I'm Alive!!

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. Hawai'i wore me out, and I'm still trying to catch up on things. I got a little quilting done last Sunday night as I blew off doing any work Saturday to attend the quilt show in Hershey, PA (very nice, lots of applique).

This was my first non-guild show. Wow, what a difference! You know how when you go to the guild shows you look at the work and being a quilter yourself your eye automatically falls on the little puckers, and the occasional skipped stitch? Not that you're faulting anyone, the work is lovely, but it is reassuring to see that it's not just you who makes mistakes, drops stitches, catches a little fabric on the backside while stitching in the ditch.

Well, in the Hershey show, everything was simply perfect (and if not, they sure know how to cover it up). The work was amazing. Every hand sewn applique grape was fluidly round. The embellishments were done with such precision. I only wish that each artist stood with their work to answer questions. (Now that would make it worth the prize money now, don't you think :) )

I can't wait for Houston in October. I think I'll wear socks so they can be knocked off.

We all know I'm a shopper, so I tend move quickly through the show so that I can hit the merchant mall, where I spend the bulk of my time. (I am incorrigible...a kid on Christmas morning) I think that in Houston I'm just going to shop first and look at quilts after I've run out of money, which with 700 vendors or something like that, will probably be after the second or third aisle I walk down.


I bought some feedsack reproduction fat quarters. I have no idea what I'll do with them, or if I even have enough (12) to make something with, but I've always fancied them and the price was right ($1.67 each). At the same vendor I also bought a brand new Bali Pop (which according to him, just came out the day before), which I needed like I need a hole in the head as I've already got a perfectly good, still in the package Bali Pop that I bought this Spring. I think the 'save $4.00 on one of four special patterns to use it on' was the marketing strategy that sucked me in. Not to mention the fabulosity of one strip that was on the outside of the pack (yes, I do realize that none of the rest in that pack are going to look like that one).


Then I went over to Web Fabrics booth and had to buy some of the brand new Kaffe Fassett fabrics to make a huge tote bag for Houston, the pattern of which I bought at yet another booth. I love his prints (and I also love that I know how to pronounce his name (rhymes with safe asset).

Oh, and I bought an ironing board cover. Yes, 'she who hates to iron above all else', the woman who irons, at best, four times a year, or when I need something, watched this very old and wise woman demo a miracle ironing board cover made from the same material that they make clothing for Nascar drivers and firefighters. I watched her spray water on and wrinkle the heck out of various fabrics and then using her iron set at medium, iron away those wrinkles instantly, no spray starch necessary. Even linen!!! And the iron sat face down on an iron shaped piece of foam when not in use. I thought if I could have this, I could be an ironer. So I bought it, and I couldn't wait to get home to iron (my husband would say that that alone was worth the price).

It's okay. It's not working for me like it did for her, though. My iron had to be set at higher than medium, and there must have been something shady about her fabrics because I've got wrinkles in my linen. Too bad I didn't check out what kind of iron she was using. Oh wait, I'll bet that's what they'll be selling at the next show-- silly me :)

Just got the call that my Hawaiian applique has been framed and will be coming home tonight. It's a lot larger than I had hoped (the actual piece was only 19.5" square, but I think it may be in a 28" frame), so I may need to shift some things around on the walls and maybe move some furniture.

I hope to sew my brains out this weekend, and I'll be sure to add photos to this post and show you what I manage to finish (fingers crossed it's the black/white/green quilt) this weekend.

Back to work!