Houston International Quilt Festival - Andi

First of all, gentle readers, let me preface this post with the following... I was foolish to think I would be able to pop in to see the show after work on a Friday. After being warned by my hubz and boss that this was an impossible feat, I tried it anyway... to NO avail. I only got a one day ticket, I planned on going in, picking up jelly rolls and getting out. I got my ticket went in and was overwhelmed by the shear enormity of the whole event.

I decided to put my blinders on and go directly to the dealer room. I rushed by the gallery of quilts into a cacophony of noise, fabric and people. It was awesome! I am definitely going back next year and taking more money. Some of the highlights (in my whole 2 hours there) are:

This is the R&S Design pattern system. You buy the boards with the patterns in them and there is a stylus/guide that you put into the grooves and you follow the grooves. I have never attempted quilting because I think know I will be a crap quilter. I do not have the patience to piece them either, but the quilting bit sounds fun and if I ever get to the point where I can afford this set up I will certainly try it!

This system works with any quilting set up. You just need to be able to mount the design boards on a flat surface. They let me try it out and it was so easy!

 This system takes the fear out of quilting.

I made a new friend also, I have to send a glamgeek shout out to Yvonne Barineau at Add Vintage. They have some AMAHZING vintage fabrics. My original reason to go to the show; I was looking for jelly rolls and nothing else. But I HAD to stop when I saw this!

 And this!

 And these!

The vintage trim totally derailed my search for jelly rolls. Namely because I did not want to spend more than my roll budget. Secondly because they were closing. 

IT wasn't a total loss, as I saw a few ladies wearing tiny hats and I passed out business cards. Now I just need to get some product in the etsy store. 

Lessons learned:

1. Buy a weekend pass.

2. Attend the event for the whole weekend.

3. Take my time.
4. Bring a friend. I can't lie, I felt a little lonely when I saw something cool and I had no one to say , "hey look at this" to.

Thanks for reading!

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