I always look for hand-dyed fabrics, especially bright colors. Can't find them anywhere near where I live, and I love being able to look (and buy!) the variegated hand-dyes. Seeing them in person is so much better than looking at them online. Oh, and I always stop at the Cherrywood Fabrics booth - I adore their fabrics!

I take my list of things I've seen on line or in a magazine that I want to look at (and possibly buy) - notions, tools, rulers etc. I may not necessarily buy these things for a variety of reasons such as:
- found they didn't seem as appealing when I could actually look at them
- thought they weren't worth what the dealers were asking for them
- ran out of money because I bought other stuff.
Or I may buy them after looking at them.
For fabric, I used to buy alot of fat quarters but recently I have stopped doing this unless the fabric has a purpose (ie vs adding to my stash of FQ). Now I will buy a kit or some 1-2 meter or yard cuts instead as it seems more useable. Very rarely I buy a charm pack or a jelly roll etc.
I try and leave my pocket book and my mind open to new gadgets, tools, patterns and fabric.
My test of whether I purchase or not is "how unhappy will I be if I don't buy this today" or "how likely am I to see this again" Often, if something is new on the market, I know I will see it in my LQS in a few months.
Have a great time and enjoy the experiences. Seeing the wonderful works and the variety of work presented makes the quilt shows worthwhile regardless of what I buy (or don't buy)

I like to look with an open mind, but also have a few things in mind before I get there. This year I purposely didn't go to the Hershey show because I've put myself on a spending budget and I just got some things last weekend. I am not tempted by fabric, whatsoever. I've been organizing my fabric and I'm deeply embarrassed by how much I already have. Oh, it's probably not as much as some, but for me, it's far too much. I am tempted by rulers, both for cutting and for my long arm. I usually find good prices on thread, but both can wait.

I look for things that are fairly unique. Specialty fabrics, particularly cats or music. Wooden quilt blocks as pendants, earrings, Christmas Ornaments.

I went to the Hershey show on Thursday with a short list. I wanted more of the Clover Wonder Clips (I love them), but only one vendor had a 10 pack for $10.+ and I wanted a new Micron pen - nobody had them. My favorite notions vendor was not there...bummer. I came home and got online. The Micron pen was on Ebay for $3.45 with free shipping and my clips were also on Ebay - 50 for $15.39 and free shipping.

So at the show I only bought 2 yards of clearance fabric ($7.00 a yard) for a pending project. Now I have enough yardage to finish it. And a fleece jacket with a quilt block embroidered on it for $24.00. Nothing else really "spoke" to me.

I buy things I can't find locally. I hate that feeling of remorse that I didn't get it while I could :)

Sunnie your pups are beautiful!! I rescue boxers! Love love love dogs!

sorry off topic lol back to our regular programing!

For me that is the fun part, I have no idea what I will buy. Love all the new goodies!!!!!!!!!

The last quilt show I went to I came home with a vintage Singer 404 for $5 and a pair of earrings. I guess I go to see quilts, not shop.

I went to a one-stop quilt shop hop today. There were 28 different shops represented. I carried a tote bag I had made in a class several years ago (my daughter calls it my Mary Poppins bag) because I can put so much in it! When my friend and I first arrived at the site, we walked completely through and looked at all the booths. As we went, we jotted down things we saw that we were interested in and which booth we saw them in. I try not to purchase things that I can readily purchase at my favorite LQS. Today I purchased a panel to make a fabric book for my granddaughter and a farm animal quilt kit that I will make for her (her farm animal sound book is her favorite...she will be 1 next week). I also picked up a couple pieces of embroidery software. I generally go to get ideas and if I find something unique, I will get it. One thing I do is I take cash and when it is gone, I'm done buying. That helps me not spend too much making impulse buys. Cash makes the checking out process go faster, as well. I also snap a lot of pictures with my cell phone. That helps me remember special things I really liked...but I always do ask permission before I take pictures.