Pleasanton Craft Show

Today I met up with my friend Tekoa at the Pleasanton Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival being held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA. We got there the first day about one hour after opening and it was packed! I was glad to see this show's resurrection since the COVID pandemic really curtailed the extent of many of these events; happily they are surging back.

My goal for the show was to buy other green fabrics that would work for the face of Frank per my previous post dated 9/24/25. I also was determined not to buy any more kits. Kits are a weakness of mine. I was only going to add fabrics to my stash that really spoke to me. When I get home from a show like this, my habit is to I challenge myself to remember everything I bought without peeking. I silently chastise my self (mildly) that if I cannot remember an item I really did not want it and it was an impulse purchase. I am not too hard core about this philosophy, because I also maintain that indulging a few of our impulses is what keeps us happy. Nevertheless I try to recall what I bought; picturing where I bought it helps. I look at the map of the vendors and try to match that with my receipts. Here is my spreadsheet to jog my memory. Seeing the overview I categorize items by type of purchase.

Fabric type purchases
I did indeed meet my first primary goal and get more green fabrics for the face of Frank. I added to those, a yard of red and white stripe. I find I do use this graphic stripe as a basic, or for binding especially around Christmas time. The magenta and teal fabrics with white line drawings I will admit was an impulse buy. They called to me. I got one yard each. But to my credit, I did not buy them in the other colorways of royal blue, aqua, peach, purple, black, orange, or red. On the selvage, I noted that they are Patt 1319 Cameo by Allison Glass for Andover Fabrics ©2024. If I do get desperate, I may be able to get the other colors. I show a few of the colors I did not buy.

Panel type purchases
Even though I have a drawer crammed full of fabric book panels to make up, these two seasonal panels appealed to me. The colors are so soft and calming. My grandkids are beyond cloth books but I can make these pages into a quilt, graphic novel style, by separating "pages" with sashing as in my 11/20/2014 Mitten Graphic Novel post. I can also make them into placemats as I did in my 12/17/2018 Twelve Dogs of Christmas post or my 12/26/2018 Twelve Cats of Christmas post.

The soft colors of this Santa panel also seemed to whisper to me to buy it. I think the gentle bunnies in the lower portion did the urging. I also include a photo from the web showing the entire panel. This will inspire, test, and develop my FMQ skills

Not all the panels I caved over were soft and subtle in coloration. My tastes can be very eclectic. I saw this orange pumpkin and starting searching the booth for the fabric. Its siren call to me was so loud, I was about to ask the vendor if I could just buy the pillow, all made up. The vendor had five related pillows made up. Then my friend Tekoa found the panel with the funky characters on it to sew and stuff. I snatched it up.

Tool and pattern purchases
In making up my 9/21/2025 Bees and Sunflowers Banner, I embroidered the antennae on the bees and renewed my interest in stitchery, hence my interest in this redwork pattern. For my own quilting, I liked the pattern with sheep each having a different detailed mini-block in its body. At another booth I found a charm to go with the yes, yet-to-be made, quilt.

Each of the redwork ornaments are about 3" tall. An enlarged view of a bird ornament shows it to be interesting enough yet uncomplicated enough to perhaps encourage a young sewist to be successful. I thought it might provide small enough projects to perhaps interest my granddaughter. That is why I bought an embroidery hoop and scissors to go with it. A small perk is that the investment in floss only needs to be one color.

Here is a full size image of the Down the Lane pattern. Once I got it home I noticed it is by Lamb Farm Designs. This is the same designer of the Make it Merry wreath I am thoroughly enjoying assembling on a monthly basis. These are the posts of my progress on that pattern: 6/14/2025 Make It Merry Month One, 6/21/2025 Make It Merry Month Two, 8/16/2025 Make It Merry Month Three. This quilt may be a noble goal for an Easter quilt. Easter can be much more than bunnies and chicks.

I had a fun outing with my friend. I did not come home with any more kits, only with lots of inspiration and enthusiasm for some fun future projects. Lately I have been completing smaller projects and found the satisfaction is very joy-inducing indeed. Not all endeavors need to accommodate a king size bed! Buying, in moderation, is also a mood booster in its own right. It was a great day.