Vacation Loot

Maybe taking a big vacation after having given up buying fabric for Lent wasn't a good fiscal decision.  Then again, I did save a couple thousand dollars by not buying a new sewing machine or serger at the AQS show -- and I was oh so close!

I found great things at the Paducah show and I only bought things I don't have or couldn't find at my local quilt shops.  Honest.

 A beautiful Persimmon wood trinket box (er, sewing tools) and cute Grape Basket pin

A couple of marvelous books:

I had the chance to visit with Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry at her studio near the convention center:

Apparently it was my good fortune, as Caryl has since closed the studio and will be moving to Washington state.  Her studio is for sale if anyone is interested....

I also did some shopping in Marietta, Georgia, after visiting my niece Carla and her family in Atlanta.  My first stop was the Red Hen Fabrics, an interesting shop full of great fabric at reasonable prices.  Next I headed over to Little Quilts, where I added to my stash of Japanese fabrics.

While searching for these shops in Marietta I drove by two very interesting Civil War era cemeteries.  The Marietta National Cemetery contains the remains of over 10,000 Union soldiers and the Marietta Confederate Cemetery, which has over 3000 Confederate soldiers.  It was very sobering driving past each cemetery.

My final purchases came from my visit to Berea, Kentucky, where I found these wonderful treasures.  The first basket came from Top Drawer Gallery, a shop that sells locally made hand crafted items.  I love this basket -- it's so unusual.

This basket came from PeaceCraft, which sells fair-trade items from around the world.  My new basket came from Bangladesh and will be used to store some sort of sewing project or tools. 

I also fell in love with this black bag.  I instantly knew it would be a perfect camera bag.  I'd been carrying my camera in my regular purse and it was weighing it down.  This bag was made from a recycled rubber inner tube -- crazy!

I love each and every piece of 'loot' I brought home with me.  I have several new quilts to make, some fabulous new tools and books, and several reminders of a great trip.  Can't wait to go back -- maybe next year???

The Fabulous Bonnie Hunter!

More than three years ago I contacted Bonnie Hunter and hoped she'd be available to speak and teach at Great Lakes Heritage Quilters during my year of programs.  No, she was booked up solid for years!  I managed to book her for this year and she was so worth the wait.  She is currently booked through 2018!!

Bonnie is as genuine as they come -- what you see is what you get.  A super talented quilter, she loves to share her enthusiasm for scrap quilting.  I believe I could be converted yet!  Her simple system of cutting scraps into strips and squares makes assembling a quilt so much easier.  One take-away for me -- when separating light fabrics from darks, your darkest light should be the color of a paper grocery bag.  That is such a great tip for distinguishing your piles of fabric.

Our meeting last night was most likely the highest attended meeting yet for our guild.  We had 50 guests and 95+ members present, plus three people said they'd like to join our guild starting in September when our new year begins! Wow, wow, wow!!

Here are a few favorites from Bonnie's trunk show.  If you feel like you're sitting in the front row of a movie theater that's about how I felt -- quilts were shown up close on the stage.  There are a few close ups of some of the quilts.  They were all so wonderful.

We were so fortunate to have Bonnie visit our guild.  Quilters came in droves to hear this delightful woman and see her beautiful quilts.  If she's ever in your area don't hesitate to hear her speak.  Here's her schedule for the coming years: Bonnie's Calendar.  You'll see what I mean by an in-demand kind of speaker!

Back Home

I returned from a wonderful 9 day adventure very early yesterday morning and I'm still playing catch up with my sleep.  I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight but first I wanted to share a bit about my trip.

I left right after work Thursday before last and drove to a small town in Kentucky for the night.  I arrived too late for an adult beverage in the motel lounge but it was all good as I needed to just go to bed instead so I could rise early and drive to Paducah for the American Quilters Society 30th Anniversary Quilt Show.

I have to say I was very surprised by how unkempt the area around the show was.  Yards were messy -- just not what I was expecting for the biggest event of the year for the town.  I had to walk several blocks to the convention site so I got quite an eye full.  I guess I just figured they'd all be spruced up for their big week.  Oh well.

Once inside the convention center the buzz was amazing -- crowds of people all there to see the wonderful creations of quilters around the world and the vendors - oh, the vendors!  After giving up buying fabric for Lent, let's just say I came to buy.  But no, first I would look at the quilts, then and only then would I start to peruse the vendors.

You can see the show winners on the AQS website so I'm not going to post the nearly 300 photos I took but I will share a few of my favorite quilts over the next few weeks.  I loved so many and there was just so much to enjoy in every aisle.