Friday March 16th post - Part II

I pulled this from the Blog Hop Giveaway post and created a separate post for it...I think it was overwhelming the giveaway.

On Wednesday I attended AQS Lancaster. I took a lot of photos, which are currently on my iPhone, so as soon as I have a chance to transfer them to my PC, I'll start posting photos of the beautiful quilts on display. Those who know me know that my main reason for attending the big shows is to shop the vendors. One of the first vendors inside the door had beautiful wool applique projects and I couldn't resist. She offered a BOM program which I signed up for, and above is the March BOM. Obviously, I couldn't wait to start it and did so as soon as I got home Wednesday night and it was finished by Thursday night. Looking forward to April's shipment.

I was also very pleased to find a Creative Memories booth where they were demonstrating the Slice Fabrique (which I received for Christmas), and a new product that is coming out to now make it easy for you to cut fabric WITHOUT having fusible interfacing backing it. YIPPEEE!!!!!!! It's a low-tac, sticky back plastic that you place on top of your fabric, run the brayer over it, and cut away. Then you can easily remove the plastic and you've got everything you need for those needle turn applique or wool applique projects.

While their website says the product is available Summer 2012, I did order some and was told that it would ship in April. I also ordered the magnetic hands free cutting system, and for making a purchase at their booth I received the lovely Slice carrying tote pictured above. Sweet! I love it as it keeps everything neatly stored away in one place (and as my neighbor, who attended the show with me pointed out "it makes it easier for her to borrow my Slice").

Once I receive my InvisiCut, I'll be sure to post a tutorial and share what I learned at their AQS booth so you can decide whether or not this is a product for you.

My major purchase at this show was thread. I'm filling in my Superior Kimono Silk collection (I only need about 37 more spools to have the full set--4 more quilt shows).

And I also picked up some more Aurifil 12 wt cotton. (Which is a set I could only dream of completing...it would take a lottery win for that to happen.) I went with a list of 10 thread colors that I thought I could use on my wool applique and redwork projects and was disappointed that half of those colors on my list weren't carried by the vendor at the show--and we're talking normal colors....gray, tan, red, green. I made two substitutions with what they did have, but at $10 a spool, I wasn't happy not getting what I really wanted. It seems to be a universal problem with the heavier Aurifil threads...the dealers don't sell a lot of it so they don't carry all the colors. It certainly makes for a challenge. Good thing I love this thread, and good thing I love a good challenge.

Gotta run. Lots to do this weekend. Good luck in the contest and check back to see what else I'm working on and how the new puppy's doing.