see all the craft/art booths and visit with friends Janette & Mark (Beaver & Duck alumni). Had a nice visit and then back in the car down to Trader Joe's in Eugene before heading home. And yes Lynne, I am a wus, I hate those passes with the big single/double/triple big-rigs that slow to a crawl going up hill and speed coming down - tough drive home being as tired as I was and on the road all day. All in all a great weekend, very tired now, trying to play catch up.

Flock & Flea

Friday morning I left at the break of dawn for Flock & Flea (as Sam and I call it) - proper name is OFFF.....Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Several carloads of fiber friends from this area drove up to Canby for the 3 day festival. Friday my vanload's first stop was Bronx Bagels in Sutherlin for breakfast, then Trader Joe's in Eugene for goodies for the weekend. Then up to Bridgeport Village on the south side of Portland for shopping at The Container Store, Crate & Barrel and various other stores. I told my friends no way was I going in Origins.......they went looking for me, couldn't find me because I was in Origins finding products to make my skin look like it did 30 years ago!

Friday night found 14 of us at the Sushi Track in Wilsonville for dinner - what great fun! Saturday morning we had to do the traditional ferry ride across the Willamette River from Wilsonville to Canby (very small very - 6 car max) to spend the day at the festival. Each year there are more booths to see and spend money at. I didn't spend much this year - some goodies I found are in the bottom picture. I didn't need the tote but I just couldn't resist at a bargain price. Saturday night found us at a tiny little Thai restaurant - this time 17 of us, hopefully we weren't too loud for the handful of tables of other diners.

Sunday morning it was back to the festival until mid-day......we then headed south to the Corvallis Fall Festival where I found these two glass pieces, I just can't resist gingko leaves. Then to Trader Joe's again for groceries and a case of wine and home.

What a fun and exhausting 3 days it was. I really wasn't going this year to buy so the best part was having fun with all my fiber peeps, those that went up from here and those from other parts of the state, Washington and British Columbia that I only see at conferences and festivals. What a great weekend of fiber bonding it was.