MQX New England Adventures ~ Part 3 ~ The Happy Ending

For those of you who have been following 

My MQX New England Adventures

Here is the real purpose of my visits there this year.

 I played with most of the quilting machines

... and ...

drumroll, please! 

.
.
.

I picked out my dream quilting machine!

HQ Amara 20"

The vendor at the show is

my favorite Local Quilt Shop,

Bits n Pieces in Pelham, NH

Set-up, lessons and extra goodies included

from people that I know and have been doing business with for years.

A quilters dream come true.

My new baby will arrive shortly after Easter.

I have my first quilt top and back

(from several years ago)

all ready to load.

I will be moving back to my dining room sewing corner
and my new quilting machine will be moving into my sewing room.

The kitties are probably going to think it is the new comfy cat bed.

Big Happenings in My Little Scrapatch ... :-) 

MQX New England ~ Part 2 ~ In My Goody Bag

Isn't this fabric beautiful? 

It is ... 

Curio by Betsy Olmsted for Windham Fabrics

Free Pillow Pattern from Windham Fabrics

Free Curiosities Quilt Pattern from Windham

Free Geode FPP Pattern from Windham Fabrics

Here is a close up.

The watercolors and details are wonderful. 

Saturday was a much better day for us to visit
see the quilts,
shop the show specials,



and play with all the long arm quilting machines.
@

MQX New England

A parking space in the garage right by the main door.

Plenty of places sit and sip an iced coffee.

Not much of a crowd.

We got to see all the beautiful quilts we missed on Thursday.

The quilts were amazing!

I was very selective finding and purchasing my take home goodies.

Between Thursday and Saturday,

other than  the Curio fabrics,

some new needles for my Janome, 

I only brought home  ...

this cute batik and wool pincushion kit. 

I loved the look of the dimensional flowers in the sample. 

I will have to hide this one from the kitties

who think all my pincushions are cat toys.

Maybe I will have to buy some real curio jars

and put my pincushions in them.

Maybe best buy the unbreakable kind ... ;) 

It's All About The Fabric

Yesterday I went to the

MQX New England Quilt Show

It is always one of my favorites.

I come away feeling awed by the creativity,

inspired by the creativity,

and humbled by the creativity.

I see many quilts beyond my limited capabilities as a quilter.

I am not discouraged by this.

I feel the strength of my own creative abilities 

and look forward to a new personal challenge.

A new one came very quickly ... read on :) 

Of course, there was the always spontaneous hand selected bag of goodies.

I done good ... it was a small bag ...

two Frixion Pens for marking and erasing,

one book,

one spool of Bottom Line Thread, 

that has become my thread of choice for EPP,

(yes, I know it is polyester ... I am also using glue sticks ... works of me)

This was my only planned purchase ...

... and two yards of fabric

from a favorite vendor where the cutting line forms 

behind the man with the cardboard sign on his back.

These are good people.

Yesterday though I came away with a fabric fumble.

Katniss was the first to sniff out something was amiss.

There are two yards of Kaffe Fassett Paperweight  folded together there ...

umm ... 

... Surprise!

This is the fabric I thought I bought.

I handed the man two bolts of paperweight, one yellow and one algae green
and he stacked and cut and folded and handed them to me to tuck in my bag.
I said thank you and we paid and left the show as son #1 was waiting for us at home.

Hmmmm ... now at first I was bummed 

and ready to stuff the brown batik away in the 

bottom shelf cube of batiks in my stash which is, at the moment, fabric oblivion.

Then I had a good night's quilty sleep 

and woke up with the thought that 

I have been given a new personal quilty challenge!

I am calling this the Fabric Switch Challenge.

I have as yet no idea what I am going to make.

It will be fun!

Which brings me to the book.

One of the exhibits I was most looking forward to was 

Victoria Findlay Woolfe Quilts

I always take photos of the quilt info, read this and

 of course, I went to say "Hi!" ...

So, of course,  coming away with a book was in my case inevitable.

I love books and have been planning to purchase this one for sometime.

"15 minutes of play" could be my mantra.

... or maybe ...

"I am one with the fabric and the fabric is one with me."

A signed copy is a treasure.

I love Victoria Findlay Woolf's quilts, designs and ...

fabric!

This is what I have had in my stash a while

and I am waiting for them to call me to project.

This orange floral is the most glorious fabric I have ever met.

In the upper right corner you will spy the paw.

It is sunny and nice and the windows on the south side are open and

Katniss is saying, "Meowwwt!"

Katniss only goes out on a leash so she is following her humans around and staring.

Time to get some fresh air ...

but first ... time to link up with the fabulous fabric

@

Sunday Stash

because it is all about the fabric ... :)

My Favorite Quilt at MQX New England

This is a quilt.

 

Great Blue Herons

Quilt made by Joanne Baeth

 

I was fortunate enough to see this quilt at the MQX New England

I did not make this quilt.

I do not even aspire to making a poor facsimile of this quilt.

I love this quilt.

 

If the MQX show comes near you, you may see this quilt ... and sew many other amazing quilts that are not to be missed.

 This quilt was made by

Joanne Baeth

Click on this link to see more of her work.

 

Here are some more pictures of this quilt ...

My photos do not do this quilt any justice.

 

I could look at it for hours and still find something new to see.

 

many hours

 

crosshatching on the corner

 

border detail

 

every bird is different

 

This bird is looking back at the viewer and the eye seems to follow.

Thanks, Joanne, for sharing your work.

 

:-)