Quilt Show Eye Candy

Anybody else out there make it to Hershey, PA for Quilt Odyssey?? It's a little slice of Heaven for those of us obsessed with fabric, notions, and all things quilting related! 

I stayed within my spending budget so long as you don't count my longarm thread purchase, which you know technically I don't, because four cones of longarm thread aren't "fun", they're for my business. No matter that I LOVE quilting for hire :) 

(did I justify myself well??)

So here's what I bought: 

A couple packs of embellishment-type buttons, the Quilt Odyssey 2013 pin, a clay pendant, and a set of clay earrings. If you haven't checked out the products sold by Quilted in Clay, you should. The artistry is amazing & her work is beautiful!

(not affiliated but LOVE her work!!)

I thought the candle wraps might make nice Christmas gifts since so many of my gang love their candles. And the Santa wall-hanging is to be made out of wool/felt & I'm planning on keeping that for me.

Halloween stitchery patterns, a Snowflake Angel stitchery pattern, and a Snowman table runner using a combination of cotton & wool (though I suppose you could do either-or too)

A cooking fabric panel to be made into "something" for "someone" ~ sorry can't say more than that right now.

A Singer sewing machine fabric panel for me. I'm not sure what I'll do with this yet. I saw the cutest wall hanging done with one of these by someone in our guild that included embellishments such as I showed a couple pics up, so that's a possibility...

An old-time-Santa wool table topper kit, Instant Antique spray, and my technically-not-fun longarm thread purchase.

Now do you want to hear something slightly pathetic? I never made it to the actual quilt show!! I met my BFF at the convention center before the doors opened & we always make a bee-line for the vendors ~and let me just interrupt for a moment about this... there were ladies standing at the doors, lining up to get into the show. The convention hall is HUGE, and there isn't typically the worry that the vendors will run out of items. But dang it, those ladies would see the products FIRST!! lol 

One of the fabulous thing about going to a trade show is that you can wonder aloud if "this" is as cute as you think, or do these colors match, and other equally important questions, and everyone around you will turn to look & voice their opinion. As a generality, quilters are a chatty, friendly bunch. 

Thus I made three new friends, we talked here & there throughout the show as we kept running into one another, ended up exchanging names, emails, found each other on facebook, and then we blabbed so long toward the end, my BFF & I just skipped seeing the quilts. No worries my new-found friends from VA, DC & Saudi Arabia; I place no blame on your terrific conversational skills, but y'all were fun to talk to & my BFF & I typically run through the quilt show part murmuring under our breaths, "WOW, that's incredible, I can't believe he/she did that, I'm NEVER doing that" kind of commentary. Sometimes the skills we observe & realize we don't have are down-right depressing, until I remember I don't really WANT to spend 365 days straight on the same project... the point being, that my new friends really then, in effect, saved me & my BFF mental anguish & a session of self-loathing. So thank you!

I think I'll go play with some fabric for the rest of the afternoon...

July = Summer! (NQR)

So I have mixed feelings about leaving June behind. Part of me is glad, so very glad, to put the l end of the school year behind, as well as those remembrances that for us mark some sadness.

But leaving June behind does make me calculate that 1/3 of summer is gone! Autumn is my very favorite season, but I hold onto this juvenile ambition of lazy summers spent by the pool & doing "fun things". And, uh, none of that was happening in June, thus my angst at marking 2/3 left to HAVE SUMMER FUN. :)

Today I did just that... finally. I slept in & woke to coffee already brewed thanks to the coffeepot timer! I moseyed into my day catching up online, switched gears taking pictures of things to put through the online yard sale site, and then... YES... I donned my bathing suit (a size smaller than last year's I might add!) & headed out to the pool. 

I spent 2 hours (!) playing with Smokey, hopped in the pool, power-washed the cement & furniture, hopped in the pool, vacuumed the bottom of the pool, and then I just swam around & with the dog. Sat on the edge with my feet dangling in, enjoying the warm sun, but just sitting. I can't remember the last time I just sat when it wasn't out of exhaustion or to give my feet a rest. It was amazing.