Shopping. The quilt festival is where I'd like to have a shopping cart and 10 minutes to fill it with everything I can. (There used to be a TV contest show like that--people would run through the grocery store grabbing food as fast as they could and then at the end someone would win what they grabbed--I'm probably showing my age here.)The thing for me is--I see things at the quilt show that I just don't see elsewhere. Some, never (like Hobbs batting and Japanese crepe fabric) and some will turn up after a long wait. I'm sure these Clover rose-making templates will be in Jo-Ann's some day, but it will be months. I tried making a few roses with them--using some of my pink Easter-egg dye fabric. I watch for Clover's newest at the show. (These templates are fun, a little more fiddly than the yo-yo and pom-pom ones but once I had it figured out it worked pretty well.)
I always buy a sample set of Hobbs's Batting. For $7 you get 10 (ten) 24" square pieces of their various battings, cotton, wool, silk, black, bonded--perfect for framing, ornaments and other small projects (like my Japanese paper pieced flower project). I especially like the wool batting for filling pincushions. One set would probably last me two years but I can't pass it up and generally get it every year. (no photo, plain batting just isn't photogenic)
These are some of the Japanese fabrics I got. The one on the left (behind) is a variety of cottons. The two on the right are rayon crepe. I've been hunting for crepe fabrics for a while now and they had them. (Maeda Importing)
The Sun Felt booth left me drooling! We found it just before lunch and decided not to shop until after we ate. Yummy cakes, candies, cookies and chocolates--so realistic! And all felt.
I got a book, two kits for cake boxes, and felt for a strawberry cream cake. This is just too cool! The site is in Japanese but the pictures are worth it. I opened it through Babelfish for a "translation," here.
The kits come with precut felt and cardboard, floss, trims and even stuffing to make and decorate the cakes.
My other favorite find was Barbara Willis's booth. I got two patterns from her and got to check out her new book (well worth it--I can't wait!)
It's become rather a tradition for me to find a new (to me) doll designer and buy a pattern or kit. So far, I haven't actually made any of them them. I think partly it's getting my courage up to go in a new direction (doll making) and partly the sewing machine thing and partly the too many WIPs already thing. (that's my excuse today, tomorrow there will be a new one most likely.)
No, I did not take the same picture twice--take a look at the smaller green pattern--this is a really cool Two Sided doll. I'm really excited by this one. I think this doll would be perfect for those ribbons I just received--the ones that say "Elizabethan" to me.
Pat Winter mentions this mermaid book pattern---she was the first person I thought of when I saw it. The mermaid book comes with all of the images used in it, ready to scan and print.
I got some other odds and ends. Some trims and a mermaid charm from Barbara Willis. The paper piecing hexagons I mentioned previously, some sale goodies from the quilting arts booth, a package of metal for embossing and stitching (like Judy Coates Perez), a new transfer medium.
While I came home with bags, the main thing I bring home with me each year is the excitement and energy from the show. It's just awesome to be in this huge room, crammed to the gills with all of these people who create wonderful things.
