Quilt Show Booty

I just got back from the 2018 AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, KY. The first thing Robin and I always do is head for the vendors. As a matter of fact, we usually go a couple of days before the show actually starts and shop the vendors who have come in early.

The fabric was REALLY hard to pass up. I got most of the yardage for $3, $5, or $5.99 a yard and most of the precuts for 40% off. I purchased very little fabric at the “normal” price.

As you can see, I shopped for striped fabric. In the past, I haven’t used much striped fabric, but I’m branching out—I see a striped quilt in my future. I also purchased some thread for my Juki QVP2200 sit-down long-arm machine. I have finished a few quilt tops, and they need to be quilted. I’m hoping these threads will work for me. I also fell in love with a line from Moda called Catnip by Gingiber. I got 3 yards of a background fabric, a layer cake, a charm pack, and a jellyroll from the line. I found 5 yards of a Victoria Findlay Wolfe background fabric too ($5/yard). I got a jellyroll of the new Kona solids, a charm pack (Moda Fragile by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic), a Moda Yucatán by Annie Brady layer cake, and a Robert Kaufman fat quarter bundle.

For those of you who know me, you know I’m a “gadget girl.” Of course, I had to hit the notions wall. You also know I’m a “table hog” at retreats.

• I got something called a “Table Tidy” and a “Table Tidy” add-on for 50% off. It is a table/desk organizer that clips to a table and holds lots of retreat essentials. I’m hoping it will help me clear some much needed space on my table (and the tables of those seated near me)! I’ll be testing it out at my next retreat and will let you know how it works.
• I purchased a “Clear Glide” foot for my Juki QVP2200. It is supposed to “glide” easily over seams when machine quilting. Since I see lots of machine quilting in my future, I though it might be of some help to me.
• I purchased two books—Creative Stitching Second Edition by Sue Spargo and Spelling Bee by Lori Holt. I’ll let you know how I like them in a later post.
• I got a pair of Karen Kay Buckley’s new orange-handled Perfect Scissors. They are touted as making the cutting of fusibles easier—we’ll see.
• I got a spray bottle that sprays a micro-mist of whatever you put into it. I’m going to use it for Best Press. (Spraying this fine mist of Best Press onto a quilt marked with chalk is supposed to set the chalk so it doesn’t brush off so easily while you quilt.)
• At the Pellon booth, I purchased a package of Batting & Seam Tape (to seam smaller pieces of batting together) and 2 yards of Flex-Foam 2-Sided Fusible Stabilizer (to use in making my bins for holding fat quarters).
• A retreat-size wool mat (40% off).
• I also bought some Size 1 Quilter’s Safety Pins for basting quilts, a alphabet stencil, a 5” X 5” Quilter’s Select ruler, a new sewing machine brush, some new silk straight pins, and an Olfa “Endurance” rotary blade. The blade is supposed to last twice as long as a “normal” rotary cutter blade. I’ll let you know about that after I’ve had a chance to test it.

I usually do some shopping for non-quilting items too. I got two tops at the show and two tops and a jacket at various other shopping venues in and around Paducah. I also found a necklace and earring set at the show. I have done my part to help the economy!

I’ll have a few blog posts on the show itself as soon as I can put some together, so stay tuned if you are interested.