Pleasanton Craft Fair

On Friday, September 25th I met up with my friend Tekoa to take in the Pleasanton Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. We arrived shortly before noon and spent about three hours there, breaking midway for lunch at the outdoor picnic tables. Tekoa and I prioritized visiting with each other over visiting the vendors. Nevertheless, we walked by every booth two or more times, entering and lingering in some for longer. The yellow colored booths on the map are where I bought something.

Here is list of my purchases, not necessarily in the order I bought them and not necessarily grouped by where I bought them. I had rough guidelines for this outing. I forbade myself from buying yet another kit to join those accumulating in my closet at home, waiting patiently to be chosen for my next project. I also wanted to minimize my purchase of novelty prints and restrict myself to basics and blender fabrics.

The first item that caught my eye at the show was this green/white pinstripe. It fit the criterion of being basic and is always useful for bindings. The one yard green/white pinstripe is from Sew 2 Cute (booths113-114). Later in our looping around, I added the  half-yard black/white wiggly stripes from Workman Farms (booths 201-204).

The time of year put me in the Halloween mood. I spied this witch hat pattern and thought it might be fun to make hats for the grandkids. The Spellbound Hat  inspired me to look at the Halloween fabrics. Yes, they are novelty prints; but if I use them up right away and do not design a whole quilt around them, do they really count? What if I make my first hat and find out it really is rather difficult and time consuming? Throwing caution to the wind I bought the fabrics anyway. How hard can it be? The witch hat pattern was from Quilter's Hollow (booths 611-613), one yard dark pumpkin fabric was from Elk Grove Sew & Vac (booths 501-502), one yard each orange mini-pumpkins, purple skulls, and white ghosts were from Workman Farms (booths 201-204). The Fibonnaci's Fancy pattern also called to me from Quilter's Hollow (booths 611-613). It is very effective in the cool monotones but I wonder if a rainbow effect would be pleasing as well.

Tekoa told me that a friend of hers had made several of these bowl cozies and gifted them to her. She uses them all the time. They work great for taking hot items out of the microwave, kind of a custom hot pad/glove option. I bought two packages from Patticakes Quilt shop (booths 306-309). I plan to make the red one for my own use and give the other to someone with a chicken themed kitchen. The package contains the fabric and the batting with instructions. No, this does not break my "no kits" rule. That is why I referred to this collection of supplies and fabric as packages and not kits.

At Material Girlfriends (booths 511-514) I bought a half-yard of a gray ombre fabric for making the Christmas Morning Delight Wall Hanging which I have admired for several years but never built up the courage to start. I have the pattern but not the kit. The center is appliqué which is not my first love nor my strong suit and the gray ombre that I think is critical to the effect is hard to find. I am now inspired to make at least that center section. The technique is raw-edge iron-on appliqué so I should be able to handle it.

Ok. Now the practical purchasing gives way to the impractical impulse buys. This scenic 36" x 43" Santa panel has such an icy-cold feel it called to me and I could not pass it up. My husband claims when he handled it, it gave him the chills. Not all fabric needs to be made into a quilt. I may just back it with cuddle (red or white or even gray) or staple it onto stretcher bars. I wonder if those bars can still be found or ordered in the sizes I would need. Hmm... maybe just taping it onto foam board would do instead. The Santa panel came from Material Girlfriends (booths 511-514).

I found this Hawaiian-ish print fabric to be uniquely interesting and it called to me. It did, however, meet the criterion of my novelty fabric ban. I walked away from it twice, then carried it around in my hand for a while deciding. With its 8½" vertical repeat it would make a great backing. I eventually caved and my final impulse buy was the one yard length of this Hawaiian-ish print fabric from Patticakes Quilt Shop (booths 306-309). 

It was a fun, inspirational, afternoon day spent visiting and indulging in some shopping therapy. I have already made up one of the bowl cozy packages. I no longer need to feel guilty about rationalizing it as "not a kit" to avoid adding to my pending kit count. Its making will be the subject of another post.