Time to regroup

We were home from Minnesota for one day - just long enough to unpack, repack and regroup.  Mom and I left for Galena Friday morning.  We stopped in Dubuque first - of course there was a quilt shop that we needed to visit!  Then we walked down the street to a church that Mom wanted me to see the beautiful stained glass windows.  The only one that I took pictures of is the one that was restored in Mom's cousin's name...

All of the windows were amazing - glad that I got to see them.  Then we were on to Galena to get checked in to our hotel and to get set up for the show - which was held in the Middle School since there was so much water damage in the hotel downtown. Here are some pictures of my booth.

 Originally there were 9 or 10 vendors, but since they had to re-schedule the show, there ended up only being 5 of us.  There weren't a lot of quilts either - and I have no idea why I didn't take pictures of what was there!  Of course, I had to do a little shopping myself.  Vicki from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs was there.  I have always wanted to visit their shop in Pearl City, IL, but haven't had the chance yet.  I do always make sure to visit their booth at the Des Moines show, and when festival used to be in Chicago - they always have great stuff! Remember when I said that I try not to buy many patterns - as I already have a ton and also design my own?  Yeah...I just seem to keep buying patterns!  I tried to steal this quilt from Vicki as soon as I saw it on Friday.  Unfortunately she kept a close eye on it, so the best I could do was buy the pattern and dream about the day that I might make it for myself.  I should have taken a picture of that too!  It was awesome in person - their whole booth was just amazing.

Vicki also had some very nice wool bundles, and of course I had to have a couple of those!

 If you check Yellow Creeks website you can see that they have made some amazing hexagon "quilts" that they have put in frames.  I had my hand on the kit and the Paper Pieces about a zillion times, but kept talking myself out of it.  I keep saying that I am going to make a hexagon quilt, but hadn't even made one single hexagon in my life!  I decided that I should make a few before I committed to a kit (like I need fabric!) and a huge package of hexagon papers.  Well, my neighboring vendor, Carolyn, informed me that they were giving away little packs of Paper Pieces - with fabric- at the door!  She ran over and got me one. 

And for those of you who thought I would never make them - guess what...I DID!  I even have my little hexie flower all sewn together!  So proud of myself!  Then, I was yammering on about them to a friend, and look what I got in the mail from her...

 Three different sizes to try!!!  She was afraid they weren't small enough for me (isn't she just funny!) - but I think they will do.  I haven't tried them yet - but I really want to try the 3/8".  Maybe today or tomorrow?  We will see how that goes!

I mentioned Carolyn - my vendor neighbor - she has a shop in Postville, IA called Forest Mills Quilt Shop.  They had a ton of neat samples and lots of kits and charm packs.  As we were setting up on Friday - I was nosing around in her stuff and look what I found!!!!!

 

I was so excited!  I have been waiting - not very patiently for Lisa's new fabric line to hit shops.  They only had one charm pack of these, and they are MINE!  I grabbed them and would not give them back and smacked poor Carolyn's hand when she tried to touch them.  I then took them to the hotel and petted them all night!  They are nice small prints and will work well in jewelry.

Unfortunately the quilt show did not have as many visitors as I had hoped - but I did ok, and it was great to meet everyone.  I feel bad for all of the people who worked so hard getting ready for this show, then had to reschedule and change the location.  I think if it would have been on Main Street - as originally planned - that there would have been a lot more people. Hopefully they will have another show next year and will not have so many hurdles!

We drove home Sunday night after the show.  I was soooo tired by the time I got Mom home, then drove myself home.  Being in Minnesota then doing the show meant I had to leave my house a lot!  Those of you who know me, know that I am a total hermit and generally only leave home once a week when I have to buy groceries or starve!  Fortunately I was able to stay home until Thursday, when I had to leave and go to the dentist, and to the grocery store - as the cupboards were very bare.  It took me a couple of days to unpack everything and catch up.  This is what was going on when I was trying to unpack my quilts from the show...

They are sooo helpful!
Have a great day, and a great holiday weekend!