Annual road trip to the Quiltfest of NJ

Just over a week ago, three of us "Material Girls/DKnJ" made our annual road trip (see 2007 and 2008) to the Quiltfest of NJ, in Somerset, NJ. This year, the weather was sunny all day and we didn't have to drive through rain or snow.

On the drive down, we wondered how well attended this year's show would be on a Friday, considering the current state of the economy. We arrived a little later than usual and found that the main parking lot was full, a very good sign, even if we did have to walk a bit further than usual. Once inside the Garden State Exhibit Center, we discovered it wasn't jam-packed crowded, but there were plenty of quilting enthusiasts shopping and viewing the exhibits.

As is our custom, we all started out in the same direction, but quickly split up to visit the vendors at our own pace, with a plan to meet for lunch. It took me a little bit of time to get into a shopping mode - I still don't really need anything new, and with Rich in between jobs I'm trying to be careful about buying too much stash just for the sake of stash.

I managed to find a few things for the Westie fabric collection I couldn't pass up.

From The Quilted Cat, these are one yard pieces:
From Westie Fabric Collection
selvage info:
left: Santa Claws & Paws by Deb Strain for moda C modafabrics.com Pattern #.19077;
right: Robert Kaufman Dogs Spotted Everywhere Screen Print D# 6476 www.robertkaufman.com


From WebFabrics, these are two white on white textures, hopefully for making Westies in quilts.

selvage info:
Dimples by Gail Kessler for Andover Fabrics C Patt 1867 www.andoverfabrics.com

And this quilt pattern from Critter Pattern Works:

Small Dogs quilt designs for traditional machine appliqué (not digitized for machine embroidery); I only plan to make the Westie and maybe the Schnauzer someday.

I've updated my list of Westie Quilt Pattern Links to include the pattern above, plus a few others.

One of the special exhibits at this year's Quiltfest was Linda Hibbert: One Woman Show and one section of the display caught my eye because of her AKC dog breed quilts - she had designed patterns for all the breeds and made quilts according to the group they belonged to. I took this (poor) photo of the Westie block with the camera on my phone:

A better image of the Terrier and six other group quilts (as well as individual breed designs) can be found at SilverLiningsOriginals.com Canine Corner page (scroll down the page). And yes, I've ordered the e-pattern for this head study design. I'm seeing it on a pillow to go with the new slipcovers . . .

Right across from the Terrier group quilt was the booth for Quilter's Obsession and right away the sample quilt for this Bahama Breeze pattern called to me:
Bought at the NJ Quiltfest

The batik fabrics are beautiful and fit perfectly into the color palette I used for the master bed and bath last summer. Remember these valances? And my original plan for the Sew Fun quilt? I never did get started on that quilt . . .

I didn't buy this right away, for several reasons. First, I already had that Sew Fun quilt planned, but never started; second, this pattern is for a throw quilt and I need a queen size; third, the pattern requires paper piecing, which I've never tried.

So I went to lunch to think about and talk it over with the other girls . . . and after lunch I decided to buy the kit. I still wasn't sure I'd try to increase the size to a queen. But after Rich saw the fabric and liked the pattern, we decided I'd buy a second fabric bundle so that I could make a queen size quilt. Wish me luck! I'm tentatively putting this on the project list to get started in April.

I picked up just a few other items at the Quiltfest -

Also from Quilter's Obsession, these fat quarter bundles, just because I like the colors. These may end up as a baby gift sometime in the next year:
Bought at the NJ Quiltfest

And because I want to use the full potential of my embroidery machine for quilting, I bought this Quilter's Paradise machine embroidery collection from Anita Goodesign from Above & Beyond Creative Sewing (one of the show's sponsors):
Bought at the NJ Quiltfest

And last, these pins from Meadow Gems, just because I like them:
Bought at the NJ Quiltfest

So I didn't do too bad, really. Almost everything I bought was with the intention of using it for a current or soon to be started project.

I just need to get started on a few of them.

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