Carol Wilson

I find the Quilting Board great and their links section along with Blogs from members really covers all you need to know.

I am in Australia, I buy all my fabric from "Fabricshack", "Fabricdepot", "Fabricworm", and "Quilt Kits Online" all in the US, they deliver all over the world their shipping rates are very reasonable, (buy in lots of 9 yards for Flat Rate Mailing around $14.50).

I think since I started quilting your economy is now going gangbusters.

Regards

Aussie Carol

gramquilter2

Lots of new sites to check out after reading this posting!

Sharoni

Make sure when you go, that you have enough copies of the information you want to pass on.

Then make sure you have free patterns for all printed out from the websites you choose.

Or perhaps a technique from a chosen website.

I would make up some samples of perhaps table runners or wall hangings using the techniques from the websites.

People like to see things as well as hear of new things.

I would also go to www.emblibrary.com
and download a free pattern, make it and show it IF you have an embroidery machine.

Do not display the free patterns to give away until the end of the program. Use your list of websites as an outline for your talk, showing something from the wesite as you go along.

You will do fine, but try to appear organized and be confident even if you don't feel like it. Hope this advice helps.

Alondra

Two resources I've found that are really good are Janet Wickell (http://quilting.about.com/) and Penny Halgren (http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/).

Also the YouTube videos from Missouri Star Quilt Company are great... not only individual block and quilt patterns, but also techniques (binding, making half-square triangles, tube quilting, etc). Of course there are other YouTube quilters, too, some of them well-known, like Eleanor Burns, Fons & Porter, etc.

There are numerous sites that archive hundreds of free quilt patterns to downloaded. And I won't even attempt to mention all the great online quilt shops - some of them offer tutorials and free pattern downloads, too.

One can google almost anything... "easy quilts," "beginner quilts," "star quilt blocks," "English paper piecing," "Civil War quilts," and come up with more good stuff than one can ever possibly use in one lifetime.

They might have to cut you off, because you could easily talk all day long on this subject and not run out of things to say! Good luck!

Alondra

>>Also - if you mention a shop, could you please take a moment to look at their site and see if they will ship to Ireland?

Most of the larger shops ship abroad... Eleanor Burns comes to mind. She has two sites, http://www.eleanorburns.com and http://www.quiltinaday.com.

http://www.missouriquiltco.com/ does, too.
http://www.fabric.com does, too.
http://www.thousandsofbolts.com does, too.
http://www.fabricwarehouse.com does NOT.
http://www.connectingthreads.com, US and Canada only

There are so many, it's impossible to list them all. I'm sure others on this board can tell you even more.

brefly

not sure if you know but you can get 10% discount codes on the Book Depository facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/BookDepository

Quilting Books from their website:
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/cate...ique?a_aid=fkw

capucine

Please take a laptop if you have one that way you can actually show how to download informations and free patterns :)

PurpleBecca

Well thank you all for your information - amazing facts!!!

I KNEW it would be worth asking you all -

I did the talk on Friday night and it went down well,

I took a laptop and used the projector to show sites up on the screen in the hall. I also took a selection of things I had made using free patterns as well as our Santa Block Swap quilt - which was very very popular.....

All in all - it was good fun!

Thank you again for all your help!