Sunday 10 August 2014

The Day That Was

Yesterday was a gloriously good day. It's hard to beat friends, fabric and quilt viewing for a fab day, after all. Mostly it was about the friends. Saw too many people to name them all (because I will inadvertently leave someone out and then feel really bad) and there were others I wanted to see but failed - this time. For some reason my phone declined to make calls from almost everywhere within the hall. It managed intermittent IG connection. Anyway, I was so pleased to see those I did.


Cindy and Nicky were my partners in crime. Needless to say, it was great to spend time with them. Nicky got up at the scary time of 4am to catch a bus from the south coast to come to the Festival so how she managed the day of chatting, and walking, and standing, is beyond me. She even did hand sewing on the bus on the way to meet us! I also introduced myself to Jen, the editor of Love Patchwork & Quilting. Unfortunately I may have confirmed her suspicions that I am mad, so we shall see if she ever asks me to make something for the magazine again! (We are standing infront of Lynne's amazing quilt found in the latest LPQ issue.)

Then there were the quilts.


The quilt police (aka the really nice women wearing white gloves who made sure no one touched the quilts) watched us very, very closely. Because we kept peering so closely to a lot of the quilts. I was in a constant state of envy at peoples ability to do really tiny, detailed piecing, and to FMQ incredibly well.

As always there was a huge variation in the types of quilts to see - from traditional, to art quilts, to modern, and some a little...   um...   odd. The one thing they all had in common was the talent and attention to detail that went into them. It was great to see some of my friends with their work in there too (bottom left - Trudi - and bottom right - Reene).


So, did I buy anything? Of course I did, but not nearly as much as expected. I was quite restrained for me, and very relaxed on the whole buying front.


I ordered the Swiss dots from Cindy from her Fluffy Sheep Quilting shop, and she hand delivered them. They are an excellent addition to the LV stash and I love the lime green dots in particular. The purchases on the right are from Natalie and Tracey at Pin It & Stitch. I'm really pleased to say that they are in the process of launching their website now so expect to see even more from them in the future. They just got Aurifil floss in on Friday so I had to buy some to test it out. And I finally got around to getting myself a Sewline glue pen to speed up my epp basting. The fabric cuts were bargain end of bolt pieces that are about 10" wide WOF and were only £2 each!


The rest of my fabric purchases were a mixed lot of things that caught my eye. I love the whales I bought from The Eternal Maker. Then a couple of cuts of the re-release of FFA, and one of Cotton & Steel, this despite expecting some of each line to be arriving from the USA any time now. Not sure where I got the mushrooms and the other two whimsical FQs, but I like them. (Obviously, since I bought them.) The purchases from Doughty's were real bargains at £3.50 a half metre, except the FMF which was £5.50 - still less than the usual fabric price here in the UK.

Finally, I splurged on two Bloc Loc HST rulers, because I've never heard anything but good about them. I chose to try the 2.5" and the 4.5" ones and if I love them as much as everyone else seems to maybe I can add other sizes in the future. I was tempted by the Flying Geese Bloc Locs, which the man explained could also be used to square up Square in a Square blocks. So many toys to purchase if the budget is ever there!

And that was the day that was. Today it is very stormy. I've already taken Cindy to the airport to return home, and a good friend from Canada arrives tomorrow. Just enough time for a quick change on the bedding and to do a hoover.

Susan

26 comments:

  1. Wonderful haul! I so wish I could have gone this year and seen you three lovelies! Next year I hope!

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  2. Well that sounds like the perfect successful day! And is it wrong I want to hear all about the "odd" quilts? *g*

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  3. So good to see you yesterday. Top tip for next time; take your own white glove! Yes we really did see a lady whip one out of her bag to have a look at the back of a quilt!

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    1. That is genius!! I was dying to look at some of the backs. So nosy.

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  4. Those bloc loc rulers look so freakin cool!!!

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  5. Thank you for the pictures. It sounds like a great time, and spent with good friends too.

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  6. Looks like you've had a good week of cleaning cooking and catching up. You are going to love those bloc loc rulers. I need the big flying geese one now because I have plans for a square in a square quilt

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  7. Very restrained! Let me know how you get on with those Bloc Locs, I have a 6 1/2" one I grabbed at Market, but I'm not really loving it

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  8. It was SO lovely to meet you yesterday Susan. Sorry we didn't get to chat more, what a whirlwind of a day it was!

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  9. I love how you say 'do a hoover' hee hee hee...jealous of your new rulers, can't wait to see what you think of them once you've used them.

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  10. You made out like abandit...what an amazing haul of goodies!

    It looks like you had the BEST day! (Marg has one of those geese cutting templates and swears by it )

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  11. Oh, I was in Birmingham too. You're right, there were so many great quilts and so much stuff to buy :)

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  12. Fab purchases there! Hope Cindy's flight wasn't disrupted by Bertha! Jxo

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  13. Yeah to a great day out - was glad I went so thanks for tempting me into going! Lovely to see you as always

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  14. I bought a Bloc Loc too! And those WHALES I didn't see those!!

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  15. You make me smile- if that's restrained shopping, i wonder what others bought!? I am very envious of your pretty purchases!

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  16. So bummed I missed you this year. Thanks for including my quilt in your montage :) I too bought a blocloc ruler, genius!

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  17. I'm sorry I missed you too - I was there on Friday! And I hope you put those lovely round cushions back on that sofa when you'd finished your photos ;)

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  18. Looks like you had a great day! It was my first FoQ on Saturday, it was amazing, but so tiring, so well done for getting round with that early morning!

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  19. Those quilts with the birch trees in them - wow! I'm a little agog at the prices though... I thought we had expensive fabric here but most of our top lines are $16-22/m, which seems to be around 9-12 quid/m. No wonder oakshott and liberty cost a first born plus a handful of magic beans! I keep forgetting that with inflation and cost of living adjustment that what's a reasonable number of $ is a reasonable number of quid, but still... holy crap. I'll have to allow extra in my travel fabric budget when I hit Scotland next summer. lol.

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  20. Was lovely to meet you on Saturday. You haul seems very restrained when compared with mine but most of mine was bought with my looooooong WIP/UFO list in mind;0) I bought a bloc loc too and can't wait to try it

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  21. Great buys. You'll wonder why you didn't get a glue pen earlier. I had one unused in the drawer for ages and then when I did use it I couldn't believe I hadn't sooner!

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  22. We had such a wonderful time, didn't we? I had a great time sharing this weekend with you! xx

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