What a whirlwind the past few weeks has been!
But I'm happy to report that all of the tax returns are done and filed.
And Girl Scout cookie season is over. All I have left to do for that is to print out the reports and turn in my paperwork. I tried to do that last night but I ran out of paper for the printer. I'll be picking some up in the next few hours and getting that crossed of my To Do list.
MQX East was a blast again! I loved all but one of my classes and I'm already excited about next year. I have a ton of quilt pictures to share with you but I need to find time to sort through them and I'll also share some thoughts on the classes that I took.
In the meantime, I'll show you my loot. I felt I was pretty restrained overall but I did go with a list of things I wanted to buy.
Wednesday night when the show opened for the preview, I got these pantos from Anne Bright Designs. More and more when locals find out that I have a longarm, they ask if I'm taking customer quilts and I've continued to put that off. Well I think the time to change that is coming soon and so I need some good pantos to have to offer, designs that I'm not comfortable doing freehand yet.
I had no fabric on my shopping list, instead planned on getting whatever struck my fancy and this ended up being the only thing that caught my eye. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with it but it is surely destined to become a wall hanging.
One of the things I want to start trying is ruler work and so rulers were on my list to check out. I ended up getting this straight ruler from Judy Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts. I found that I really like the overall size of this ruler and for me the handle helps keep my hands from cramping.
Of course I had to stop off at the Fil-Tec booth and get some more Glide thread. Oh how I wanted it all but I only brought home these colors. As I get more into quilting for customers, I'm guessing that I'll end up buying many more of the colors that they have available.
These Tahana Caramels are sooooo good. I'm addicted and for that I directly blame Mary Schilke. If you haven't tried these to-die-for goodies, you should order some right NOW!
During my class break on Thursday I did a bit more buying, this time at the Willowleaf Studio booth. I picked up this group of pantos to add to my collection. Now I feel I have a decent selection to offer to future clients.
Thursday afternoon's class with Karen McTavish was just fantastic and I look forward to taking more classes with her in the future. Of course I had to get the new edition of her book (my friend Liz Haskell has a quilt in it too).
Karen even autographed it for me. The best part of that evening is that she had dinner with our group. She truly is hilarious and real pleasure to know. Sometimes I think that us newer quilters are in awe of the famous folk and Yes I am one of those people but it is wonderful when you get to meet them in person and see that they are real just like you and I.
On my shopping list were also some notions but I didn't actually buy these at the show. One philosophy that has always stuck with me from my years in retail is that "I have the right to pay a reasonable price and you have the right to make a reasonable profit". Reasonable being the key word here. I do prefer to support the LQSs and small business owners but when you are charging between 50-100% more than I can get it online, I don't call that reasonable.
I had some Amazon gift cards that I received at Christmas so I just ordered these once I was home. I also got the Clearly Perfect Angles by New Leaf Stitches that you see below.
The similar but smaller product that I was originally looking for is no longer available but when I found this one, which is bigger and will attach to the bed of my machine better, into my cart it went. It will be great not having to draw the lines on my squares when making HSTs any more.
MQX 2016 is already on my calendar and I'm already forming ideas on who I'd like to take classes from, if they will be teaching next year that is. If you haven't been to MQX yet, you really should go. It is totally worth the trip.
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11 Comments:
Sounds like a fun and busy time!
Looks like a great time! Looking forward to seeing what's coming =)
You are going to love that ruler. It is my favorite:)
You are going to be having some fun quilting with all of those pantos.
I will be interested to hear how you like using the Clearly Perfect Angles. I bought two a few years ago (one for me, one to give away on my blog), but didn't feel comfortable using it.
I put MQX East on my "to do" list every year, but haven't made it yet. Hopefully, I'll make it next year. I'm jealous that you got to take a class with Karen McTavish.
Did you take one of Judi's classes? I'm taking one at Paducah and I'm SO excited! And I'm glad you mentioned the Fil-Tec booth - that will be a good place to replenish my supply of Glide next week. I ran out of Linen today and I feel lost!!!
Michele it sounds like you're all prepared to do some quilting! I have those little thread snippers and love them - they are especially good for cutting close to the fabric when I'm cutting thread tails doing embroidery. :) blessings, marlene
What a great haul! Love those new pantos!
What a stash of goodies! I've never tried Glide thread.
Sounds like you had a good time and enjoyed yourself. Those caramel sweets look gorgeous, but I just checked, and can't seem to find them here in the UK. Boohoo. I totally agree with you about online shopping vs LQS. Here we have very few shops in the north so the only real time we get to go shopping is when our annual quilt show is held, and then, sadly, the prices are way higher than when I buy online.
Thank for getting the Clearly Perfect Angles. You will love how quickly you can sew those 45 degree angles (plus doing more with it!). Please let me know if you have any questions. Kari from New Leaf Stitches
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