Original Sewing and Quilt Expo

On Thursday I had a real treat! I attended the first day of the first Original Sewing and Quilt Expo held in Raleigh, NC.

Since school got out, I have been spending almost every day cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning my house. I am doing all those things that I never do-- windows, baseboards, moving furniture to vacuum. (Oh, does everybody else do that every week? My bad!)
So.... I was really looking forward to taking a day off.

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to put the wrong street in the GPS (S Saunders and S Salisbury, what's the diff???), but fortunately I was only a few streets away. After parking my car and paying attention to where I did that, I made my way into the Raleigh Convention Center. The FFA convention was also being held there, and I was confused for a bit with all those future farmers, but it all turned out fine. The very first thing I did was run into a friend from church. We had our first class together! We learned 7 core sewing skills from Cynthia Guffey. (Stay stitching with the grain--- which changes a lot on any cut piece). She gave so much info that I wanted to buy her DVDs, but they were too much-- not just money, but more detail than I wanted. Anyway, it was a great class.

After that, I just looked at quilts. They were gorgeous, but since I follow rules, I didn't take any pictures.

Then, I found out I am a sucker for demos! I feel compelled to buy the product. First I bought this cool bonding powder.

Check it out, it is AWESOME!







Next I had another class on the Perfect Finish: Binding Basics with Janice Pope. Changed my (quilting) life. I can't wait to try it. I had to buy the ruler to go with it. While doing so, I had a nice chat with Janice.

I also bought this gorgeous fabric for $3  per 1/2 yard piece. (Suggestions on what to do with it?)

 This other ruler. (Again, sucked in by a demo. At least I didn't buy both rulers!)

And finally subscribe to 2 magazines and got this nifty tote and light

I picked up all these papers along the way and learned where lots of quilt shops are:

Though I was sure I was going to win the prize to be announced at 5:15, but 4:30 I was tuckered out and decided to leave. I had a hard time figuring out which exit to use to get back to S SALISBURY street, but after I finally did, I was able to find my car in the parking garage with no problem. (Believe me that is a BIG DEAL!!!)

If you are in the Triangle Area, you should try to go to the Sewing and Quilt Expo on Friday or Saturday. It's great!