Instead of going to Quilt Club all of the members were transported to the Houston Quilt Market…vicariously through Natasha (our teacher) and her sister Miriam!! We had a blast!
I know, I know, we didn’t REALLY go to Houston but it was next best thing! Both Natasha and Miriam went as buyers for the Cloth Castle..Oh man..the stories they told!! The mad dash for the free stuff..(being a season shopper (I grew up on $1.49 Day) I was right in there pushing and shoving with the best of them!) Meeting all the celebrity quilters, the FREE stuff, seeing all the demos on all the new gismos and gadgets and fabric!! The classes they attended…they made such neat stuff…! They also showed the prizes they WON!! …like the Slice…an appliquérs dream come true!
Yes, Houston was FUN!! No doubt about it…
Here’s Miriam..she attended a class in Japanese stitching called Sashiko…and is now addicted..
Isn’t it lovely and her stitches are perfect!
Some of her favourite FREE autographed books…
She also showed us how to make extra special button pins for purses or pins..
This is the one that she whipped up in less than a minute…the secret is a little piece of felt in between each button to prevent the buttons from rocking. SEW easy!! (Excuse the rather large thigh…yeah, I know..I’ve got to lay off the left over Halloween candy…☺)
The new rulers called X-Blocks…that magically turn strips into…
…quick and easy blocks…like this!!
This was MY favourite class that Miriam attended…See the cute stuffed puppy…
Well it’s really a little blankie for a baby… You cut the dog in half and take out the middle stuffing and sandwich him on each corner in between two layers of minky fabric.
It becomes a toy and a blanket in one! Too cute!!
Natasha’s BIG win was a new toy called a Slice!
It’s a computerized fabric/paper cuter. It has a card that you pop in and there are about 80 different characters to cut out…you just push some buttons and presto it spits out a flower or a leaf or a letter…how cool is that!!
Look at what Natasha created in just a few hours using the Slice…
Another creation…using the snowflake cutter…
…the tumbler die…
…flower die…Oh and did I mention that you also push the buttons for different sizes…I think Natasha said the appliqué go up to 4” in size.
Natasha makes up the runner first…and then appliqués…so that the appliqué machine stitching becomes the quilting!! Now isn’t that clever!
See the machine quilted flowers…
Whew…SEW did you enjoy the trip to Houston as much as WE did? ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺
Tomorrow I will show you what the rest of Club created! Stay tuned…
Have a wonderful Wednesday and Happy Quilting!!
PS…Natasha has her own blog…you might just want to see more of her projects…and travels!! Check it out HERE!
What a fun day and so many wonderful pieces and gadgets. I like being able to see things, being used.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many new things out there, hard to know what is best.
Debbie
Wow! How cool was that?!! Now I feel like I've been to Houston! How fun! I have been reading up on the slice! Bari j had a post on her blog! It'sounds really great! Thanks for the trip!
ReplyDeleteWOW-We did have fun didn't we! Houston doesn't seem that far away now. Yes, my quilting budget has gone out the window again this month.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great time in Houston!! Love that little Slice cutter and the pillow she made from it. I saw the Slice last week at our local Hobby Lobby. I may have to check that out a little closer.
ReplyDeleteps. The Go is out of the box and has had a test run!
Thanks for sharing all the pics! Looks way fun!
ReplyDeleteThat was a great show and tell Paulette..
ReplyDeleteI'm very interest in the slice cutter, can you tell me anymore about it please...I could do a google on it..Thanks Julia ♥
Thanks for the free trip, Natasha is a very creative lady.
ReplyDeleteI DID enjoy that little trip! And that Slice looks awesome! What a lucky win!
ReplyDeleteThanks for including us when you went on your free trip. One day I'd love to go to Houston for real. Going to have to win the lottery first though so I can hire a private jet to bring back all the "stuff" I'd buy there.
ReplyDelete