Quilt show freebies - HOUSTON
 

Hello to all, and please send greetings and warm wishes to my tired but satisfied FEET because I went to the Houston quilt show yesterday with a friend who doesn't quilt or sew but was so amazed, it was fun looking at it through her eyes.

But I digress. The show was wonderful, the quilts were beautiful, the vendors were nice, and I discovered a nice trick. While talking to a longarmer vendor, I asked what they did with the demo quilts from the frames. Her reply was "sometimes we send it back to corporate, sometimes we just throw it out. Why, do you want it?" Um, dog shelters, use the fabric for bags, or if you're really bored, rip out the stitching and save the fabric.....gee, let me think, oh sure, why not, let me take it. So she gave me two, and the smaller of the two is about 4 yards long! Since people have been playing freemotion on it all day it's not the prettiest, but for a dog shelter, that's not the important thing, nor would it be if I were going to rip the stitches out either.

So I wanted to pass along this tip since we quilters are also the ultimate recyclers, and with the cost of fabric and batting, who can pass up some (at the very least) free batting? Couldn't you just re-use this as batting in a dark colored quilt?

And I'm also posting a pic of my absolute favorite quilt from the show - this brought tears to my eyes!

that quilt is amazing.

Beautiful ,Thank You for sharing.

oh wow and for those with cats- that is a great visual of the truth- put a quilt down and a cat will surely lay on it.
that quilt took my breath away -even from viewing it on the computer. thank you for sharing it!

that's such a great tip. it always saddens me when useful objects go to the landfill. and thanks for sharing that wonderful quilt pic

That is just awesome.

Absolutely a work of art! I can almost hear the cat's motor purring...

Good for you asking questions of the vendors... you never know till you ask! :thumbup:

What a fantastic quilt. It looked great on the computer, but seeing it "live" must have been awsome, thanks for sharing:)

I hope to be there next year!

oh my word, and i thought the one with the Bear in it was gorgeous. Cats roar!!! beautiful!!

The blocks in the quilt are Puss in the Corner blocks. How creative is that quilter's thinking? It is the best idea I've seen for a quilt in years.

Now as for the long arm vendor throwing away the demo fabric quilts. Shame on them! I'm glad you thought to ask about it.

Wow! This quilt is gorgeous!

Holy moly that's beautiful!! I've never been to a quilt show, but I will do so in 2013. I can't wait to see the beautiful works of art, like you've posted. Thanks for sharing! This is the type of work I aspire to someday.

Yes, that is a beautiful quilt. Thanks for posting and telling us a bit about the show.

What a work of art! Awesome! Thank you for sharing.

I'm not a cat person but that is one awesome quilt!

That quilt is to die for, Thanks for sharing the picture.

Great minds think alike. I also wondered that and talked to a few of those vendors and said they should donate them to a local quilt guild for Linus quilts, dog beds, etc. As we were walking past one of the booths, Martelli's, the trash was being collected and you would not believe all of the scraps. Just think of all of the scraps created by GO!, Accu-quilt cutters, etc. What a waste to go in the trash. If they donated them to organizations, think of the publicity they would have.

Then when we got to the Linus booth I mentioned they should talk to the long arm vendors and ask for the squares and demo pieces.

I've seen this quilt (or a finished one just like it) and was in awe. It is truly a beauty!

I love that quilt too! Whenever I lay my quilt blocks on the floor my fur baby, Buddy, likes to watch and then plop himself down on it. I can pick him up and take him elsewhere in the house but he comes back.

Yes, thank y ou for sharing. I have been u nable to go for the last few years. It is thoughtful of you who went to post photos.

Speechless here!! Thanks so much. Why aren't there tons of ribbons on that quilt???????

[QUOTE=quiltlin;5635981]Great minds think alike. I also wondered that and talked to a few of those vendors and said they should donate them to a local quilt guild for Linus quilts, dog beds, etc. As we were walking past one of the booths, Martelli's, the trash was being collected and you would not believe all of the scraps. Just think of all of the scraps created by GO!, Accu-quilt cutters, etc. What a waste to go in the trash. If they donated them to organizations, think of the publicity they would have.

My quilt guild chapter is the recipient of a win-win idea from a long-arm quilt machine seller in our area: they take our pieced charity quilts with backing, and batting, and quilt them at shows or in the store when they are demonstrating their machines. We get them back just needing binding -- win-win!

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[QUOTE=Lee in Richmond;5636358]What a GREAT idea!!! The only drawback is that it may not be quite as pretty as you might hope for...but between this idea and collecting scraps from other vendors, what great scrappy ideas! And a great bargain for the price of admission to the show!

I have not ever been to a big quilt show, but I have to say that in all the quilts I have seen that cat is the best. Does take the breath away..................

[QUOTE=Prissnboot;5636625]The only drawback that I have seen is that they are using the same meandering pattern on all the quilts, regardless of piecing/pattern. But still!

Wow I love that quilt. It looks like my cat.

what a beautiful quilt..some people have so much talent!

Gorgeous quilt! Would love to go to the Houston show.

Wow, that is spectacular. I love it even though I am a dog person. It is amazing how talented some people are.

Kat

I am totally amazed that she would actually just toss it!!! Beautiful quilt....

Oh my, it's our KittyBee! It's delightful that the artist quilted curly cat tails in the plain blocks. Thanks for posting it.

It's so cool that you rescued the test quilts. Hard to believe they'd discard them.

WOW , Beaytiful Love,Love,Love this quilt. Thanks for sharing.:eek:

WOW........so lifelike it looks like she could walk off the quilt into your arms!

I swear that same quilt - or one very similar - was in the Houston quilt show many years ago when I attended. I loved it then and still do.

I was at the Houston Quilt Show and saw this quilt, it is really beautiful and your picture really captures how pretty it is.

The quilt is by Janet Fogg and is called Kitty Corner. It's been around for some years. Was she a featured artist at the quilt show?

This was my favorite quilt also! Absolutely awesome in person. I am sitting with my cat Betsy on my lap and she is purring her approval also!

And what a great idea on the long arm samples! I had never even thought about what happened to the "practice" pieces. When I practice free motion quilting at home I do them on sizes that my local shelter uses for their dogs and cats. That way I feel like I am not "wasting" the fabric, even though practicing is NOT wasting!

What a great idea to just ask what they are doing with those samples...got to say--never thought of it--but will now. Thank you.