ABQ Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival

As I mentioned in a previous post, from May 22-24, Albuquerque was blessed by a Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival. Even the  times I've gone to really big, national shows, I've come away with negligible purchases, so I'd like to encourage people to attend this show if it's within driving difference.  Their next show will be in Castle Rock, CO July 10-11, 2014, and the vendors do vary with the event. (One of my friends lives near their Puyallup show, and I've wanted to attend for a long time.)

Here are some photos of what followed me home:

Sweet Teen was shocked because she knows I love choosing fabrics for quilts, but I loved these and thought they would make a very cheery prayer quilt without my having to dig around in my stash.  (Karen does not have an online store; she just enjoys gathering fabrics and marketing at shows--and getting to travel to them.)

These batiks are from Rabbit Hole Quilt Shop from Chico, CA.  I dyed one almost like the pink a few years ago when I was still dyeing fabrics every few months.  I do not know if I'll manage to find any time to dye this summer.

These are from Desert Stitchin; Chris and John are from Goodyear, AZ and vend at shows in the Southwest. I purchased these for a "watery" baby quilt for one of my colleagues. The Bali charm pack at the bottom is the door prize I won from their shop at the show.  That has never happened to me before!  Well, at least not since I won my Charlotte doll at Mrs. Beatty's gift shop on December 18--somewhere around 60 years ago.  I guess this could mean that if I live another 60 years, I might win again? I was pretty amazed when my name was called.

I was near the Busy Bee booth when my name was called.  One of the owners exclaimed, "Dora Scheer?  And I don't hear any clapping or cheering?  We'll cheer for you!"

These are for a three year old girl who loves pink and purple and needs a quilt because she's soon going to be a big sister, so I've been pulling pink and purple batiks from my stash. Actually, I picked these up at the shop, not at the show.  The show gave the owners a chance to discover that a lot of people in our area didn't yet realize their shop was nearby.  It's a great little shop with the best service I've experienced in my 40+ years of quilt shops.  They have many ongoing block of the month quilts from some of the best designers.  I most often pop into their shop for a few fat quarters or for yardage to make a special prayer quilt.  The owners and their employees are unfailingly helpful and friendly.

As much as I love the fabrics, these are my favorite purchases from the show.  The stylus is also a set of screw drivers perfect for my sewing machines, and the other is a seam ripper (a belated Mother's Day gift from Sweet Teen).  Sweet Teen had a lovely conversation about engineering with the engineer who was acting as cashier.  Lumenaris also sells 100% wool felt.

Hopefully, this show will return to Albuquerque next year.  It would be lovely if they could piggyback onto the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta.

Happy quiltmaking...and knitting....