Chicago Recap!

We arrived home from Chicago yesterday, after about a ten hour trip. We had so much fun, and I thought I'd share a bit about our experience at Renegade and as tourists.  We've both been to Chicago previously--I was there just a few month ago for a few days with friends for a "girlventure" weekend, and Brandon visited Chicago around 15 or so years ago.  Neither of us had really experienced much until this last week.

I booked an apartment in Ukranian Village through Airbnb that was super close to our Renegade Craft Fair.  It was handy to be close by, but we weren't close enough to be able to leave the car parked and walk from the apartment with booth set-up and supplies.  Parking was sometimes difficult to find, especially on Saturday and Sunday. 

The craft fair was amazing.  Vendors were top notch, everything seemed mostly well-organized and well-planned.  I really enjoy meeting folks and talking to them about needle felting, and I love meeting fellow felters as well!  I introduced some prints of wool paintings to the Chicago audience, and these will be lauching on my website very soon.  (If you'd like to know when, just sign up for my mailing list on the left side of this page.)

On Tuesday, I taught a DIY Wool Painting class at The Niche Lab, which is a new venue that is going to be a very cool space for the community.  If you're in the Chicago area, they are having their Grand Opening on October 3rd.  Definitely check them out.  I had so much fun teaching this sold out class, and I think all my students were enjoying themselves too!

Garfield Park Conservatory

SkyDeck

In between Renegade and teaching, Brandon and I had some time to explore the city.  We visited the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum for a loooong day of nerding out. We found an Indian bar/restaurant very close to the apartment and ate there twice, because it was insanely good.  We also visited the Garfield Park Conservatory, took an architectural boat tour on the river and checked out the views from 103 floors up at the SkyDeck on the Willis Tower.  I'd say we squeezed in quite a lot of vacation-y stuff for the two and a half days we weren't working. It was a nice break and a fun trip.  I'm sure we'll be back.