HMQS wrap up

Hi,

I know that HMQS (Home Machine Quilting Show) was over a week ago. Life is busy life!

Again, I took my best friend Maggie with me. It's so wonderful to spend time with her. The only things that she knows about quilting, is what I share with her during our trip to the show, or when we spend time together. But she's never impatient as I go off on exclamations of ecstasy at different quilts or patterns or techniques that we see.

Maggie and I have another friend, Katie, who we knew at the same time. All three of us were neighbors in the same apartment building and church congregation during our college years. We've known each other at least 14 years! And we each got married to our husbands during the same summer!

Katie ended up attending the quilt show the same day that we did, and we found her! It was a lot of fun to spend time with my girlfriends, who share the love of hobbies, faith, and family (and similar tastes in art.) 

Katie only has her domestic machine to piece and quilt with, like me. While we browsed the quilts and vendors, I shared my thoughts on machines that I've test-driven, and which ones that I'd like to use/purchase, if I could. One of the fun things this year, that I hope they continue, is the Quilter's Playland or Playground. Several new Bernina long arms, new Bernina sit-downs, and several other brands on different long-arm table sets, were all set up in one area. They had sample quilt sandwiches ready for use. Katie and I got excited and had to sit down and play at various machines. We even convinced Maggie to try a Bernina sit-down. We had a hard-time leaving! Now I know what my children feel like, when I tell them it's time to go home from the playground. ;-)

This is one of my favorites from the Patriotic Challenge/Quilts of Valor section.

This is a gorgeous hand-embroidered peacock quilt. Then the maker heavily quilted the backgrounds to echo and enhance the peacocks and peacock theme.

They had a Judy Niemeyer section, and these are two of my favorites. I'm such a huge fan of paper-piecing, stars, and flowers, and Judy's designs are spectacular. I've definitely got to try one someday.  I love the purple Hosta!

This one, I'm not sure who designed it, but I fell in love. Log cabins, with circles of flying geese, inserted New York Beauty-style inside the log cabins set in Diamond patterns. Just amazing. And the variety of fabrics that are in the quilt are amazing.

This year also had a special exhibit and guest: Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Company. We loved her booth, but missed her there and at the Corton Shop's booth. But just as we were heading toward Jenny's exhibit's aisle, she and her hubby suddenly appeared! I cried out, and asked if we could meet her and get a picture. She was so kind to oblige, and give us big hugs, and her hubby was kind to snap pictures of us and crack jokes.

And we were both star struck! I introduced Katie, but forgot to introduce myself. This year, I was prepared to grab a celebrity and get a picture! Apparently, we weren't the only ones that Jenny was kind to, because when I got home and posted pictures to Facebook, several other quilty ladies posted their pictures with Jenny, too, from HMQS.

And yes, it was super-fun to see on display:  the quilts that Jenny made during her video tutorials.

 Maggie even won a FQ bundle of silly girlfriend-prints from H&W Fabrics, which she passed on to me, to make something fun. Maybe I will make us matching FQ tote bags. :-)

Katie and I both bought Labyrinth patterns by Debby Maddie at H&W Fabrics, and I bought a Stonehenge eagle panel and a couple of teal-aqua half-yards. Hey, it was the day before Mother's Day!

Maggie and I got caught in a torrential Spring hail-and-rain thunderstorm on the freeway on the way home. Wow, was that a lot of wind and water!

It was a great day with my best friends and my favorite hobby. My goal is to one day submit a quilt to the show myself, and not just be an attendee.