Original Sewing and Quilting Expo-Atlanta, GA 2007

I returned home last night tired but extremely pleased to have met so many friends, put faces to so many whom I communicate with and to have an opportunity to showcase my works at the OSQE at Atlanta, GA. This was my first time showcasing at the Atlanta show which I had heard was one of the largest of its kind. I have to admit they are exactly correct. I have never seen so many ladies involved in sewing, quilting, fabric arts and machine embroidery as I saw at the show.

I shared my booth space with Carolyn from creativeneedlecraft.com who introduced not one but two absolutely “must have” purse patterns. I have to admit I am rather pleased with her new patterns especially as I have a bit of my touch in the machine embroidery designs specially created and licensed to Creativeneedlecraft for the purses. I will refrain from showing too much of the new additions as I’m sure Carolyn is saving the introduction for herself…but I will show a bit of peek at the new patterns…

With classes I really did not get to see too much of the show but I did manage to steal a few moments to acquire several Lyla Massinger’s absolutely must have patterns. LJ’s easy and fun patterns have always been my favorites and this time I did not waste any time in securing several patterns. I do hope to use some of the patterns in completing some items for upcoming shows…fingers crossed.

Another wonderful and fun booth that attracted my attention was exactly opposite from our booth, that of the Traveling Quilt Boutique. While they were setting up the booth, I believe both Carolyn and I were already making plans on which fabric panels to purchase. If you are into ethnic or bold batik prints, this is the place to purchase. I don’t seem to have an address for the website as the fabrics and the quilts displayed were truly wonderful.

Now, I thought I had seen just about every gadget out there but one of the interesting purchases was that from the Bo-nash booth. Perhaps because I rarely watch the shopping networks on TV that I have not heard of this product but believe me the demo hooked me. The Bo-Nash bonding powder is a great way to apply embellishments, applique, hemming etc to fabrics. The powder is activated by heat and is great for holding down several types of embellishments onto fabric. I myself have not tried it out yet but I do have an exciting plan for it. The website is www.bonash.com

Ofcourse, hand dyed batik are my other weakness so I did manage to bring home a few bits and pieces of them. Then my favourite blanks friend, Susan Mars had a variety of new items especially in the baby department. Not only that but I had not as yet seen colors in the window pane shirts which I have definite plans for.

Last but not least, I was totally surprised by the number of ladies who approached me and mentioned how they were avid readers of my blogspace. Thank you so much! Wow! I do hope I imparted some interesting ideas/inspirations in my Heirlooms for Tomorrow class. As always Farsi I took the prize in being the most sought after designs and I am so pleased and grateful to friends who like the designs as much as I enjoyed creating them. Onto my next show…the AEC which is less than fifteen days away and I have yet to finish plenty. In end, I would like to thank Evanlee for her absolute wonderful help to both Carolyn and myself before, during and after the show.