final thoughts on aff '06

So one of my favorite parts of attending art retreats like ArtFiberFest is meeting and being inspired by all the other participants. You can get a taste of the talent and creativity from some of the above photos. The first picture is from the fiber swap I participated in with 20+ other people. Each of us brought 3 yards of fiber for every person so we all end up with a nice variety of samples. I haven't decided what to do with my stash yet, but I saw someone at the event knitting up all her fibers into something and thought that was a brilliant idea - I may have to copy that! The other three photos are of trades I received in return for the pincushions I gave away. Lots of cool stuff that people handmade or collected...a bookmark, a luggage tag, fabric, ATC's, charms, buttons, beads, and much more. The bottom photo shows some of the pins I got: a beautiful nest with eggs from Ty & Marcia Schultz and adorable buttons from Heather Simpson-Bluhm.

There's always a bittersweet feeling when I come home from these events - I'm happy to be home again but I really miss the camaraderie of like-minded artists.