Quilt-A-Fair

Today was the first day of the annual Quilt-A-Fair event, put on by the State quilting group, Colorado Quilting Council (aka CQC).  I'm on the CQC Board this year, acting as Chairman for Volunteer Recognition.  Anyway, Quilt-A-Fair is a giant vendor mall (88 different vendor booths this year!), quilt show, silent auction, food court, great chance to network and catch up with friends. 

A few examples of vendors:

• A lady from Brooklyn, NY, who makes acrylic templates for cutting various quilt blocks
• A lady who takes vintage quilts, takes them apart and stitches pieces of the quilts onto denim shirts, t-shirts, etc. to make one-of-a-kind clothing items
• Vendors selling various vintage quilts, quilting notions, quilt display racks, ladders, furniture
• Many many vendors from local quilt shops, shops from NE, OK, TX, CA...all with a wide variety of model quilts, fabric, patterns and notions
• Several sewing machine vendors, long arm quilters and long arm quilt machine vendors
• Our local needle shop (aka LNS)
• A couple vendors selling handmade jewelry
• Several vendors with huge supplies of buttons and different sorts of embellishments for crazy quilting and ribbon embroidery

The affair is held in a large exhibition hall at a county fairgrounds about 40 miles from our house.  DH and I arrived at about 10 am (it started at 9 am).  As expected, the parking lot was crammed with cars.  We found a parking spot and made our way inside.  The hall is an explosion of color, sounds of conversations and people.  Truly sensory overload in the best way possible!

We began making our way down one row of vendors after another, DH patiently waiting while I looked at what was offered for sale by each one, jockeying our way through the crowds of quilters...a day in paradise!  We saw lots of people we know, had many conversations along the way.  Here are some photos of my stash acquisition from today (I am a shameless shopaholic, and loved every minute of it!!)

Top left is a Hob-Nobb Designs that matches the Quilting one I'm getting ready to start on.  The new one says "I Love Stitching".  Top right are two little decorative items I thought would add a nice touch to one of the shelves on my desk hutch, a Vera Bradley tape measure, a Lizzie Kate Snippet that says "Housework never killed anyone...but why take a chance?" (love it!)  The bottom right is a Just-Nan design  I found in their clearance rack - "M is for Mouse" (but 'M' is also for my last name).

Next is another Lizzie Kate - "Tiny Tidings XIV' with the embellishment pack included.

One more Lizzie Kate - "Santa Wants to Know" and the Magic by Mona (from Silver Needle) finishing kit for it, a mini ORT/pin cushion for my desk, and the cutest little design in a plastic case called "Doodles" for leftovers.  This one says "Quilting is a Work of Heart" and includes a heart button.  This is also by Hob-Nobb Designs.

One last cross stitch stash item...a design from Homespun Elegance called "Sheep Button Sampler."  It includes brass 'Wooly Sheep' buttons.

OK, that's my cross stitch purchases from Quilt-A-Fair.  I'll give you a tour of my quilt-related purchases in another post tomorrow.  I'm worn out from all this shopping and need to get some sleep!

Oh, one last thing.  Last week I took advantage of the Joann's sale on Ott lights and got the rechargeable, battery-operated one to use on my desk.  It comes with the recharger and A/C adapter.  I really like it!  It is very compact, folds up nicely, and has a carrying handle.  It'll be great for travel..when we go visit our son, etc.  Here's a pix of it on my desk: 

Okay, that's it for now from my corner of the world...Happy Stitching!

Vicki in CO