The Quilt Show and the Thief.....

Yesterday was a fabulous day. I set off at 10am to pick up Miss Nancy and Anne and we headed over to the Bit's and Pieces Quilt Show. After buying raffle tickets for a quilt and a sewing machine, we got down to business. We decided to walk around the vendors first, then look at some quilts, have lunch and then BUY.... Not a bad idea.

So first there were the vendors. Not as many this year as last. No hand embroidery vendors. First stop was the Viking vendor. Miss Nancy wanted to try out the Fabu-motion fabric thingy (I don't know Viking products, can you tell?) Anyway, first they grabbed Anne and I with the big long arm, but the lady couldn't keep the machine threaded, so we finally walked away and told her we would be back later to try it. (we lied, we had no intention of going back, we would have liked to try it, but neither of us have room for a long arm so we just wanted to play). We got Miss Nancy a salesman and they sat her down to play on the fab-u thingy. I couldn't believe that Viking was demonstrating this product and the fabric they gave her was FLEECE!! And the fleece wasn't the filler, it was the only fabric they offered. I spoke up and asked if they had any cotton to use, "no". But then the salesman found some scrap and put that on top. Nothing but fleece on the bottom... The fabric slipped all over and of Miss Nancy didn't buy it. I was really disappointed the this huge company came to a well known quilt show and didn't think far enough ahead of time to have proper samples for potential customers. I must say that it did do a great stitch. It was very even and regular.

So then we found Ann of Patches Quilt Shop. She is a certified quilt appraiser and was doing her thing. She also had some of her books that she would sell and sign.

We then found a vendor called The Stash Store. They had lots of Civil War FQ's and Miss Nancy found a couple she thought she might like to take home. Now remember, we didn't want to buy just yet, we wanted to look and come back to buy. So we decide that she will "hide" the FQ's underneath all the other FQ's. Good idea. There are only millions of matching FQ's, but you never know. There could be a huge rush on this very fabric before we get back. So we slide them underneath the row and walk off thinking aren't we the clever shoppers!!

Next up is a couple of more vendors, including Jackman's and some more I don't remember...

I had two things on my list, so I notice the vendor with 30's fabrics and check off that we will be back to line up 12 FQ's for Ava's quilts. She had a huge selection all color coordinated.

Now we go have lunch and then some quilt viewing.....such beautiful quilts....


This is Nellie. This quilt was made from one pattern that was sliced into 6 portions. She sent one section of the pattern to 5 other guild members. All she told them was to use the yellow background. After getting all the sections back she sewed them together and quilted them. Isn't is fabulous??


This quilt was a modern version of a celtic quilt pattern. It was very striking and hard to see the pattern in the far away pic, so below is a close-up of one block. She won a prize for best piecing.



I loved the color combo of this quilt.

We saw these quilts very early on. Only after we had gone two rows over did Anne say "Look at those quilts now!". These quilts were made for a Gray Hair/Hare challenge within the guild. These were made with 1 inch squares of white,black and gray fabrics.

So, now it's time to go back and BUY, BUY, BUY...... Miss Nancy has stopped to talk to Ann of Patches again, so I sneak over and "find" the FQ's that she hid earlier. I scoop them up and hold them down at my side. "Look Anne, I have Miss Nancy's fabric and she is gonna come over and find out that someone else bought them. Won't that be funny?" Now let me say right here, that ANNE AGREED....It would be funny!!
"Oh, here comes Miss Nancy" I will just very carefully slide the fabric down to my side so she can't see. Ok, out of the corner of my eye, I see the husband of the vendor get up and walk over to the fabric where Anne and I are standing. hmmm....wonder why he would pick NOW to straighten out FQ's. Ok, he is really eyeing me... ON NO!! He thinks I am trying to shop lift!!???!! ARKKKKK!!!! I have never shoplifted anything in my life. Ok, I was there one time when my sister (who shall remain nameless) "stole" a little ladybug stickpin off a dress at Famous. Hey, I am pretty sure the statue of limitations is over since she was in high school and she is now, well, lets just say she isn't in high school anymore. So anyway, this guy is watching me like a hawk.... He doesn't take his eyes off of me. I quick tell Anne what is going on....we are laughing and talking and I am trying to show him that I am not stealing the fabric, but here comes Miss Nancy and she is digging around in the bucket, and digging and digging and she looks up puzzled and I walk over and say "looking for these?". She starts laughing and Anne and I are laughing and then we shop some more, but the guy keeps watching me....FINALLY I decide to tell his wife, who is taking some of Miss Nancy and Anne's money what happened and that her husband thinks we are shoplifting. She just smiles....and then SHE starts watching me....Ok, off to the next vendor for me!!! I guess I should have bought something from them, but they only had civil war and I don't use civil war fabric....

I did buy some goodies... I am hoping to get the backpack done for Paducah..


Whew..long post and it is now noon, I just heard thunder. Thanks for reading to the end....have a great day. I am off to the sewing room to do some much needed therapy.

Happy Sewing,
Nancy