The Quilt Festival was in town a couple of weeks ago.  The consumer portion of the show is amazing.  One side of the convention center features quilts that have been selected for display in various categories.  My mother in law who came with me compared many of them to paintings, though they are painting with fabric.  The portraits and pictures created through quilting in many of them were simply stunning.  We also saw more traditional quilts.  My favorite was the Lone Star Quilt exhibit, but there was so much to see, we hardly saw half of it.

The other half of the convention center has the shopping!  It is really neat to see all of the different machines and supplies.  The bamboo quilt batting in several booths was so soft, I wonder how it would be in a quilt.  I was pretty restrained and only picked up a couple of things.

I have a couple of Bird Brain Designs pattern and have purchased the tea towels from them at previous shows.  I haven’t found any tea towels that I like more for embroidering so I picked up four of these to last me the year.  I also picked up a sasheiko embroidery fabric.  I have wanted to try it since seeing the Purl Bee tutorial, so I’ll give it a try at some point this year.

It was an inspiring show!  I need to finish up some things I’m working on so I can incorporate some of the inspiration into new projects.  First up, after finishing Carolyn’s blocks, will be Christmas gifts!