Yesterday I went to Seguin for the Yellow Rose Fiber Producers Fiesta.  I think it is important to note the word PRODUCERS in the title; I thought it was just a fiber fest and so I was very surprised all the shearings, rovings and even silk cocoons.

I got an early start, leaving the house at around 8:45 am since Seguin is a 50 minute drive from the house on local roads and Texas highways; no real freeways that are busy and packed like in Southern California.  It was a nice drive and I had my windows open to enjoy the wonderful weather. There are still lots of wild flowers blooming everywhere. I arrived just before 10 am and my Prius-C was showing that I was able to achieve 62 mpg!

After signing in for the door prizes, I wandered in to a good sized room with about 50 vendors and lots of fiber lovers like me.

I selected my first vendor in the nearest right hand corner and did my normal routine of first go around the outside and then weave (get it) up and down the interior rows from front to back and the across the other rows but since there were only "cross rows" at the front and back of the room, my journey would be simpler; though I did take TWO passes through the room to ensure I had seen EVERYTHING!

To be honest, I did not go to buy knitting or weaving fibers, as I acquired more than enough over the past year between the Yarn Crawl and a private yarn sale last month. I was hoping to find some fiber that I could use for my temari and so I had no expectations of actually buying anything but having a great day feeling/touching/drooling over all sorts of other fibers and collecting names of suppliers for future, future, future projects and meeting people.

And yes, I did find some things! I found a cute pair of scissors that had a cover for the blades which will be perfect for traveling; I found some spools of Tencel perle thread that are somewhere in-between a standard 8 and 12 which were on actual wooden spools!; and at another vendor I found some teeny-tiny felted balls and  "modern floss bobbins" assortments that had silk 5 colors of silk threads that I can use for embroidery; and lastly I purchased hand dyed silk ribbon in 2 mm, 5 mm, and 7 mm widths, also for embroidery. 

Along the way as I wandered, I did see lots of the ladies from my local knitting store and so there were many side conversations as well as sharing finds but I saw some pin looms, a massive industrial felting machine, spinning wheels, table top and small floor looms and some great fibers! 

Here are just a few pictures

Since most of my friends don't know what Temari is, I thought I would give you a brief introduction and show you pictures of the temari balls I have done in the past and the 2 I have done most recently

Temari is a Japanese toy; art form, and craft. It is a type of embroidery that is done on the surface of a thread ball.  Per Wikipedia: Temari (手まり) balls are a folk art form and Japanese craft that originated in China and was introduced to Japan around the 7th century A.D.[1] "Temari" means "hand ball" in Japanese. Balls made from embroidery may be used in handball games.

I don't remember when I was exposed to it; my father had a business associate from Japan, Dr. Nakahara, and I know he and his wife came to our house but I don't remember a Temari ball then; but from there I did develop a fascination with Japan and their various art forms and crafts. 

Fast forward to the 2000's and I was sewing kimono jackets from pieces of recycled kimono's; I was sewing quilts with Japanese themed fabrics, as well as Sashiko stitching.

In 2006 I saw a basic class on Temari being given in Orange County, California. I not only took that class but 5 more over the next year. My first balls were rather bad (see below) but I got better, bought books from Amazon and well as Amazon Japan and even thought about getting certified by the Japan Temari Association. 

In 2009 I started to work in metals and Temari fell off my radar. 

Not any more. Since I am taking a break from metals at the moment, I picked up Temari again and decided to work on the at least the first two certification levels (there are 4) as this will also improve my skills and knowledge.  I am doing this by doing a course with Barbara Suess  who has achieved the top level of certification, Kyoujyu (Master, Level 4) in 2015.  The course I am starting with is Level 1 Part 1 and it is a correspondence course via email with the course material delivered via a USB stick, which should be in my snail mail postal box early next week. There are two courses for the Level 1 certification and 2 parts to the Level 2 certification.

Then to add icing to the cake, I am going to the John C. Campbell Folk School in October for 5 solid days of Temari work, again with Barb. 

Now for the eye candy! They are in some sort of order oldest first and the newest last.