Quilt Show 2008

This past Saturday I attended the annual Houston International Quilt Festival. As usual, I enjoyed myself immensely. There are two halves to the show. There are the quilts on display for rows and rows and rows and the vendors for rows and rows and rows. Since I can only go for one of the four days it is here, I rarely go see the display quilts. I spend my day with the vendors and that alone takes the entire day. There is so much to see, so many quilts just in the vendor section, you can't believe it. It is so incredible!

I went with a great friend and we so enjoyed walking and walking and browsing and browsing and dreaming and oh, I guess some buying too. I could buy so much, but then I have to pace myself because I already have enough to keep me busy for years!

I bought this adorable little kit at one booth. It makes the most adorable little purse out of two fat quarters. I bought the pattern and if you bought one of the fabric kits to make it, you got the pattern for 4$ instead of 8$. So cute, plus they had a kit in one of my favorite recent fabric lines, Posh.


I went to the quilt show interested to see several new fabric lines I'd seen in a catalog. And as I have experienced in years past, there is ALWAYS one fabric that draws me in at the show booth after booth. This year it was Moda's Charisma fabric line. It is beautiful. I walked into a booth and saw a very simple small quilt done in the Charisma fabric. I picked it up, but then I turned the corner and saw a quilt kit I liked even better using the same fabric. And I snapped it up!


The other fabric line I loved was Moda's Woodland Bloom. It is such a wonderfully colorful, modern, fun fabric. I wasn't even sure I would buy any of it, but then at the end I saw a booth that had their charm packs (packs of 5" squares of a line of fabric) of Charisma for 7$ a piece. I bought 4. That will make a great size quilt top for a great price! I found this wonderful way to use charm squares on a blog and I started putting some blocks together last night. This is super fun and easy - a great way to showcase this lovely, lively fabric.


Lastly I bought a couple of preprinted panels to use to make a couple of quick baby quilts for a sweet couple that is having their first babies (twins) in a couple of months. These were so cute.


I wish all my dear friends could share this fun day with me every year! I always try not to miss it. So anyone wanting to come with me next year - hop on board for mid October!