How Was It?

Did you have a great National Quilting Day?  A couple of my friends and I traveled north for about 45 minutes to a quilt show in Yuba City.  Some of us went last year and had a good time, so it seemed worth repeating.  Last year the only disappointment, I think, was the choice of the restaurant we were directed to for lunch, but this year I got a couple recommendations from a blog friend who is a member of the guild, Diane Steele, and a local merchant, and we ended up with our choice of several good options.  In the end, we decided to try the Sutter Buttes Brewery.  I ordered a twist on a club sandwich that included sun dried tomato aoli, chicken, and bacon, and my friends had fish and chips.  It was all good!

Before lunch, though, we went to the show.  And this time, I completely forgot to bring my camera, darn it!  There was a really great quilt made from a Sue Spargo pattern with wool and an amazing number of different embroidery stitches--marvelous!  And Diane's group, the Calendar Girls, had a display of their quilts made from patriotic blocks they'd swapped last year--such a talented group!

Ah, and then there were the vendors.  I had been looking forward to visiting one particular vendor who sells vintage "stuff," like buttons, ephemera, laces, trims, etc.  And yes, she was back again.  Last year she had some really fun themed "grab bags"--you could kind of see what was in them, but when you got them home and opened them up, there were a few surprises that weren't visible through the wrap.  Unfortunately she didn't have those today, but she did have some trims I really needed to have.

Red and white ANYTHING will always find a home with me, but I also thought the tiny green rick rack and green bias tape would make some really nice stems for appliqued flowers.

One of the fun places to visit at most quilt shows is the country store or boutique--whatever they call it, it's more or less the quilters' garage sale area; you know what I'm talking about?  There I found more trim I really needed--how cute and spring-like are the lavender and yellow loop braid trims?

You know what happened that's kind of funny though?  When I got up to the cashiers, they told me they didn't think they had any individual packages of trim.  As it turned out, the WHOLE BOX OF TRIMS were just $3.  Yes, ma'am, I'll take it!

Hubby seemed to think the box itself was worth the deal I got, so maybe I'll give it to him to store stuff in, but I'm keeping the trims.  I'd estimate about half the box is filled with seam and hem tape, and I'm really not sure what I can do with those.  Any ideas?  The seam tape can probably be used in place of silk ribbon for embroidery or dimensional applique, perhaps.  Something like that, anyway.

I'll show you one more of my "steals" from the country store--a bundle of light colored (mostly blue and gray) woven/homespun fabrics.  My friends and I have been planning to make house quilts with homespun, so for $5, I was able to significantly increase my stash of light shades.

 
I have more to show you but it's going to have to wait until another day, because if I yawn any wider, I'm going to crack my jaw.  I think it's nature's way of telling me it's time to head off to bed.

My corned beef is in the crockpot, by the way, bathing in a couple large cans of Guiness overnight--I'm trying my friend Missy's recipe, and it's new to me.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!