Well as you can see there were no lack of choices of ways to part with your money! Aisle after aisle of temptations. There were totally dream items like the gold-plated embroidery from France ($400)and a gypsy booth that had the most fabulous trims EVER and I wanted the whole booth.. I coveted all the lace garment booths (well anything lace) and shibori ribbon booths. It seemed endless. This picture was taken at the early entry. Once the doors opened to everyone, you could barely move.
Two new kinds of threads to try. When buying new threads to try I almost always buy green because I will be sure to use them up. Some wonderful Bodin embroidery needles, two packages of cording, two bag patterns and a vest pattern,
That does not mean I'm not going to buy many of the things I saw there.... just not all at once.. I will definitely get a couple different sizes of the serrated scissors that everyone raved about and I'd never heard of. Also I want a template guide for trimming custom cording but it is $25 and is a ways down the list.
Also I will most definitely get all 3 weights of Solvy ( or something equivalent) as we saw it used in exciting and original ways. I have never owned or used it but it was everywhere in the sampler workshops..
The first "sampler" we went to was 2 hours and had 9 tables going simultaneously and you could pick and choose and move about at will. The demos were about 20 minutes and then repeated. It was "mixed-media Miscellany" Susie and I separated as our interests were different and then we shared information afterwards. I especially enjoyed the innovative printing on organza and experiments with varieties of fiber.... both suitable for CQ. But my favorite was creating "fabric" with solvy and with bits of fibers, threads, and ribbon... I immediately thought of using this in landscape and sea scape applications. Sometime this winter I will be doing this. This was by Christen Brown and she has a book I might consider.
The second "sampler" was also 2 hours and the same format. It was HUGE and had 29 stations...I had to leave this one early but even still got lots of information... Both samplers gave out booklets with overviews and instructions for all the stations.. I loved this concept and certainly got a LOT for the money.
We spent time hashing over what we want as our next joint project and we quickly decided that it was another BoHo bag with lots of lace. Remember the winter we did those?
Susie had hers along and everyone loved it. We like them but both had things we wish we had done different so we are going to do bags again... Hence the bag patterns. Using up some of my ridiculous lace supply and organizing and destashing the rest has priority. I am going to see if I can get some of my local CQ group to join in. 
I thought this pattern fit what I wanted and was suitable for CQ It does have a zipper on the inside section as well as more pockets inside. You can see this pattern done in a variety of ways at http://www.studiokatdesigns.com/products/quattro
So the vendors and the workshops revitalized us both and has given us lots of impetus to create more stuff. Everybody needs more stuff....right?
I have more Houston posts coming and will work them in with other news.
AND my wandering wonderful granddaughter should be arriving some time today for a few days.
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6 comments:
Wow, I would have been totally overwhelmed with all that stuff. I love the bag and the vest pattern and you will love the Bohin needles. I treated myself to some when a friend went to the US to visit family and said she would bring them back for me to save the shipping. I still use other ones too but when I use the Bohin's they just seem to glide through the fabric. Enjoy
how good where you with your purchases but then I read there are more in the pipeline. The threads look interesting, and the patterns too. It is my dream to go to Houston one day, 2 ladies from our MQG went so will hear all about it when we meet at the end of the month maybe they will have spotted you with your wonderful waistcoat
You had amazing powers of thriftiness at the quilt market! I would have been hard pressed to see so much wonderful stuff and come away with so few items! Love that you think the same way about green threads as I do. Green threads outnumber others in my stash by at least 3 to 1! And I'm always having to replace them! Love the vest pattern!
oh, i think I would have been broke within 15 minutes, looking at your photo! Sounds like a fun and inspiring time. Have a great visit with your granddaughter!
Wow! I'm hyperventilating just hearing about it! I've been using all the various weights of solvy and learned a great deal about how and when to use them. The heavier weight I have used without a hoop in the sewing machine to make the spanish moss in the Alice in Wonderland block. It takes a very long time to dissolve away compared to the others but works very well for making new "fabric" from ribbons, lace, etc. The medium weight solvy has been better in my experience for hand embroidery because its less gluey. I've used it to make tiny three dimensional butterflies on both "My Symphony" and Alice in Wonderfland, the alstromoeria on Daughter's Valentine, the sea urchins in Found on the BEach etc. It's great to help to adhere embroidery to other materials. Also used it for leaves in Abundance...Anyhow, lastly, the fabric solvy I like the best for hand embroidery as you see I'm using it now on Mrs. Roses' leaves. It helps to stabilize the hand embroidery and help with fabric fraying. The only down side is that it is not transparent like the lighter weight solvy...next I'll be using it to embroider sprays of leaves and see how it will work without any fabric beneath. It's very often used in machine embroidery and there are lots of artists who are using it in creative ways to make three dimensional sculptures to add to their quilts. But enough on that...you probably saw all of that in Houston! Have fun playing! So glad you got to go!
Beautiful parrot. I've never worked with wool. This will be interesting to follow, Dawnell
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