Creative Stitches 2010

 Yesterday was Creative Stitches here in Calgary. For those of you who don’t know, it is mostly a quilting and scrap booking show. You can look at other people’s work, talk to shops and other crafters, but best off all, you can SHOP. Often you find new and exciting things, or that special piece of fabric that you were hunting for. Every year there are new projects and inspirations waiting in every booth.
   The competition quilts were beautiful and inspiring. My preference is for the pieced ones, rather than the heavily machine embroidered ones, but they were all inspiring. My friend Deb D. won a prize for her quilt. Congratulations Deb.
   

Secret Workshop's Booth



 I found some great books by Pam Clarke called Designs with Lines. I picked up three from the series about alternate ways to freehand traditional quilt blocks. I also picked up a stitch in the ditch ruler. These I found at the shop of my friend Barb, The Secret Workshop which is based out of BC. It is an internet store that caries a wide variety of tools and gadgets for longarm quilters. If you aren’t a long arm quilter, don’t skip over her site, because she has plenty of good things for quilting on the domestic machine. She taught a great class in moving beyond the basic stipple. Thanks Barb, you’ve inspired me. http://secretworkshop.com/home.php



Horst of To Be Quilting



It was good to see my friends Horst and Julie of To Be Quilting. They are always fun to chat with and make a great mid-arm machine. And check it out, they are a CANADIAN company. A mid-arm machine made in Canada, it almost makes me with I was still looking. http://www.tobequilting.com/

 

Matt and Gage

 

I spent some time chatting to Matt Sparrow, Man Quilter, and his son Gage. They were manning the APQS booth, a booth after my own heart. My longarm is an APQS and I couldn’t be happier with it. If you ever wondered what these machines were all about, you should ask Matt and Gage, both of who can pretty much tell you everything about these great machines. They have a number of sizes and fabulous customer service. I love that their machines are designed to be maintained by the quilter. You should see Gage running the Lenny. http://manquilter.com/





Fabric. Mmm. I saw some fabulous fabrics. I think I’m in my batik phase. I found some lovely batik fat quarters and some Christmas and Halloween ones too. I’ll be giving away the seasonal ones soon right here on this very blog. Check back for more details.



 



Quilter's Haven's Booth



Just because I don’t already have enough to do, I signed myself up for a block of the month from the Quilter’s Haven of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Similar to a Sun Bonnet Sue, these blocks have appliqued ladies in old style skirts. They have a great selection of fabrics and some cute patterns I’ve never seen before. They have a pattern for a licorice allsorts quilt that was too cute to be believed.. http://www.quiltershaveninc.ca/

   



Nice Nancy(left) and Patricia Trouble
clowning around in
 the Wonderfil Booth.



Wonderfil Specialty Threads. How could I forget them? For piecing my quilts I use wonderfil threads exclusively. Their Konfetti is fabulous, double gassed and almost lint free. Both my domestic machine and my longarm love it. Check out their website (http://www.wonderfil.net/) or my website if you want to learn more about these great threads. www.pinefreckleforest.com.



When talking of shows like this, its easy to forget people, and I would be sadly remiss if I neglected to mention my chaufeur for the day. Special thanks go to Kim of Chatterbox Quilts. She’s a good friend and fine quilter and we car pooled to the show. I’m curious to see how her new Accu-cutter works.

Have you been to a show lately? What was your favorite part? Let us know.

Cath