QUILTCON - Day four

Last day of QUILTCON.    As much fun as it is to be at these quilt shows, you do get to the point where you want it to be over!  And the last day is tear down day which is always so exciting - NOT!

The traffic was a lot slower than the previous days, but that was to be expected.  Met more people and a lot of people stopped by to say good-bye. Many people come to QUILTCON for the entire four days of the show.  Anne (Linda's niece) stopped by near the end of the day and we had a chat.  Oh, that Linda is in big trouble when I get back!

I spent a good part of the time handing out our Chip Pack Challenge.  I said my spiel so many times - well I'm sure I said it in my sleep a lot!  Our challenge is to take FIVE  5-inch squares. Add some Northcott ColorWorks neutrals and make a modern quilt that is 30 inches square.

Chip Pack Challenges - some samples

We had some samples made to show people how NON-THREATENING this challenge really is.  I also made one - the one that got bound on the way down, but I never took a picture of it.  It's now packed and on the way home. I'll post a picture later this week when it arrives at the warehouse.

It really is a lot of fun.  We had MANY of the purple five-inch squares to give away - still have a few left. So let me know if you want to participate - the deadline is May 1 to send a photo.   You won't be competing with the ones above - they were just for show.  But if you are new to modern quilting, it's a great exercise to give it a whirl. My biggest problem was choosing a design - so many of them came into my head. I just picked one and then it evolved as I was sewing it together.

There were a few things that I wanted to buy and by the time I got back to the booths - oopsy - all sold out. Which is probably a good thing since I don't really need anything.  Credit card stayed in the wallet and just used US dollars from my US account so it didn't hurt too badly,

Are you aware of who Violet Craft is? She has started designing this amazing series of animals.  They are paper pieced.

Giraffe by Violet Craft

I have loved her patterns since I first became aware of them.  Now I'm committed to making the lion for a gift - I think I mentioned that the other day.  Well I wanted to buy the giraffe pattern and I went to the Michael Miller booth - oh yes - I had no shame in going to anyone's booth and asking for samples, getting information or whatever. Shoot - they were sold out, but there was another booth that was selling the patterns - a quilt shop.  I went over and they said the last giraffe they had was in the hands of a customer who was currently deciding whether to buy it or not.  ACK!!!   Don't let her take it and she put it back and one of the girls in the booth - said, "GRAB IT!"  And I did. So I was able to get this one and there is the elephant which will be out in a few weeks.

The patterns were all for sale on her website yesterday and hopefully, you saw my note on Facebook about that.  They are downloadable .pdfs.  I downloaded the lion several months ago and it worked out just fine.

Anyway - it was another fun day - I did manage to snag a few goodies, but nothing earth shattering.

Then tear down.  There were five of us and we had everything down and packed in the crate in 2 1/2 hours.  We were hoping for two, but that's just the way it worked out.  It's never a fun job, but you just have to make the best of it.

We went out for a casual dinner last night which was just fine by me.  Not a prolonged affair - hey I love my co-workers, but when you've been with them all day - I kind of like my personal space.

Vanessa (The Crafty Gemini) and me!

Vanessa came to dinner with us as she was doing some demos for us this weekend. If you don't know who she is - check out her website.  She has quite the following.

Then it was back to the hotel room where I couldn't find my credit card.  I had not used it so I was a bit ticked.  I emptied my little pouch (you can see it in the picture above and I LOVE this pouch). - No credit card.  Then I felt the pouch and I could feel it, but couldn't see it.  It had slipped inside - phew!

Even though I was tired, I didn't sleep well.  There was a TV in the next room that went late in the night and I think I was just too tired to settle down.  Couldn't even get interested in my book which is unusual.

I took a ton of pictures yesterday morning so you are going to see numerous pictures of what I saw, but I need to edit them and will do that when I get home.

Today just have to pack up the suitcase, have breakfast and then off to the airport. We don't get in until quite late tonight - well - just after dinner - it's not that late and then back to work tomorrow. How exciting!  But now I have another project that needs to be done for another magazine and there is going to be no rest for me!

On that note - I'm out of here.

Have a super day!

Ciao!