Quilt Show vendor treasures

You know it's true...even before your friends ask how many quilts were in a show, they want to know, "What did you buy?"
I didn't go shopping until the last day, and was pretty tired at that point.

[insert several other excuses of your choice, then we'll just move on...]

I was really looking for BOOKS, as there had been no book merchant at QuiltFest in September.

There wasn't one here either, but I did find this book I have been anxious to get:

"Thread Work Unraveled" by Sarah Ann Smith, an AQS publication. I have been hearing good things about this one, and I think I will not be disappointed! There are 111 pages, so it is not a pamphlet pretending to be a book (oooh, a new pet peeve!), and it covers quite a bit of ground from thread to needles to applique and machine quilting. The pictures look very good. It has several charts (I like that for easy comparison of info) and an index, which I am hoping is a good one.
SO...I will write a review after I have read it, but so far I really like what I see.

One book is never enough, and I also bought this one:

"Fearless Design for Every Quilter" by Loraine Torrence & Jean B. Mills, a C&T publication. This book has a lot of info about design principles, creativity and a working in a series. It has ten lessons, which can be repeated in a variety of ways. The very first thing I like about this 95 page book is the clear distinction between "critique" and "critical". That's something we all need to be aware of when giving our opinions to others....and in receiving them!
I'll give you a review of this later, too.
Both of these books were purchased from Barbie Swanson of Fabric Art Shop. That's in Lake City, FL, and happens to be the first quilt shop in the state on I-75, in case you are traveling south to the Sunshine State! I think she had more books at the show than anyone else, and had already sold out of two more I was interested in.

So, what else????

Here's the whole stash! The blue-with-silver-swirls fabric on the left was also from The Fabric Art Shop (she had a wide assortment of blue holiday cuts...Cherry-Cherry bought several, as she's not into the red & green mood this year). And the bobbins leaning on the books were on clearance (I cannot use those plastic bobbins in my Pfaff, but I can put them on the thread spool on top and use them that way!). And the fat purple pen was a nice gift.

The box of tailor's chalk was a gift from Pat Yamin of Come Quilt With Me. She says the Brooklyn Revlover cutting mat is being taken out of production, so get one soon!

The batiks and fat quarters are from Material Mart in Michigan (yes, those are beaters for a hand-mixer on the black & white). I had been really fabric-resistant until I hit that nice big, well-lit booth! There were loads of great prints on bolts....but, oh, those fat quarters are soooooo convenient to select!

Superior Threads is a very favorite of mine, but do I ever remember what I need or bring a fabric swatch? Well, I decided to go for the Frosted Doughnut (who could resist that!) with Masterpiece (cotton) bobbins (on cardboard, which I can pull off and the Pfaff likes). The "doughnut" bobbin holder is a good one...I already own one, and that's another thing you can have several of! If you like to use a lot of thread, you may want to sign up for Superior's very informative monthly e-newsletter.

The pink & yellow package in the center of the photo is the Sewline Fabric Pencil that I heave heard such good things about. It works like a lead pencil and comes with refills, which you may also get separately. It has a retractible eraser (ooooooh!) and the marks also come off with a damp cloth. I got this from Glenda Brady of The Quilting Connection (no shop but look for her at shows!). She did a demo of why the pink lead is a better choice than the white, so that's what I got.

Just to the left of the pen is a button. But not just any button! It is a stacked button from Dusty's Vintage Linens (no website). She has tons of wonderful Bakelite and other old buttons. I just could not resist this big blue button with a unique green button topped by a pink flower button...all wired together. I can use a safety pin to wear it or maybe sew it onto a little bag or something.

Last but not least is a fabric "candy", a charm square tied in a knot, from the Lake Co. Quilters as a thank-you for buying a raffle ticket. I love the little things guilds give away! If you are in FL on March 4 & 5, you should see their show in Mt. Dora, which is a great antiquing town.

Not too shabby, but not too much to carry home, either!

Books & Basting

It's the annual Friends of the Library book sale... I know many quilters love books almost as much as fabric. The photo above shows just a part of the middle section of three giant areas of books, all selling for about $1.00!
Finding a good quilt book is difficult for several reasons, the first being I did not arrive until the second day of the sale. Next comes my own extensive library (both in number and age of books!).

But I did enjoy running into fellow guild members V.S and S.C.

In another, curtained off area they had "Better Books" for $4--6--10. It was my good fortune to run into yet another quilter there, who confess the "Better Books" had been selected by herself and another guy. I asked if there were any quilt books in there, and she said not many, so I didn't look too long.

Anybody want a copy of a Dr. Phil book? And there were at least 12 copies of The DaVinci Code. It's not too hard to tell what was hot and has now cooled off!
This is a really good place to find books for doing Altered Book Art, collage or other creative endeavors. Even if you were strictly taught never to write in or cut up a book!

Meanwhile, back in the studio, it's a stack of basted quilts!
Thanks to Cherry-Cherry for helping me get these stuck together last week.
Just to help you sort through the visual confusion, there are 4 quilts shown, all in some stage of being quilted.
"Roxanne's Honeymoon" is the pink & black one at the left. The other three are stacked in my chair, folded with the backs out.
From the bottom up they are: the teal color is the Mystery Quilt for the Spacecoast Quilters (class in April); the stripes are the scrap quilt for Mrs. Starbucks; and the one on top is a wonderful coffee labels print on the back of a quilt I am doing for my sister's birthday in May!

I am pretty sure she never reads my blog (because she's too busy doing wonderful theatre work with students at a performing arts high school ...not in the city where I live, though). So here's what the quilt looks like:
Sorry about the ironing board in the corner...you'll see a better pic when it's done!
I started this in a class with Dee Duckworth at the SSQA meeting last month. There was nothing wrong with her pattern, but by the time I was done a number of changes had been made.
Some of them were even planned! (you know what I mean?)