Sewing and Quilt Expo

Went this weekend to the Sewing & Quilt Expo in Shaumburg, IL, and was easily separated from my money at the show...  I had a good time with my quilt friends Steff and Catherine.In this picture you can see my take from the show.  Some of the things i was happy to find here, like the discharge paste, the ruffling foot, and the "magic fabric" that texturizes.  It's that kind of weird stuff that I look for at a show like this; stuff you can't get in the average quilt shop.  I also was taken in by a booth with some antique textiles, and got the lace and beaded motif in the lower left. It was a fun trip!


Not much quilty has gone on lately as I have been cleaning my sewing studio and getting ready for the next project.  I have a design, it's been blown up to the size I need, and now I just need to work on it. Some long weekends are in order to really get it done.

 

Commence the Showing and Telling

I know you're waiting with baited breath to see the stuff I got at the IQA Chicago Show. Wait no more! Here it all is!!
One of the things I like best about the quilt show is the ability to get stuff you can't get in one single quilt store. I especially like shopping for new thread so I can see all of the varieties and weights, and especially the colors. I stuck to 30 and above weight cottons for this trip. Also shown are the smallest yo-yo maker and a new ribbon flower maker I had not yet seen from Clover.

Next up is hand dyed stuff. I always spend a ridiculous amount of money on Cherrywood fabrics, as I find their fabrics to be top notch. I also buy from Artfabrik (Laura Wasilowski), Frieda Anderson, and Wendy Richardson. Wendy dyes in the greatest mottled greens, purples, and browns, and I love her dyed damask napkins. They are a treat to sew on.

If you know me, you know I love things from Japan, and the Maeda Imports booth has lovely fabrics from Japan. These are cotton furoshiki (wrapping) cloths. I especially love the Hina Matsuri (Doll festival or girl's day) and Kodomo no Hi (children's day) with the koi cloths. I also love, love, love the kawaii cats and fishbowls. I also got some Japanese knotting cords for some future project.

One thing you won't have at a quilt show is a lack of patterns, books, and DVDs to inspire you. Kits are popular, because they can be made up as is, and folks like to make what they see on display or in the picture. Here are a couple of pin kits (one of wool and one of shibori silk) because I love pins. I also love this Crabapple Hill pattern of embriodered haunted houses called Hocuspocusville. And I love the Quilting Arts booth, where I picked up a couple of DVDs. One is season 2 of the QA tv show, and one by Melanie Testa.

I am not a huge purchaser of novelty fabrics, but I know a couple of people who would appreciate the motifs on a quilted project from these. Some racecar fabric for a certain father, and some Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairies for a certain mother in law. Isn't that face striking?

Ah, the odds and sods. The grey looking thing is a kimono sleeve, vintage, with sparkly threads in it. It will become a purse. The round things are strips of hand dyed wool from one of the many wool booths at the show. The sparkly stuff in the middle is Stewart Gill rainbow texturizers. The Fuzzy Nabber is a washable lint roller, which I have one of already and just adore. And the little fruits are the weird kind of thing where I could have bought the book and materials to make them myself, but I know I would never do them, so would rather buy the finished products themselves. They have loops for putting on a keychain or project.

Now for the things I made at the show. At the MIU booth (Quilting Arts/Interweave area) you can take classes on the show floor for $10. These are the 3 classes I took (besides Surviving the Runway). The first made the background fabrics, which were taught by Melanie Testa. The doll class was by Debbie Crane. The little charms were the resin class by the Little Windows company. All were great!

Last but not least is my tiara from the Art Quilt reception, and the pin award I recieved for being runner up.

Hope you enjoyed Show and Tell!

More Zombie Awesome-ness

Last night I drew and inked these cute zombies, even took the time to watercolor one of them.

Can't wait to work on this quilt!

Sneak Peek: Adorable Zombies sketches

I hinted at these elsewhere, and folks seemed interested, so here are my sketches for an upcoming quilt series of adorable cute zombies. Click the picture for a better view...

"New Work" pages updated on my website and some non quilt art

The new work pages of my website are updated with weekly and monthly quilts. What's nice is to be able to see the themed works grouped together.

I do occasionally do non quilty art, and here is one of those things I did. Kelli Perkins had a tutorial on altering silver spoons in a recent back issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. I traded these online with friends. I plan to alter a few more and attach them to a quilted background. It would make a nice Christmas kitchen gift.

The Bounty - Show and Tell

I saved for quite a while to take a goodly sum to IQA Chicago, knowing it was the place to find odd tools and such. Here's a look at everything I bought.
I made several trips to the Cherrywood Fabric booth, and spent over $30 each time.

A pattern I coveted from last year's show(!), a jelly roll for a couple of baby quilts I am making, and two fat quarters of dupioni silk from Vogue fabrics.

18 inch batting samples from Hobbs. These were $8 a bundle, and there's 2 different bundles here.

Only at a show like this can you find tools you can't find in stores. These Clover pompom makers and needlefelting molds are exactly that.

Lakehouse fabrics bought at the Tammy Tadd booth. There's about $90 worth of fabric here.
I plan to try some dyeing this summer, so I bought a gradation kit from Pro Chemical and Dye.

Two orphan blocks of embroidery that I bought for $5 a piece. I love the idea of rescuing these poor things. The Kewpie doll is really ugly, and I had to have it!

Another place I can drop some serious money is at the Quilting Arts booth. I bought some cool embellishing kits, and the first season o fthe Quilting Arts program on DVD. The little hearts are from an antique quilt booth, made of a cut up quilt with hand piecing and quilting on them. Not sure what I will use those hearts for, but they were 50 cents each.

Booths selling wool were everywhere. And while i am not looking to get into making quilts or projects with wool, I do have a DVD bu Jane LaFazio who does a little wool applique piece I would like to try. So with access to great hand dyed wools at the show, I indulged a bit. There's $20 worth of wool here.

Lastly, a bit about being Teacher's Pet. In my experience, I have gotten a "gift" from each teacher I was the Pet for. Now, I will say, that I NEVER expect this, and it's a wonderful thing that they do, but I must say that I also EARN my rewards. As Teacher's Pet, you are not paid, and you also paid for your enrollment to the class, so the job should not be so overwhelming that you do not get to enjoy it. You get a pin to collect as your reward, but this is something extra that teachers may do. I always get there very early, ask the teacher throughout the class if they need anything, and also help them pack and clean up IN ADDITION to the duties given by the show organizers. These kits were my reward for the classes I took.

That's it (I know... this is a lot of stuff, but Chicago only comes once a year)! I hope to post some pictures eventually of the stuff I made out of these supplies!