Hey, thanks for all the great notes, I'm happy to be back and missed you too!
So in addition to all the lovely quilts to drool over, there are also a few vendors to stroll through at the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Ky. The AQS's definition of a few is around 210 vendors, add in the Rotary Antique Quilt Show, Hancock's of Paducah, and the Eleanor Burns Tent, and that makes for a whole lot of shopping going on. All year long I collect change in a snowman cookie jar, this year when I cashed in my change I had accumulated $175, even! A nice neat sum. I spent it all.
My first stop was Hancock's of Paducah.
I had my Snowman Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings for Moda fat quarter bundle and cute pattern selected but I needed a few more of the background pieces. I don't know if you've noticed, but the bundle is heavy on the darks, light on the lights, but that was easy to remedy. I picked up some more background fabric and my backing.
I also picked up one yard of this, it's by Dear Stella.
I have no current purpose for this print but I thought it would make a great outer border on a small quilt or a nice inner border on a larger quilt. ( I now wish I had bought 2 or maybe even 3 yards of this!)
I picked up 2 yards of this, it's also by Dear Stella. I must not hang around the right blogs, I don't read or see folks sewing with Dear Stella. She's new to me, but I love her.
I thought this would be a cute border for the next house quilt I piece, not that I have a pattern or project in mind, but I love houses and know there will be a house project in my future.
In the last two weeks two different quilters have asked me about my backing fabric for Hallowe'en 1904. I found it last week at Hancock's. This is Hallographix II by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning fabrics. I had never heard of Hallographix I let alone II, or Jason Yenter or In The Beginning fabrics, but I think this print has a primitive feel to it that goes nicely with Hallowe'en 1904.
Plus it was on sale for $5 per yard!
I picked up this bundle of dot fabric by Robert Kaufman from a vendor at the show. I thought it was very cleverly packaged. There are 20 fat quarters in this bundle, here are the darks,
and here are the lights, folded in between the darks.
These fat quarters will be separated and stored in my happy fabric bin.
I blogged about a beautiful Rob Peter to Pay Paul project using Chateau Rouge here. Siena used a Go Cutter die on that quilt. I loved the look of Siena's quilt so I picked up the die at the Go Cutter booth. I don't talk about my Go Cutter much because I feel like I'm one of the few bloggers who paid for a cutter, everyone else I know got theirs for free from AccuQuilt. So I like to leave the promoting to the folks who are getting paid to promote that product. But if I'm working on a project that uses strips, (and what project doesn't) I'm using my Go Cutter, I'm just not mentioning it. It really is a great product. It's easy to use, does accurate cutting and is fast. If you've been waffling on getting one, don't wait any longer, you'll love it.
Anyway, I had a 25% off coupon from Go Cutter and I used it on this die. Look for a Rob Peter to Pay Paul project in my future. I may or may not mention that I used the Go Cutter Die on that project, depends on my mood that day!
And finally, I bought a new Olfa 12 inch rotating cutting mat. I buy one every year. I know these mats are supposed to be self healing, but I use this mat so often I don't give it time to heal, so every year I get a new one at the Olfa Booth at the show. The reason I always get it at the Olfa Booth is because they run a special, the mat is only $29. It usually runs around $40 at shops. I appreciate the savings, especially since I need a new mat every year, but it makes me wonder what the vendors think of Olfa setting up a booth and undercutting the prices. You sure don't see Moda setting up a booth and selling fabric for $5 a yard! Oh well I'll take it if they are offering it.
The new mat is on the left, the old mat is on the right. The mat is on a turntable that spins, so you move the mat not the block when you're cutting. I love it and cut all my quilt pieces and parts on this mat.
I thought about passing this mat along to someone who's never tried a rotating mat, but I don't think it's worth the postage it would cost to send it, this one is going in the trash.
Most of the vendors have kits and I understand why. Trying to cut yardage with the folks that crowd those booths is tough and a kit is an easy sell, everything you need to make a beautiful quilt is just waiting for you to pick it up. There are some fat quarters to be had and lots of patterns, but the majority of the booths are selling kits. Right now I have around 6 kits waiting to be made, that's enough for me, so while I did see some tempting projects in several booths, I passed them up. I tend to swap out most of the fabric in a kit anyway. You can only take pictures in booths when you buy the kit, I understand that too, I hope you're able to find some other blogs where they took pictures of some of the wonderful quilts on display in the vendor booths, it's like attending a quilt show in a quilt show.
Tomorrow I'll be revealing my Month Five Blogger Girl Blocks. I made the blocks before my trip last week, they are my favorites so far, I hope you can stop back by.
