NOTE: this will be long and picture laden! I personally soaked up every entry after AF since I couldn’t go to that one, so I hope others are as interested in my details about AFF) if not… carry on!

Well I came home early last night, but spent the evening catching up with the boys and didn’t feel like opening up the HOT Attic to get to the computer and really had no desire to deal with the email and catch up required. So hung out and watched MS 3000 “A touch of Satan” until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Shawn had to BE AT work today at 9am IN Issaquah down the hill from AFF. So my only choice was to come home Sat night or EARLY Sunday morning. I was ready to come home last night so I did. and glad for it. I got to finally sleep IN! Despite how late I stayed up I was waking up at 6am every day at AFF. don’t know why…too much energy and excitement and inspiration I guess. I really don’t have the opportunity to hang out with like minded artsy types…like…EVER! so these things are really invigorating for me.

So here’s my recap:
Wednesday took Shawn to work at 9am and Charger to the dog park including a detour to Trinity so I would know where it was and not get lost later.

Drove home finished shopping and packing and getting ready for AFF. Drove back to Issaquah at 5pm for registration and opening ‘ceremony’ took WAY to long to get there. it should only be about 45 mins from my house to Issaquah, depending on traffic. So I HAD intended to go home and sleep in my own bed every night. But due to construction and traffic it too almost 2 hours to get there Wednesday so I decided that staying might be a better plan. So I asked Teesha if they had extra rooms. With gas being as expensive as it is, I think I will have saved money by not driving back and forth, I know I will have saved some sanity. So I unloaded my art stuff in my room and hung out with and till 9pm, when I had to go down the hill to get Shawn from work. We drove back home, I packed clothing and headed back. I got there about midnight and was still up. her room just down the hall from mine we said good night. I should have stayed up and talked since I laid in bed for hours my mind busy with the excitement for the next day. I woke at 5 am only a few hours of sleep and I was UP!

Started Thursday morning with a trip down the hill to the Fred Meyers for food and stuffs. Then spare time to visit before my first class. I had a batik technique class which was fun and I enjoyed playing with dyes in new ways. It has been years (1987) since I played with dyes and batiking so the products are significantly different now. I enjoyed sitting next to a great gal, but I am so bad with names at these things… rats! (will post pics of my fabrics after they are set, washed and dried)

Lunch and more workshop followed. Tried to find the girls to go to dinner but ended up going to red robin by myself. I saw someone at the restaurant that looked like but it turned out not to be her.

That evening we all (Enchy, Android, Believe and many others) set up in the large hallways with our tables and machines to work on projects. Although this is the first time that I have really hung out with these gals in person, since we gab all the time here on LJ it was as comfortable as visiting old friends. Our brains all seem to be on the same wavelength, we compared our men (all science/computer geeks) and our pets (too many of them and all spoiled) and our experinces with art and our passions… (well Andriod is into those creepy dolls, but I won’t hold that against her) taught me how to free motion sew and my machine was working fine. It was a little scary and fun at the same time. She is REALLY good at it. I will have to practice. But now that I know how, watch out!

(an example of her talent!)

The night ended for me about 11ish, and again up by 6am the next morning. This is crazy for a NON-morning person, let me tell YOU!!

Friday (and it was rather hard to keep track of the days, they were so full that some days seemed like more than one and the whole event started on my first free day from school which felt like a saturday, so I was constantly having to remember what day it was… at least I was not the only one with this problem)
I took DJ pettitt’s book class. The supply list was the longest and most detailed yet confusing, list I have ever had for a class. Plus she changed it not too long before the event. I even emailed her a couple of times to clarify. I ended up NOT needing more than 70% of the things I borught because I never got to the later stages of the project. (few did) She was a great teacher even if her class had 85 hours worth of work and 3 years worth of supplies crammed into a 6 hour day www.djpettitt.com/

The class mostly went OK. I really got to enjoy the ladies around me. The process seemed to facilitate talking and sharing. I brought so much stuff that I didn’t seem to need that I was in a very sharing mood. Apparently this surprised some people. and I had offers to pay me for a scrap of paper here or there. which is just silly to me. I have WAY too much collage crap as it is. Although the sewing machine worked fine the night before for my free motion practice, here in the class where I needed it, it wouldn’t cooperate at all. 10 stitches here and the thread would break, another 20 or so and break again. I tried different needles, different threads, different tensions, different presser feet. the needle gummed up with the collage adhesive and the thread broke time after time. Needless to say, I didn’t finish and my sewing machine broke 🙁 I decided that mine was just not going to become a book at all. (I didn’t really like the look of the hinge thing she was doing for a binding.) and I was not happy at all with the outcome of my collages. DJ admitted that the technique works much better with a transfer press (which I am actually getting my school to order next year for part-time art use and sharing within the building) so I will try it again then.

Here is one of the pieces I made. I was able to do some of the sewing with Lelainia’s machine. (www.tattered-edge.com/)

That night I again ran out to dinner on my own and back to visit. We had the VENDOR fair that night and some off campus LJ friends came to check it out. It was pretty small and rather unexciting. I bought a zine from Keely and some papers from Tracy Bautstia. She has a great looking book that I want to order because she had none left to sell at AFF. went out to a late dinner with and and me. Then I hit the hay.

Saturday I actually slept till 7am. I had to shower without getting my hair wet, because I didn’t want to turn the dorm into a horror movie scene with my fresh dye job.

I had a class today that was not my original choice. I was supposed to have a class on more fabric techniques with Traci Bunkers but she cancelled at the last minute. So I had to pick from a few classes. I picked randomly because there wasn’t anything I was really excited about. I got Winged dolls with Kate Lyons and it turned out to be my favorite class of all. I needed a sewing machine for this class too. I had brought an extra one from school and pulled it out to use, only to discover I forgot the cord to plug it in! duh! luckily she had a machine to share and I got way ahead of most everyone.

She is the most embellished thing I have ever made pretty much. and I love it. Shawn thinks it is creepier than the 3 armed doll… maybe he thinks all dolls are creepy.

So after show and tell I went home and relaxed….
slept in today and have now been fussing with this entry for too many hours. so I must end it NOW>>>

check out my flickr for more pics!

tomorrow I have to unpack, clean and do laundry as well as mow and move stuff around to prep for the carpet cleaning on Tuesday. BUT I don’t have to go back to work 🙂