It Was A Family A-Fair...

Friday saw me abandoning The Hubby and Princess Girl (school was closed all day for a fund-raising carnival) and heading to the hills.  This weekend was the annual Quilt-A-Fair, sponsored by the Colorado Quilting Council.  It's a vendor show with raffle quilts on display.  Even as I drove away, I was wondering if it made sense to drive an hour in each direction, to go shopping???  Hmm, seems like maybe a bad plan?  I hadn't been to this event in 4 or more years- not since before Train Boy appeared on the scene.

But I did go.  And I am certain you will all be shocked to know that I bought- yards and yards of batiks.  Most of them purple. 

One vendor was selling stunning batiks for $6 per yard cut. I mean, how could I resist?  So much for all the hard work I've done busting my purple batik stash this year...  It's like a hydra, and keeps growing more heads.  (My fault?  What?  Can't hear you... la la la laaaaa.)  In my defense, 4 pieces pictured are FQs and 2 are 1/2 yards.  But, one is 3 yards and one is 2...  Leaving 5 single yard cuts.  Yum.

I also bought 2 patterns. I saw many many patterns that I loved, but, I realized my to-do list is long, and there are many unused patterns in my pattern stash folder. In fact, it literally burst at the seams a few weeks back.  What a mess.  So, I only bought 2- which was herculean resistance for me.  One easy batik stash buster log-cabin take off, and one stunning tiny squares piece.  I thought it looked sort of like crocheted granny squares, but with my fave fabrics.  Can't wait to do it.  It may end up as bed quilt #4 in my 4-seasons-of-bed-quilts plan!

Oh, and, a "sweet treat" of 8 more batik fat quarters. Ahem, yes, that would be another 2 yards of purple-y batiks.

And, I saw tons of folks I used to work with back in the day.  Some hadn't seen me since I was pregnant with Train Boy, so I got to whip out my iPod and show off photos!  Fun!  It was a little like visiting with long lost relatives, albeit in a hot, sweaty county fair building full of slightly manic quilters.  Quilting Up A Storm had a booth, and I also got to hang out with Kari for a while.  Hi, Kari!

Pretty much everything in the booth that you can see= original Kari design.  And, one really nifty highlight of the fair was seeing Kari's quilts and patterns being displayed in OTHER vendor's booths- including a Fractions just one booth over.  How cool :-)

I even "discovered" a new-to-me store.  Their booth drew me in with what can be described as my fabric version of crack: Kaffe, Kaffe everywhere, and also Amy Butler!  It's called "The Fabric Shop", and while I've never heard of it before, I can already hear myself planning a family day in the mountains with one little extra stop...  I bought that awesome Color My World pattern from them...  I'd link to the store, but can't find a site for it.

Oh, and we also road the rails this weekend.  Day Out With Thomas, aka how to part the family of young boys from their $$$. 

Train Boy was in heaven- and it wasn't even Thomas that sent him over the moon.  The CO Railroad Museum has some very elaborate model trains set up, and we literally had to drag him away.  Thank goodness he accepted a bribe of kettle corn or we might be there still.  We got him a $10 membership in their "Pee Wee Club".  He's thrilled, and I'm sure we'll be back soon!

Comments

[Evelyn]

Well, gosh - you DID just make a KING sized quilt - of course you needed to replenish your stash!!! Neat patterns too - I can totally see you making both of them so good choices. And - I have a Thomas lover too... must be the "in" boy thing!

Cheers!

Evelyn

[Hedgehog]

Sounds like a great weekend - both those patterns look great!

[May Britt]

Of course you had to buy new fabric going on such a trip. you have been clever using from your stash. Seems like you had a wonderful day.

[Schrodinger]

That's some really yummy looking fabric there, can't wait to see what you whip up with that haul.