Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Cleveland Sewing & Quilt Expo

I had such a great time on Saturday!! 


Cheryl from our guild (North East Crazy Quilters) has been organizing a bus trip to the Cleveland Sewing & Quilt Expo for a few years now.   She puts the word out.....and the bus fills up quickly.  How can you not take advantage of this trip!  $31.00 gets you a bus ride, entrance fee, and 1 free class!!!  Kudo's to Cheryl for doing an excellent job organizing this trip!!!


So, I get up at the butt crack of dawn (is it appropriate to say butt crack??  not sure...but at 5am on a SATURDAY...it's the butt crack of dawn....ops now I have said it 3 times....sorry).


My neighbor down the street, Lesile,, picked me up at 6:25....quick stop at Tim Hortons and we were off to pick up Kate.  We pulled into Lowes parking lot met Margie and within 3 minutes, the bus pulls up.....perfect timing!!


We all hurried and got on the bus, anxious to start our trip.  Leslie sat with Margie and Kate and I sat in the very front seat of the bus.  Off we go!!

Cheryl handed out our envelopes with our wrist band, ticket for class, our class form, and most importantly our ticket for the big give away at the end of show!!  

We all got busy filling out our forms....didn't want to waste anytime once we got there!  Kate and I were trying to figure out which class we wanted to take.  We settled on a tied scarf class, filled out our forms and settled in for the semi-short jaunt to Cleveland.  I say semi-short because...those who know me....know I don't mind driving and 1 - 1 1/2 hours is a short jaunt to me!


Cheryl had a bag filled with these pin cusions!!  Clever idea!!  Then she announce a couple color combinations and who ever had them won a prize!  Bonus to this trip!!  Nice little gift and a couple people got a prize!!  I didn't win...but I didn't mind!

And to top it off....Cheryl had gotten us all the sample Hexie's from Paper Pieces!!  I was so excited to get another set!!!  It will definitely be going into the project I'm working on.



Next thing you know....we are there!!  It was so nice not to be doing the driving!! 


Everyone off the bus!!  Bonus of having first seat....I got off first!!  Next was my seat mate, Kate. Then Cheryl...

 Definite advantage sitting up front!!  Once we got inside, we discovered our class was sold out...so we decided to walk around and decide if we wanted to take a class later....we had all day to fill so  we weren't concerned about it.  It was just nice being there.  Several of the people on the bus took classes...so they fill up fast!

Next....we made sure we got our entries in the barrel!!!   Good Luck everyone!!!

There's Margie putting her entry in.

Here's my buddies enjoying a morning beverage while we were waiting for the show to officially start.


Everyone is on their own for the day.  Kate, Lesile, Margie and I started looking at the vendors.



One of our guild members, Cathy had demo'd these set of  rulers at our last guild meeting.  She did a nice job of showing us the benefit of these rulers!  

Then I saw them again at the Hands All Around Erie guild meeting.  

Now a lady was doing a demo of them .....I looked at Lesile, she says to the lady "I need to buy these", I say "I need to borrow these"....but in the end, Lesile, Margie, and I all bought them  with the book!  When will we use them....we don't know...but we have them when we want to!!
They are great to be used with a layer cake...so I think I will be using them at the retreat I'm going to in May.


Ok....next stop....the booth with the magazine subscriptions.  I like to get my Quilt Maker renewed and then I pick a new one to try.  I decided to get the Quilter's Newsletter! 

So as we are going from booth to booth......I happened to turn my head and what did I see.......

The leg to an Innova quilting frame.  I promptly said to my group...."got to go...you know where to find me!".  I had no idea who was there, I just knew I wanted to stop and say Hi to my fellow "Innovaians".  A new word I just made up...but I think it fits!! 

This is Julie.  I love when I meet someone and instantly make a connection!!  I told her I already owned an Innova and told her "I love my Innova".  She asked if she could record me saying that...and we had fun trying to get me to say it again.  Why is it when someone puts a camera on you....you get all tongue tied.  Not sure if she'll use it or not.....I'm afraid to see what I looked like...LOL  

Julie and Jeff have done several Youtube video's on the operations of the Innova and Longarm!  Their website is:  www.accomplishquilting.com. They are located in Michigan and cover other states, Ohio being one of them. Check them out!

After chatting a while with them, I was invited to stay and learn more about the Innova's and I got to help with those who stopped by.  What a great time I had.  Julie, Jeff, and Tori were such nice people and I can't say how much I appreciated them letting me hang out.  I met a few other Innova owners....it's always like meeting old friends!!


What a great day!  One of the ladies on the bus won a prize at the end...she won an iron!  We all piled on the bus after a great day of classes and shopping!  Quick stop at a McDonalds on our way home and before we knew it, we were pulling back into Lowes parking lot.  I had such a great talking with Kate.  She is very creative, funny, encouraging and knowledgeable!  The trip definitely seemed quick because of our great conversation!


Ok....as I said in my last post....I'm behind on things....I have caught up on my blog....I have finished one customer quilt and loaded another one tonight.  I still have that one and another to get done by Sunday to get all caught up.....but....I have let the hexie's slip...I am going to tackle them next!!!


Happy Sewing!


Jill

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