International Quilt Show--WOW!

I had a fabulous time at the Quilt show and met and made many new friends! We left the Calico Shoppe in Eau Claire at 6 AM Saturday (which is WAY too early for me) and I didn't know a soul. By the time I got off the bus at 9 PM Sunday, I had several hugs to give and had exchanged some phone numbers with my new quilting friends. It was nice to find other people who "get it" about the need to touch, see and work with fabric!


Below is the cool bag I got from the store! LIME folks!

So here is a recap and some pictures to help you along the way! On the bus I met my roommmate Rose. She happened to sit right behind me so we talked a little bit and she was excited for her fifth year at the show. I wrote a letter to CJ, read my Terri Thayer book (which was good and had me turning pages though I didn't have time to finish it--will get to it). The book is about a murder in the quilting world (with a rotary cutter no less) but I digress. We got to Chicago and off the bus in the afternoon and I followed the crowd in and lost my bus group immediately. Everyone seemed to know someone or several someones, so I was feeling pretty lost and alone. I wandered through the first rows of journal quilts feeling pretty overwhelmed....then I remembered that I had phone numbers for my NewQuiltingClub friends. I called two of them and got voicemail and left messages and before I could call the third Sandy called me back. She had me head to the food area (the farthest corner of the quilt show--great for warming up my muscles for the all the walking I would be doing!). I immediately spotted her in her pink crown along with Dianne. She introduced me to Fonda and Paul, Wanda and Raquel, and Alicia and we got lunch and ate. I couldn't stop talking, trying to remember names and put all the online info into info I could now retain! Each of these people was nice and friendly and I am SO glad I met them! Alicia gave me this awesome embroidered hanky to commemorate the show! I didn't expect that and it made me feel so a part of this group. They have been going strong for a few years now and I have only been in it for a few months. This is one group I think I will stay with for a LONG time.

After we ate we tried calling others that were showing up and one by one they came. Jan (pretty sure it was Jan...) brought me my NQC award for my Love Beads quilt finished in February 2008 for my son Mac. It won the most votes...my first quilt related award--yippee!

After everyone came and I tried to learn all the names, we got a picture. We are a happy group! I spent most of the afternoon shopping and talking Dianne's ear off! We bumped into Laurie and Fonda and Sandy a few times...funny how I feel like I know them so much better now that I have met them in person. These ladies are special to my heart! You can see Sandy has a crown and Dodie has a crown on her shirt..by the end of the day Dodie and Laurie and I am not sure who else also had crowns on! Some of us just aren't royalty though....hmmm maybe I am the jester? LOL!So now for show and tell on what I bought! I saved for months for this and I sure went NUTS! I passed by this quilt kit and later ran back through thinking I could find it. I had been thinking about it for over an hour...finally found it, bought the kit and snapped a picture too! I have no idea what I will do with this one, but it just appealed to me! So this was my first buy! I am not telling you prices, lol!

Next I saw someone from NQC had this cool bag with Eleanor Burns' Victory Quilts book, some preprinted iron on stuff to help with making the swags, mini rulers for flying geese, a 30 year pin and a free heart thingy I am not sure what to do with. I had to find it and grab it, at this point my bag got heavy! I also met my first Pickle Posse member--Gina. I have a picture of that too--she turned to me and said I am a pickle too! AWESOME!

This picture shows part of the Victory quilt on the right, but it was really the one in the corner that I loved...it is just one block repeated four times. I think I can find something to make out of this book someday, but mostly I just had to have it since I love E. B.!

The last thing I bought (I think) was this book which I have yet to look at. It has pictures and explains about many of the quilts that were hanging at the show. I didn't get enough time to look through them at a lesiurely pace so I thought this would be a cool way to look through them later on in the sunshine at my leisure!

That night my whole body ached! Rose and I went to dinner at Baker's Square to avoid the crowd, and Tisa and her mom Toni joined us. Rose knows them and it was great to swap stories about quilting and families and what we had to have at the show! We pretty much fell into bed after that....and of course I talked Rose's ear off too. I gotta quit that!

Sunday we ate at the hotel, checked out and went back for another day. I honestly wasn't sure I wanted to go back since it was so crowded on Saturday and I felt liek I had walked through it all six times and I was so sore! I lightened my bag as much as possible and bravely entered again..smile. Rose and I decided to hang together so that was really nice since my NQC people were gone! Rose and I chatted and really strolled through..taking our time...there were less people and we were there just as it opened and so I feel like we really got to see so much more. Sunday was a fabulous day! I am not sure of the order I bought in because I just kept on finding stuff but here is what I got (if I still have your attention I am amazed..smile!)

One booth had lots of little quilts in large picture frames. They really looked amazing. I found several I liked and bought the patterns and then later found pink and brown fabric that should work for making them. I think I see this on a wall in my future AZ house. Oh and the patterns were 30 percent off! Rose bought some too!

I found some fat quarters and then at another booth a half yard of the fabric that I used for my seasons bargello quilts! I had picked one fat quarter of the same pattern in four colors and tied my separate four seasons quilts together by including one of each in each season. When I wanted to do the borders I wanted more of that fabric and the store didn't have it. I have some leftover, but this will help alot...I didn't even have some of these colors originally. AWESOME huh?

One of the absolute splurges I had to have was this fabric and pattern for the quilt in the next picture. I LOVE the fabric. I already forgot where the gal said she got it from, but I will look at the business card later and add that here...can check her website I am sure....anyway it was definately a splurge, but I met another Pickle Posse memeber--Peggy at this booth. She has made quilts out of Katmandu fabric for Mark (the head Pickle) so that was awesome! Aren't the fabrics to die for.....sometimes I just don't even know what it is but these are so different from the rest--unique! They are from Indonesia. I saw on Peggy's blog she used them to make another cool quilt too! http://magicthimblecreations.blogspot.com/2007/12/busy-busy-busy.html if you want to see it.

Isn't this just the richest fabric? Makes a fairly simple pattern just POP!

I found a pattern for redwork that you iron on muslin (reusable) and some thread to do the redwork with at two different booths. I have never tried this and want something portable.

I knew Kathy needed something related to dogs...so I bought this kit for her to do with the backing. It is really cute with dogs in the windows of the squares!


Are the doggies sideways? Smile.Okay, there is more but this is SO long so more later.....told you I went nuts!