Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair

Wow! What a weekend... cold, mega rain storm, more cold and more rain. I'm really saying this in a positive way. My hat is off to Utah fiberholics as they came in droves and truly supported all of the vendors who attended. You all have a very big thanks from Rumplestiltskin . My daughter and I arrived on Friday evening to set-up our booth and had just managed to get our tent erected and the trailer unloaded when the sky opened up. An executive decision was made to keep all of the pretties in their plastic totes, drop the tent and continue set-up on Saturday morning. Off we headed for Sugarhouse for sushi and shopping. Shoe shopping at Sundance outlet... such cute stuff and great prices too! Then on to Nordstrom's Rack and Barnes/Noble finishing up with sushi at Tsunami. We had a great time then headed back to our hotel to hang out in the hot tub for awhile.

Saturday morning we were up early and finished setting up our booth and then they came... it was cold and gray and drizzly out. Because it was Conference weekend coupled with the bad weather I really thought people wouldn't be venturing out at all... but they did...all day long. Everyone was bundled up and umbrellas were everywhere but they came and they shopped... oh boy did they shop! Many came from far away to attend Utah's one and only annual fiber fair and they did not let cold and wet deter them from that mission at all.

My daughter spent Saturday in Connie Denton's basket class and, as always, had a ball. You can't take a class from Connie without spending the day laughing as well as learning. What a cute basket she made... it doesn't look like the sample Antler Basket that Connie made but then when Hayle took the Market Basket class a few years back her basket didn't look like anyone elses either but it was a truly fabulous basket. A good time was had by all. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of Connie's class don't miss it. She is extremely knowledgeable about her craft and an excellent instructor.

Cheryl and Peggy came down on Saturday as they had classes scheduled for Sunday and we had a girls weekend planned. Hayle has dubbed Cheryl and I "loon 1 and loon 2" but decided that with Peggy we are truly "loon-a-tics". We had dinner reservations at Buca di Beppo but decided we needed a "field trip" to Big Lots for long johns and sweat shirts to protect us from the "freezing" weather... add to that some Christmas shopping, snack shopping (because we were starving!)... well, maybe we are "loonatics". Back to the hotel to pick Hayle up - she opted not to go shopping with us (I wonder why not?) - and then over to Buca.

I had the advantage of dining at Buca di Beppo before and I knew that my friends were in for a very different dining experience . First off, it is by far the BEST Italian food anywhere. How many restaurants still have a doorman? Nice touch. Buca has a table in the kitchen and if you know to ask to eat in there then you are in for even more of a treat. To be in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant is like eating in the kitchen of a big Italian family... incredible aromas, laughter, loud voices, fun and oh what food. As dishes were prepared for serving the waiter would bring them by our table so we could see what the various dishes looked like. In addition to what we ordered, a dish of garlic mashed potatos and some spaghetti appeared for us to try - yum! Words cannot describe our dinner. Everything is served family style so you can have the amount you want. We ordered a pasta sampler plate and chicken saltimboca and garlic bread...indescribable... every plus word you can think of coupled with dining in the kitchen with good friends made for a most memorable evening. Add to that a family order of tiramisu plus our left-overs and we had plenty of food left for Sunday too.

Now back to the hotel for the jacuzzi. Us "old girls" soaked while the "youngster" played on the 'puter. Then back to the room for tiramisu and the rest of the night laughing. Thank you girls for coming down... what a great girls weekend.

Sunday morning weather gave us more of the same, wet and cold. Fortunately, where Rumplestiltskin was located we didn't get the rising ground water. Some booths had to be moved about but by late morning the rain had stopped and the sun started peeking out! And with sunshine even more came. What a fun afternoon, beautiful weather and a festival atmosphere... and leftovers from Buca... can't get much better than that. Cheryl and I took a triangle weaving class from Clark Otterness . I've wanted to learn this technique for awhile now and Clark is a great instructor. This is such an interesting technique and it is "self-warping"... it just happens as you weave. Very fun and what a great way to show off your handspun yarns. Very simple and Clark makes very beautiful hardwood looms.

Well the weekend came to a close and it was time to head north. Thanks again to all of the fiber addicts who supported this fair and many thanks to Wasatch Woolpak Fiber Guild. Kudos to all of you for your hard work... I know there were some roadblocks along the way but as always you handled everything very gracefully and those of us not involved in the business end didn't feel the bumps. Thank you again for a very well managed event... look forward to seeing you all again next year.

It's been a long summer/fall. I've dyed a lot of yarn and fiber this year. I've driven many miles and attended a number of fairs this summer. It's been a learning experience and I've met alot of new people, visited a number of new places and had alot of fun but winter is coming and it's time to settle in. Guess I'll start some new lists and start planning which shows to attend next year.

If you know about any good mid-size shows in the western/Rocky Mt. states please comment and let me know about them. I'm always looking to add new shows to my list.