Postless. . .

When I'm gone away from blogging for a more than a week, there are a few things reasons why:
1. Not been sewing?
2. Depression?
3. Family obligations?
4. SPRING cleaning!!

So, I have done a very limited amount of sewing and a lot more spring cleaning in the past few weeks!  I did get my Jewels of the Crown done. . . but it's too big because I actually pieced it verses doing paper piecing like I did for the other blocks.  So, I have to paper piece all the blocks due to the resizing of the pattern when I print it - don't know why it does that, but if all the blocks are ending up the same size that is what matters:

And I visited a local quilt show over the past weekend with some new friends.  They were (are) my first class and we all have "kinda" bonded.  The quilts were incredible for a guild  style show.  Wish there was more vendors, but all in all we had a good time!  Can you guess which quilt is my favorite?

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.e>
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I hope to get more sewing in sometime soon.....but now gardening has to share some of my spare time as well.

Vending

This past weekend I help Gina's Bernina Sewing Center vend at a local quilt show.  The Village Quilter's Guild in Telico Village, TN put on a very nice show with beautiful works of art.  It was fun meeting new customers (old to Gina's but new to me :) and bonding with other local shops. 

We were set up in the back end of a racketball court, so the first image is a pararamic view of the whole booth and then I went to the "view" deck and took a picture from above.

This was the in the welcoming area and just is a perfect example of the season:

Just a small sampling of my favorite quilts:

Whew....that was just one day of the weekend, more pictures to come.  4 days til the blog giveaway drawing. . .

Weekend Stuff...

well, most of this doesn't have to do with quilting, but there are pictures involved!

Hubby and I made date night a traveling show!  We picked up my car, dropped off stuff to the mission, got both cars emissions done, then we window shopped at Bass Pro Shop, then Dicks and finally we ended up at the Howard County Fair!  Whew....just rethinking about it is crazy...we are nonstop!!

I took a few fun shots of the fair and only one quilt, mainly because all the quilts are covered with plastic and it's really hard to get a good image.  The one I did capture was incredible!  It won a ribbon and was hand quilt, the design mimicked the bias work.  And to top it off it was done in Raven's fabric!





Then driving home yesterday from picking up my girls, we got to enjoy a hot air balloon:



This weekend is a whirl wind.....whooshhhhhhhh....and we are off again today.  Spending morning/early afternoon at a Stitch and Bitch, then coming spending time with family, then off to hit golf balls with my new golf set...oh did I mention we purchase clubs at Dicks?? :)

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2008

If you ever get the chance to go on a bus trip to a quilt show, I highly recommend it! Granted lack of sleep was a problem, the quilts, the shopping and the friendships were worth it all.

We left the little town of Mt. Airy, Maryland with a bus of 53 people for a 4 hour drive to Hampton, Virginia at 6:00 am and returned at 11:oo pm.

I had a very pleasant surprise when I saw Amy for a brief second when I arrived and felt so bummed we didn't get to talk, because I was busy trying to hand out wists bands to our group. I luckily found her mid-day and we talked a little while and she has an awsome husband to bring her down to a show.

I didn't spend much - actually was on a very tight budget and limited, but I got a few things I was specifically looking for. Here's my little new stash of goodies: a new springtime purse (I have been looking over 2 months for one), 2 embroidery cd's from Dalco, 4 packs of crystals, a new crystal gun, the heat holder, 4 fqs (yes, only 4), & 3 patterns.



Now for the quilts. I so enjoy looking and walking around them. Reading what tiny bit of information on each one. I wish though, there was a standard fill out info form for every quilt. I have so many questions and have to just ponder on what the artist was trying to accomplish. Also, kinda wish they would print out programs just for the quilts to remember the information on each. I'm frustated I didn't get the creator or name of the quilts this time.

I did see a few quilts that reminded me of fellow bloggers and friends - - so ya'l were there in spirit. This one reminded me of Kristie:



I was disappointed I only saw one sunflower like quilt and no pirates :( but I still love them all. I think if I could choose just one favorite for the show it would be this impressive one:



As for the Show, it was nice. There were a lot of "artsy" quilts like I had heard, but there was a good balance of traditional as well. I really didn't like how the quilts were displayed in between vendor rows. I think I was spoiled in Houston where they have all the quilts in a more reverent setting in a separate area with minimal lighting and spot lights on the quilts. But the selection of vendors and quilts was very nice and accomplished my personal needs for this show.

I have created an album with all my pictures if you want to see them. Just click here.

I'm strongly considering going to New Jersey's Quilt Show next weekend - only 2 hours away from me and it's also payday weekend and I wanted to get a few more things I saw this weekend, that I can only get from the vendor. I plan to call the vendor to be sure they have a booth first :D

I'm still pooped, but had a nice quiet Sunday to recovered somewhat from yesterday.

Manic Mondays will return tomorrow.....