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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fabric... Welcome to the Patriotic Quilter where I like to share all things quilty as well as red, white, and blue! Please feel free to look around and enjoy yourself! I would love to hear from you.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Fun Quilting Week

Hi Everyone,

I know I've been a little light on posts lately, as you may remember, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival was in town at the end of last week.  I had a friend, Dorothy, who came to visit to attend the show with me.  She left this Tuesday morning, and it has taken me the rest of the week to get back to "normal."



The show was a lot of fun.  There were so many gorgeous quilts and lots of vendors!  If you were preregistered, as we were, you could go in for the preview night on Wednesday.  We did and spent that time familiarizing ourselves with the vendors.  We shopped a little bit, too.  I was wanting a 15" Creative Grids square ruler.  I didn't find that size, but I got a 16.5" one instead.  Making that purchase that evening made lots of sense--so I didn't have to lug it around too much.  I actually made a list of things that I wanted/needed and it really kept me focus.  Have no fears!  I did find other things to bring home, but the list was very handy.



We spent Thursday and Friday at the show for most of the day.  We would look at quilts for a while, and then shop for a bit, have lunch, and repeat.  Usually, Thursday isn't such a busy day at the show, but this year it was!  At least 8 large buses came full of quilters from all over the area.  At times, you couldn't get close to the quilts and the vendor booths were so jammed you couldn't get in!  Whew!  I really don't like crowds, so we would go to an area that was less populated.

I spotted John Flynn who was giving a seminar just before one we attended!


Both Thursday and Friday we had registered for seminars.  These are 1.5 hour lectures about various quilting topics, but the two we attended were about machine quilting.  The first was by Sue Nickels, (we were signed up for her class on Saturday) and the second was by Frieda Anderson.  It was interesting to get two different "takes" on the subject.   Some of their techniques were identical, but they differed on different points, too.  For instance, Sue and Pat Delany (who I had a class in machine quilting with last year) don't bury their threads.  They start and stop with a series of tiny stitches (not on top of each other--that makes a knot) and then clip the threads.  Frieda does use a needle to bury her thread.  Both use Sharp needles, or Microtex Sharp, with cotton thread, but other types with poly thread.

On Saturday, we had our all-day class with Sue.  We did pop into the show on our lunch hour and I think after class.  We pretty much had seen or bought most everything we needed at that time.  We weren't feeling a huge need to go back on Sunday, but we began quilting at home Sunday morning and I realized I needed a 60 degree triangle ruler (I still can't believe I didn't have one!) and I said we could either go to the fabric store, or the show!  It was an easy decision to go back to the show!  It did take a while to find the ruler, though, as some of the vendors that I knew sold it were out.  We spent maybe two hours there again and finally said our goodbye to Mid-Atlantic.


Sunday night the warnings were being issued for a winter storm.  We spent Monday getting snowed in.  My husband didn't have work so he did the laundry while Dorothy and I spent the time in my quilting room having fun!

I will be back with other posts covering more of these events with more photos.  In looking over the pictures I took, I see I wasn't focusing in on too much and must have forgotten to take photos of many of the quilts, but I will share what I have.

Have a great day!
JoAnne

10 comments:

  1. Bravo for you!! Sounds like a wonderful time!!

    Blessings!

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  2. Fun! Now I want to see what you bought!

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  3. My quilty friend and I find the blob method of ending threads a messy looking distraction to the eye...we found a quilter who takes all her tails to the back, hand knots them and buries them and charges us a bit less than local quilters. We happily drive the 2 hours to take quilts to her and visit the LQS! When the passes are bad we rely on snail mail!

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  4. Oh boy, guess you've never been to Houston? There isn't ONE DAY that's slow (at least none that I've ever been to). I always take classes so am always able to go to preview which is the slower time (from 5-7) then it's 'who let the dogs out?!!'. YIKES! I always run thru looking at quilts and snapping pix first then run to the vendors, going to my favs first. You MUST have a strategy going to shows like that!! HA

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  5. Sounds like the perfect weekend!

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  6. Getting to shop during the preview is awesome! No crowds, and they haven't sold out of anything yet! lol Sounds like you had a blast.....can't wait to see the pics!

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  7. I love hearing about the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival - my oh my, quilt show season is in full swing! :) I have been low on posts lately myself...sometimes life just gets in the way. ;) Glad to hear you're still quilt obsessed. ;)

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  8. I'm hoping I can go to that show next year. One year I went to the Road to California show. It's a great one. First of all they don't allow strollers or any sort of carts. No one running over your feet or bumping you and taking up lots of room. Love that! Also, for a very small fee, the local cub/boy scouts have a table set up right outside in the lobby where you can check your purchases and add to it during the day. No carrying around things and missing out on getting something later because they are sold out. All shows should be so organized!

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  9. Wow--that bird quilt is amazing! Sounds like you had a fun time--glad you got some shopping therapy too--haha!

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  10. So glad you enjoyed the show and your time with Dorothy. How sweet of your husband to do the laundry while you played :)

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